It’s been nine days since Brian Laundrie went missing after telling his parents he was going for a hike in the “vast and unforgiving” Carlton Reserve. He disappeared the same day he was made a person of interest in the missing person case of his girlfriend Gabby Petito, whose body was subsequently found later that evening.
During a 1pm press conference, Ms Petito’s parents and step parents said they would continue seeking justice for her and believed the FBI would find Mr Laundrie. They called on him to turn himself into law enforcement.
Dog the Bounty Hunter, real name Duane Chapman, told police he’d uncovered a lead suggesting Mr Laundrie’s family went camping at the Fort DeSoto campgrounds in Pinellas County, Florida. Thus far the police have rejected the tip, saying there have been no reported sightings of anyone resembling Mr Laundrie in the area. However, park records show Ms Laundrie’s mother did stay at the park between September 6 and September 8.
One tourist, 44-year-old Hunter Mannies told the New York Post that he and his friends had a strange encounter with a lone man who resembled Mr Laundrie while drinking at Bullwinkle’s Saloon in West Yellowstone. It became apparent the man had been listening when the conversation turned to “hunting and guns and politics,” Mannies said.
He told the New York Post: “The guy just looked mad and then at some lull in the conversation, he said, ‘Stupid southerners and f—ing Republicans.’”
He continued: “I kind of laughed and said, ‘Well, where are you from? and he said, ‘New York,’ and I said, ‘Okay, New York’ and he said, “I have a name, it’s Brian.”
