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Brian Laundrie: The picture is from the video of the bodycam of a policeman in the Moab City Police Department in Utah
Photo: HANDOUT / AFP
There are new developments in the case of Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito, who is missing in the USA: After the 22-year-old woman from Florida was reported missing by her family, her boyfriend Brian Laundrie is now also missing.
Police said Friday that they were working with the FBI to track down the 23-year-old who previously refused to testify.
Petito and Laundrie, who lived together in North Port, set off on a trip to the western United States in a converted van in July.
They shared their experiences on the adventure planned for four months on Instagram and YouTube, a smiling couple and impressive landscapes could be seen on recordings.
But only Laundrie returned from the trip.
According to the police, he arrived in North Port by vehicle on September 1 - without Petito.
The woman is said to have had the last contact with her family in late August, when she was allegedly in Grand Teton National Park in the state of Wyoming.
An argument - and what happened then?
About two weeks earlier, the two were stopped in their van by the police in Utah, a state bordering Wyoming - they had been traveling too fast and had brushed a curb. The couple had previously quarreled, as the two explained. Petito can be seen crying on a police officer's body camera, admitting that she hit her boyfriend during the argument. She also claims to have mental health problems. The police did not file a complaint, but obliged the couple to spend one night separately. Petito stayed in the van, Laundrie stayed in a motel.
In a statement, North Port police said Laundrie's family had told officials they hadn't seen him since Tuesday.
The Petito family lawyers announced that Laundrie was merely hiding: “Brian is not missing.
Gabby is missing. "
The family had previously appealed to Laundrie to help the police find the 22-year-old.
The family was going through "the worst time of their life," it said in a statement.
"Your amazing 22-year-old daughter is missing, and the one person who can help find Gabby refuses to help."
Police stressed that while Brian Laundrie was "a person of interest" in the case, he was not wanted for a crime.
Will be determined on the basis of "several missing people".
The FBI set up a nationwide telephone hotline and asked the population for information on the young woman's possible whereabouts.
The case has generated great sympathy in the United States.
The police received hundreds of leads.
nil / AP
