By Wilson Wong, Antonio Planas and Dennis Romero - NBC News
Authorities announced Friday night that they do not
know the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie
, Gabby Petito's fiancé and person of interest in the search for the young woman, who has been missing since the end of August.
"The North Port Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] are currently searching for Brian Laundrie, 23, of North Port," authorities said in a statement late Friday, after the family ask to speak with them in the house they share with your child.
"
We are now working on an investigation of multiple missing persons
," the police stressed.
"The family now states that they have not seen Brian since Tuesday this week," he said.
A couple was traveling the country in a van, but only he returned.
Her whereabouts is a mystery
Sept.
17, 202102: 53
"We understand the community's frustration, we are frustrated too. For six days, the North Port Police Department and the FBI
have been pleading with the family
to contact investigators regarding Brian's fiancee, Gabby. Petito, "he added.
Police this week named Laundrie a "person of interest" in the girl's disappearance and
regretted that
Laundrie
had not cooperated in the investigation
.
The young man returned home on September 1, alone and driving the van in which he and his girlfriend had embarked on a road trip across the country.
[What did Gabby Petito do before disappearing? Police reports and social media offer clues as to what happened on the trip with her fiancé]
Laundrie has not spoken about Petito's disappearance on the advice of the family's lawyer, Steven P. Bertolino, who says that in these types of cases the police focus too often on the couple.
Bertolino did not respond to a series of questions sent Friday by NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
Security camera image of one of the officers who spoke to Gabby Petito after stopping her vehicle, where she was fighting with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie. Moab Police Department via AP
Police explained that their visit to the Laundrie home marked the first time the family had spoken to investigators "
in detail
."
The WFLA of Tampa, an NBC affiliate, reported that the authorities entered the house, where
a crowd of people
had gathered
outside, shouting about the whereabouts of the young man
.
Two officers searched a Mustang convertible parked at the family's driveway.
[Police consider the fiancé of the missing young woman as a person of interest while traveling in the US by truck]
The police provided Laundrie with the same information that is disseminated when searching for a missing person
: his height (1.70 meters) and his appearance, as well as a photo in which the couple appears wearing smiling blue sweatshirts.
The 22-year-old family of Petito, whose disappearance was reported on Saturday, September 11,
reacted contrary
to the information communicated by the police.
"All of Gabby's family wants the world to know that
Brian is not missing, he is hiding
. Gabby is missing," he said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the city of North Port confirmed on Friday that police interviewed a woman who said in a video recently posted on TikTok that, on August 29, she and her boyfriend picked up
a man who was hitchhiking
, who was later
learned.
realized it was Laundrie.
In the video, the woman claims that he offered $ 200 to be taken away from Grand Teton National Park, where Petito was before disappearing.
However,
then
he got out of the vehicle abruptly
.
The city spokesman did not specify whether the police had verified the woman's version, only that he had spoken with her and that her account is part of a larger investigation.
[They publish the police video of the incident between the missing young woman and her boyfriend during their trip by truck through the United States]
On Friday morning, Laundrie's sister Cassie told "Good Morning America" that
she has not been able to speak with her brother
.
“I wish I could talk to him.
I have cooperated as much as I can
. I wish I had information or gave more, "he said." All I want is for her to return home safely, and that this is just
a big misunderstanding,
"he added.
