Why has it been so difficult to find Brian Laundrie, Gabby Petito's fiancé?

This is how they reported to 911 the dispute between Petito and Laundrie 1:03

(CNN) -

This week Florida police resumed their search this week for Brian Laundrie, Gabby Petito's fiancé, whose remains were found Sunday.

Investigators are searching for Laundrie on the Venice side of the Carlton Preserve, a 10,000-acre nature preserve that is near the family's home in North Port, Florida.

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An underwater diving team arrived at the Carlton Reserve on Wednesday.

The team is from the Sarasota Sheriff's Office and is called the Sheriff's Underwater Recovery Force (SURF), a team of "highly trained underwater specialists" who are "called in to search for evidence of crimes and victims of drownings, water accidents and foul play, "says the sheriff's office website.

The ongoing search comes as investigators try to piece together what happened to Petito, 22, and Laundrie, 23, on their trip through the American West this summer.

The couple had regularly posted online about their travels using the hashtag #VanLife, but those posts came to an abrupt halt in late August.

Laundrie returned to his parents' Florida home on Sept. 1 without his fiancée, according to police.

Petito was reported by her parents as missing on September 11.

A coroner confirmed Tuesday that the remains found Sunday in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest are those of Petito.

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Meanwhile, Laundrie's family told police late Friday that they had not seen him since Sept. 14.

His family told police he left home with his backpack and told them he was heading to the Carlton Reservation.

Prior to his disappearance, Laundrie refused to speak to police about Petito's whereabouts, but he has not been charged with or is suspected of any crime, authorities said.

The case has become an obsession for many, prompting digital detectives to track the couple online and try to solve the case.

At the same time, that intense attention has highlighted how race and gender influence which of the nearly 90,000 unsolved missing persons cases are served and which are not.

CNN spoke with various experts in police surveillance and search and rescue efforts to understand the challenges in trying to locate Laundrie.

This is what they said.

CNN tracks Gabby Petito's last steps 4:37

Laundrie had a multi-day lead

Police in North Port, Florida, have focused their search on the wilderness of the Carlton Preserve, relying on the use of drones and bloodhounds that had used items of Laundrie's clothing taken from his home to obtain his scent, the spokesman said. Police officer Josh Taylor.

North Port police said Monday they have changed the focus of their search for Laundrie and are no longer looking for him in the nature preserve.

"At this time, we believe we have exhausted all avenues in finding the land there," Taylor said.

However, police said Tuesday morning that they were looking for him again in the reserve.

Authorities have been at the scene since 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

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The search "has not yielded any results yet, but we must move on," police said in a Facebook post.

"Keep in mind that the Carlton Preserve is a vast and unforgiving place at times. Currently, it is submerged to the waist in many areas," police said.

"This is dangerous work for search teams as they are traversing crocodile- and snake-infested swamps, and flooded walking and biking trails."

Before her disappearance, Laundrie had been at her home in North Port for about two weeks.

Cheryl Dorsey, a retired Los Angeles police sergeant, told CNN's Jake Tapper on Monday that she was curious why Laundrie's parents did not alert authorities to her departure Tuesday.

"I understand he's a grown man," Dorsey said, adding that he's still in his 20s. "What influence, if any, do (his parents) have on him? He decides to go backpacking and they couldn't stop him. ? "

The search in the wild is complicated

In this photo provided by the North Port Police Department, law enforcement officers search for Brian Laundrie on September 18 in the vast Carlton Reservation in the Sarasota area of ​​Florida.

In a place like a nature preserve, foliage and lack of sunlight affect visibility, according to Chris Boyer, executive director of the nonprofit National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR).

The night can also hamper efforts, especially if the person sought does not have a source of light or fire.

But when it comes to people eluding authorities, the search becomes much more difficult.

An avoidant person is more than likely to wear clothing that helps them blend in with their surroundings, Boyer said.

To avoid being seen by helicopters or drones, a person can also crawl through stream beds and avoid leaving footprints, trash, or evidence of a campfire.

• Search for Gabby Petito's fiancé Brian Laundrie centers on Florida nature reserve

Boyer said technology such as night vision goggles, drones and thermal sensors could help pinpoint a person's location.

Boyer, the director of NASAR, said that trying to find a person in the desert can be very difficult.

"It's really hard to find people even when they want to be found," he told CNN on Monday.

However, what makes Laundrie difficult to find is the distance he could have traveled before authorities began looking for him.

"The search area starts to grow every hour that he could be in a car or walking," Boyer said.

"It gets pretty overwhelming, to be honest."

Laundrie has not been charged with any crime

This is how they reported to 911 the dispute between Petito and Laundrie 1:03

Laundrie has not cooperated with the police in the search for Petito, and since he has not been charged with a crime or named a suspect, the police cannot do more than file a search warrant.

The FBI executed a search warrant Monday at Laundrie's parents' home, where he lived with Petito.

The FBI removed Christopher and Roberta Laundrie from the home, executed the search warrant, and then brought them inside for questioning, Taylor said.

The search of the home concluded Monday night, the FBI tweeted.

Police visited the home last week, but the family declined to speak and instead gave authorities their attorney's information, Taylor said.

On Saturday, Taylor reiterated that police were limited in what they could do because "we don't have a crime."

"Laundrie is not a suspect in a crime. We believe that he is likely one of the last people to see Gabby Petito alive, and for that reason he is a very important witness," said Andrew McCabe, CNN's senior analyst on security forces. order and former deputy director of the FBI.

The FBI executed a search warrant at Brian Laundrie's home on September 20.

Before disappearing, Laundrie was silent about Petito's disappearance.

North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison told CNN's Don Lemon last week that Laundrie had invoked his Fifth Amendment right, which generally means that a person cannot be compelled to make statements that they feel they can. be negative or used against you.

Steve Moore, a retired FBI supervisory special agent, told CNN on Monday that in order to obtain a search warrant, authorities would need to have probable cause that there was a crime and the person in the home was involved in the crime.

"What I think people in law enforcement are doing right now is making sure they have all the crossed t's and dotted i's because I think they believe, and I believe, that they know who did this and they want to make sure their case is perfect at this point, "Moore said.

McCabe told CNN's Ana Cabrera on Monday that police had reached the point where "the search warrant has to be executed."

"Mainly, I think what investigators will be looking for is anything he has written, any record of his thoughts, if he wrote any notes, if he kept a journal" or any electronic activity and history that he may have, McCabe said.

Alta Spells, Jenn Selva, Dakin Andone, and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.

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