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Public attention is focused on Brian Laundrie's parents following the discovery of the mortal remains of Gabby Petito's boyfriend

2021-10-22T15:05:07.415Z


Investigators analyze the young man's notebook, which they link to the murder of his fiancée. The cooperation of the parents was essential in finding her body.


By Antonio Planas and David K. Li -

NBC News

After searching for more than a month, authorities finally found the skeletal remains of Brian Laundrie, who was considered a person of interest in the murder of his fiancee, Gabby Petito, in a Florida swamp.

And it was thanks to his parents.

Investigators located human remains Wednesday on the Carlton Reservation, a sprawling Florida wildlife refuge that was the last place 23-year-old Laundrie was known to have been.

The remains were identified as his thanks to dental records, the FBI announced Thursday.

The discovery came after Laundrie's parents directed FBI agents and North Port police to an area where "some items belonging to Brian were found," according to a statement from the family's attorney, Steven Bertolino. .

He added that the parents found the items "in an area where they had initially notified law enforcement that Brian might be there."

Items believed to have belonged to Laundrie, including a notebook, "were found in an area that until recently had been underwater," said Michael McPherson, special agent in charge of the FBI's Tampa office.

Brian Laundrie, 23, boyfriend of Gabby Petito. @ Gabspetito / via Instagram

David Thomas, who worked for 20 years as a police officer in Michigan and Florida, said Laundrie's parents likely

made the decision to become publicly involved in the search

under the direction of their attorney.

“If you are smart, you let your lawyer do the talking.

You don't do it.

And they were immediately put in the hands of an attorney, ”said Thomas, a professor of forensic studies at Florida Gulf Coast University.

"I would suspect that any move they made, like when the father came out and helped them with the search ... whatever you see them do, I don't think they did it without the advice of their attorney," he added.

Laundrie's parents have said that speculations that they helped their son escape are "simply wrong," according to a statement from Bertolino in late September.

The attorney declined to answer questions about when both parents became involved in the search during an interview with NBC News Now following the identification of the remains.

“There was no agreement

,” Bertolino said, “certainly there were talks, as is to be expected in all criminal cases.

There are always conversations with the prosecutors ... but no agreement was reached ”.

The parents

have cooperated with

local and federal authorities from day one regarding Brian, the attorney added.

Gabby Petito was strangled three or four weeks before her body was found in a national park

Oct. 12, 202101: 43

The lawyer dismissed speculation about why it took so long to find the remains and belongings, insisting that the area where the evidence was found Wednesday was previously submerged and inaccessible.

"When do they end ... these conjectures, these theories, people who do not have first-hand knowledge and specifically with the events of yesterday," said Bertolino.

“You have people with first-hand knowledge telling you how this played out.

And yet people do not believe it, "he added.

Former FBI Agent Bryanna Fox, a professor of criminology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, said Wednesday that prosecuting a charge of aiding and abetting or obstructing justice is a very high bar that requires proof of a “ knowledge of the illegal act and the intention to help ”.

The police authorities have not accused the parents of committing offenses.

Retired Lt. Thomas Nolan, a 27-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, said it is "certainly fair to question what may have happened between law enforcement, prosecutors and parents."

“The authorities are moving a fine line in terms of alienating parents and not receiving any information or cooperation from them at all;

it's a delicate balance, ”he added.

Laundrie, of North Port, Florida, was considered a person of interest in the disappearance of Petito, who was found dead in Wyoming last month.

The 22-year-old's body was discovered on September 19 at the Spread Creek camping area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

The coroner ruled that the death was due to a

"manual strangulation"

homicide

.

Petito and Laundrie were on a road trip across the country, recounting their travels on social media, before he returned to his parents' home in North Port, Florida, on Sept. 1 without his fiancée, police said.

Gabby Petito was strangled to death, reveals the young woman's autopsy

Oct. 12, 202101: 43

Laundrie's parents have kept a low profile ever since, telling investigators that their son went on a field trip two weeks later and never returned, prompting national persecution.

Last weekend, Petito's parents accused the Laundries of hiding crucial information about his death and his mysterious disappearance.

In an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Petito's mother, Nicole Schmidt, denounced the Florida couple who were to become her daughter's in-laws.

“I think silence says a lot.

I think they probably know, if not all, most of the information, ”Schmidt said.

“I would just love, face to face, to ask:

Why are you doing this?

Just tell me the truth,

”he implored.

Laundrie's family said the young man hiked in mid-September in the Carlton Reservation, the 25,000-acre reserve that had been logged multiple times before Wednesday's discovery.

Petito's parents have accused the Laundries of not cooperating when searching for their daughter and of withholding information from them after Laundrie returned home without her.

Joseph L. Giacalone, a retired New York Police Department sergeant who oversaw an unsolved unit in the Bronx, said:

"Most parents would do exactly what they have to do."

“It may be morally and ethically wrong, but we understand what mothers will do, what fathers will do.

I'm sure they were expecting something strange, when he comes home with the car and she's gone, ”he said, referring to Laundrie's return from the road trip.

But since the remains were positively identified as Laundrie's, that could complicate the investigation into Petito's death.

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Now that authorities have identified the remains as Laundrie's, Giacalone said he hopes the case will end as an "exceptional clarification," meaning that even if police suspect Laundrie of killing Petito, the investigation would end.

"Since he's dead, they can't do anything about it," he

said, adding that the case could end with an "unsatisfied expectation," especially for Petito's parents, who may never know exactly what happened before and after Petito's death. his daughter.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-10-22

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