According to FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael McPherson, human remains and belongings belonging to Brian Laundrie, including a rucksack, were discovered in the Carlton Reserve near North Port, Florida.
A notebook belonged to Laundrie, who McPherson described as “a person of interest in the murder of Gabby Petito,” according to the discovery.
According to him, the apparent remains were discovered in a previously submerged location.
“The alleged human remains have been there for quite some time,” a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
According to the information provided by the source “Official identification may take some time, depending on the state of the body’s remnants.. The medical examiner will do a very in-depth investigation.”
a 45-minute walk from Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park’s gate, according to North Port police spokesperson Josh Taylor, the remains were recovered in the Carlton Reserve about two to three miles inside.
In an interview with Chris Cuomo of CNN, family attorney Steve Bertolin said that the Laundrie parents, who were visiting the park after it reopened for the first time, assisted in the finding. He described how they came across the goods as “completely by chance.”
During a meeting with local police enforcement on September 17, Bertolino said the place where the remains were found was the “same region of the park” about which they had previously alerted them.
Bertolino said Laundrie’s parents had notified the FBI and the North Port Police Department about their plans to search the park for their son on Wednesday morning on Tuesday night. According to him, law enforcement officers were waiting for them when they arrived at the location on Wednesday morning.
“Certainly within sight shot,” the attorney remarked the parents as they walked the trail.
“Later on, Chris wandered into the woods on his own. Police were following him as he zigzagged from one location to another. At the same time, Roberta Laundrie was strolling along the path “”Bertolino,” the speaker, declared. “It doesn’t take Chris long to get a dry bag. The dry bag is a white bag that you’ll find in the trees, around 20 feet from the trail.”
It was reported that Bertolino claimed the dry bag was in some brambles and that he didn’t want to pick it up because he wanted his law enforcement to see it. Chris Laundrie corroborated this claim. Although Laundrie “couldn’t find the law enforcement,” Bertolino claimed that they were then out of sight and didn’t want to leave the bag there with a news reporter standing close, so he picked it up.
“He did meet with authorities shortly afterward, and they examined the contents of his luggage. At that moment, authorities showed him a picture of a backpack that they had also found nearby and off the route on a phone “According to Bertolino’s statement to CNN.
Laundries were informed that there were also remains around the backpack and advised to leave preserve.
“Hogwash,” said Bertolino of the theory that Chris Laundrie had planted the dry bag.
The FBI is on the site and investigating.
There is an investigation going on with the FBI To investigate the incident, the Evidence Response Team of Tampa has dispatched a team that is employing “all available forensic resources.” McPherson predicts that the team will remain on the scene for a number of days.
His response to reporters was, “I know you have a lot of questions, but we don’t have all the answers yet.
Thirty-seven days after Laundrie, Petito’s fiancé, was last seen by his parents, authorities had located the body.
There had been activity in the Carlton Reserve near the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park where Laundrie’s car was found parked in September, according to aerial footage. The medical examiner and a cadaver dog had also been summoned.
In addition to the Sarasota County Medical Examiner and a cadaver dog and two spotters, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office was called to the scene. The Emergency Response Teams of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, as well as a mobile unit, had arrived on the scene.
The find comes as authorities continue their month-long search for Laundrie and try to put together what happened to Petito.
The 160-acre Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port features hiking and camping routes. In the park, there’s a link to the nearby Carlton Reserve, a nature preserve with more than 25,000 acres that detectives have used as a key search area.
The swampy terrain has previously been scoured by swamp buggies, divers, and airboats, but recent dry weather has allowed searchers to resume their efforts.
What led us to where we are now;
This summer, Petito, 22, and Laundrie, 23, drove across the western United States in a white van and shared their experiences via social media. They posted photos and stories frequently. Those updates, however, came to an abrupt end in late August, and Laundrie returned to his parents’ house in North Port, where he had been living with them since September 1.
After 10 days of trying to contact Petito’s family, they gave up and declared her missing, sparking a nationwide search. Later, he was reported missing as well after Laundrie refused to participate with the investigation into her whereabouts. Investigators were told by his family that he had gone to a local nature area, where they suspected he had become lost.
On September 19, authorities discovered Petito’s remains in a Wyoming national forest, not far from where he and his girlfriend had last been seen together. He ruled her death as a homicide, and coroner Dr. Brent Blue of Teton County concluded she died from manual strangulation.
Blue told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “We believe this was a human being strangling.”
Reporting for this article was done by CNN’s Rebekah Riess and Steve Almasy with assistance from Rob Frehse, Madeline Holcombe, and Jon Passantino.