In the case of the killed Gabby Petito, a well-known TV face has now switched on: Duane Chapman, also known as "Dog the Bounty Hunter". Since the weekend, the bounty hunter has been on his own in search of traces of the 22-year-old's missing fiancé – it leads to a campsite.
Brian Laundrie is said to have been on a campsite - In the video: Search in the national park
The Bounty Hunter has picked up the scent. On September 17, Brian Laundrie's parents reported the 23-year-old missing, three days earlier they are said to have last seen him alive. He went on a trip to the Carlton Reserve (Florida) nature reserve. Since then, the young man has been swallowed up by the face of the earth. The investigators' search focused on Grand Teton National Park (US state of Wyoming). Gabby's body was found there on September 19. An autopsy showed she was killed, but the FBI has not released the exact cause of death. Her remains have not yet been released for burial.
A farmer doesn't believe that Brian Laundrie can survive long in the alligator-infested nature reserve - a friend of Brian's, on the other hand, is sure that he knows how to do it. He's still out there somewhere in the wilderness. Now, a new lead points in a different direction and could shift the radius of the search - to near Brian Laundrie's childhood home in North Port, where he last lived with Gabby. Around 120 kilometers north of Saint Petersburg (Florida), Duane Chapman claims that Laundrie and his parents have stayed several times at a campsite in "Fort De Soto Park" - after he returned alone from the road trip with his girlfriend on September 1st.
The 23-year-old knows the area and has previously been to "Fort de Soto Park" with Gabby, as evidenced by an Instagram photo of the two showing the couple behind a barred window. Petito had posted it on her account on February 26th with a corresponding placemark.
Brian Laundrie "was there for sure" - no comment from the FBI
Brian, Roberta and Christopher Laundrie are said to have checked in there between September 1st and 3rd and then again from September 6th to 8th - on the second visit only the parents left the campsite again, as camera recordings would show. He received the tip on Monday. "They were registered, walked through the gate, a camera filmed them, they were there," Chapman said in an interview with Fox News. Brian was there too. "Not over in the swamps."
This refers to the Carlton Reservation, a wildlife sanctuary where the FBI was searching Laundrie. The site covers over 24,565 hectares and has an extensive network of hiking and biking trails. It extends about 20 kilometers north of Laundrie's parents' house, which was searched several times in the course of the investigation. "Three people came on the 6th and two people left on the 8th. I think he was definitely there." There has been no official comment on this so far, the FBI investigators who have taken over the case remain silent.
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There was a written statement from another party, from which the "DailyMail" quoted, among other things: Attorney Steven Bertolino, who represents Brian Laundrie's parents, commented on the allegations on Monday. He said Roberta and Christopher "don't know where Brian is". They would worry about him "and hope the FBI can locate him". He dismissed speculation that the two had helped their son go underground to avoid the execution of an arrest warrant against him. This is "simply wrong".(cwa)
