Gabby Petito’s Boyfriend Goes Missing as Searches Continue for Woman

Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito talks to a police officer after police pulled over the van she was traveling in with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, near the entrance to Arches National Park in Uthan on Aug. 12, 2021, in a still image taken from police body camera video. The Moab Police Department via AP

Police in North Port, Florida, on Sunday continued their search of a wildlife reserve for Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the disappearance of missing woman Gabby Petito, while the FBI is continuing to hunt for clues in a national park in Wyoming.

The search for Laundrie, who is Petito’s 23-year-old boyfriend, “continues Sunday morning in the Carlton Reserve,” said North Port Police in a tweet. “A team of more than 50 looking for anything of note after his parents say this is where he went. We continue to corroborate all info in the search for him.”

Officials on Sunday morning deployed K-9 search dogs in a bid to find Laundrie, video footage showed.

The FBI on Saturday, meanwhile, said that its agents and other law enforcement agencies were carrying out surveys in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

The FBI’s Denver office and Wyoming-based agents “have been conducting ground surveys at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area,” according to a Twitter post by the agency.

Around the same time, the agency released a missing person poster and photo of Petito, saying the pair were traveling in a white 2012 Ford Transit van with a number of stickers on the back and Florida license plate QFTG03.

The disappearance of Laundrie is “certainly a twist” in the case, said Josh Taylor, a North Point Police spokesperson.

“We’re hopeful that he’s out here,” Taylor told local media on Saturday. “Certainly, we’ve prepared for all different possibilities, but our goal is to locate him and bring him back to North Port.”

Laundrie is not wanted for a crime, law enforcement officials have said. Officials started investigating Petito’s disappearance on Sept. 11 when she was reported missing by her family.

Before his disappearance, Laundrie has not been cooperative with investigators, police have said.

Petito and Laundry were traveling on a cross-country road trip through several states and left online reviews of campsites. Body camera footage from an officer in Utah was released last week, showing the officer speaking with both Laundrie and Petito.

“I have really bad OCD. I was apologizing to him saying I’m sorry I’m so mean,” Petito told the responding officer in Aug. 12 footage, referring to obsessive-compulsive disorder. “We’ve been fighting all morning. He wouldn’t let me in the car before … he told me I needed to calm down.”