Mistaken Identity Allowed Laundrie To Flee, Police Say: Report

Sarasota FL

25 October, 2021

3:08 PM

Description

Updated: 10:50 p.m. Monday NORTH PORT, FL — In the early days of the investigation into Gabby Petito's disappearance — before her body was found Sept. 19 in the mountains of Wyoming — North Port police have said they were keeping a close eye on her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the case, and his family in Florida. Brian Entin, a reporter with News Nation, tweeted recently police even put up hidden cameras in strategic places around their North Port home, including in a neighbor's yard. But a key error just admitted by police may have let Laundrie slip away. Laundrie and Petito, both Long Island, New York, natives living with his family in Florida, were traveling across the country visiting national parks this summer when she disappeared at the end of August. Her body was found weeks later near Grand Teton National Park. A coroner later determined her cause of death was homicide by strangulation. Laundrie returned home alone to Florida in Petito's van Sept. 1 and was reported missing by his parents Sept. 17. Authorities had been searching for him ever since. Police were watching the Laundrie home since Sept. 11 — the day Petito was officially reported missing and before Brian Laundrie disappeared — and have since admitted they made some mistakes during their investigation. Officers watching the Laundrie home confused Brian Laundrie's mother, Roberta Laundrie, for her son, allowing him to flee the home, WINK News reported Monday. Related Stories: Laundrie Cause Of Death Stymies Coroner, Bones To Be StudiedPhotos: The Search For Gabby Petito and Brian LaundrieBrian Laundrie's Remains Identified Using Dental Records: FBIGabby Petito's Family Won't Speak On Laundrie Death Yet: AttorneyUnidentified Human Remains, Brian Laundrie Belongings Found: FBIBrian Laundrie: Park At Center Of Search Reopens In North PortLaundrie: Marshals Ambush Look-Alike On Trail; Dad Sued For $40Where Is Brian Laundrie? Gabby Petito's Fiance Fled 1 Month AgoGabby Petito: North Port Memorial, Brian Laundrie SearchGabby Petito's Cause Of Death Was Strangulation: Coroner They saw Brian Laundrie leave the home in the family's gray Ford Mustang on Sept. 13. Days later, on Sept. 15, they thought they saw him return with the car, but it was really his mother. "They're kind of built similarly," Josh Taylor, a spokesperson for North Port police, told WINK. Entin tweeted Monday that Taylor said there was also some confusion because Roberta Laundrie was wearing a baseball cap. When Brian Laundrie's parents reported him missing Sept. 17, police were surprised to learn it had been days since they had seen their son. He left the home Sept. 13 to go hiking at the Carlton Reserve. "When the family reported him (missing) on Friday (Sept. 17). That was certainly news to us that they had not seen him," Taylor told WINK. "We thought that we (had) seen Brian initially come back into that home on that Wednesday." During a Sept. 15 news conference, North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison even said investigators knew Laundrie's whereabouts. In reality, Laundrie drove the Mustang to the preserve Sept. 13 and never returned. When he didn't come home that night, his parents drove to the area to look for him. They didn't find him but saw their car and left it there in case he needed it to get home. Police put an abandoned vehicle notice on the car the next day, warning it would be towed if it wasn't moved. Laundrie's parents drove it home Sept. 15, which is when police mistook Roberta Laundrie for her son. Like this article? Sign up for our newsletter and get it delivered every weekday. It's free! Authorities searched for Brian Laundrie for more than a month, focusing on the Carlton Reserve and Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, which is connected to the reserve by a 12-mile trail. During that time, they used various methods to comb the swampy reserve and the adjacent park, including K-9 dogs, ATVs, drones, helicopters, dive teams and airboats. His skeletal remains, including a portion of his skull, were found in the park and the reserve, along with several of his belongings, Wednesday. The FBI used dental records to match the remains to Laundrie. No cause of death could be determined after an autopsy Friday, though, the Laundrie family attorney, Steven Bertolino, said. His bones were to be sent to a forensic anthropologist for further examination. Dr. Erin Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist with the University of South Florida, told Fox 13 that the anthropologist examining Laundrie's remains will carefully review every bone and should be able to determine the cause of death. "Just depending on what's on the bone — if there's trauma, if there are injuries, if there's post-mortem damage, that's pretty evident," she told Fox 13. "So usually, we can come to a conclusion with a high degree of scientific certainty." An anthropologist will look at other factors as well, including the soil where the remains were found, temperature and insect activity in the area. Bertolino told ABC 7 Thursday that Laundrie was "grieving" and "upset" the day his parents last saw him. "They knew he was so upset, and they just couldn't control that he was leaving, and he left," the attorney said. "He walked out the door. Chris has said to me, 'I wish I could have stopped him, but I couldn't.'" Bertolino later said Laundrie's parents weren't concerned when he left their North Port home to go hiking, according to WFLA. "He's a young man; they weren't concerned," the lawyer said. "They thought he was … clearing his mind." There won't be any funeral for Laundrie and his family plans to eventually cremate his remains, Bertolino told NBC News 4. Forgoing a funeral, his parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, have met their daughter, Cassie Laundrie, and her husband, Jimmy Luycx, in an undisclosed Florida location to grieve together privately, the attorney told Fox News. Bertolino also told Fox the FBI believes its investigators "have everything they need" to move forward with a murder investigation into Petito's death.