Brian Laundrie Indicted By Grand Jury Over Unauthorized Bank Account Use

NORTH PORT, FL — The US District Court of Wyoming has issued an arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie as a search continues in Florida for the fiance of Gabby Petito, the Denver FBI office said Thursday. Laundrie, 23, of North Point, has been called a person of interest in the homicide of Petito, 22.

The announcement came shortly after North Port Police said they concluded their sixth day of searching for Laundrie at the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Venice, Fla. with no results.

The arrest warrant charges Laundrie with the use of unauthorized devices, specifically a bank card and account. He is accused of withdrawing more than $1,000 from an unnamed account between Aug. 30 and Sep. 1.

A federal jury indicted Laundrie on Wednesday, but authorities didn't release the court documents until Thursday.

“While this warrant allows law enforcement to arrest Mr. Laundrie, the FBI and our partners across the country continue to investigate the facts and circumstances of Ms. Petito’s homicide,” FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Michael Schneider said in an FBI news release. “We urge individuals with knowledge of Mr. Laundrie’s role in this matter or his current whereabouts to contact the FBI. No piece of information is too small or inconsequential to support our efforts in this investigation.”

"The FBI is focusing on locating Brian and when that occurs the specifics of the charges covered under the indictment will be addressed in the proper forum," Laundrie family lawyer Steve Bertolino said in a statement.

Today's official #FBIDenver statement and the arrest warrant for Mr. Brian Laundrie are attached. pic.twitter.com/eV1IY4l681
— FBI Denver (@FBIDenver) September 23, 2021

Laundrie and Petito, engaged to be married, were on a cross-country trek, living in a van, when Petito died in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Laundrie returned to his parents' home in Florida, refused to talk to investigators about his fiancee's absence, then left home on Sept. 14. His parents reported him missing Sept. 17.

Petito's remains were found Sept. 19, and her death confirmed as a homicide on Sept. 21. A native of Long Island, New York, her family reported Gabby missing Sept. 11 after they lost contact with her.

A federal jury indicted Laundrie on Wednesday, but authorities didn't release the court documents until Thursday.

“While this warrant allows law enforcement to arrest Mr. Laundrie, the FBI and our partners across the country continue to investigate the facts and circumstances of Ms. Petito’s homicide,” FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Michael Schneider said in an FBI news release. “We urge individuals with knowledge of Mr. Laundrie’s role in this matter or his current whereabouts to contact the FBI. No piece of information is too small or inconsequential to support our efforts in this investigation.”

"The FBI is focusing on locating Brian and when that occurs the specifics of the charges covered under the indictment will be addressed in the proper forum," Laundrie family lawyer Steve Bertolino said in a statement.

Related:

• Gabby Petito Family Demands Brian Laundrie Lawyer Remove Photos
• Human Remains Confirmed As Gabby Petito; Death Ruled A Homicide

Authorities Conclude Sixth Futile Day Of Searching

75 personnel from 16 different agencies have still not found Laundrie after a sixth day of searching the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Venice, where Laundrie was last spotted Sept. 14.

"The ground search in the Carlton has been halted for the day. Nothing found. We will be back at it Friday," North Port Police tweeted at 6:11 PM ET on Thursday.

The massive undertaking includes four swamp buggies, a drone from the Florida Highway Patrol, an underwater dive team, a K-9 unit, and federal, state, and local police authorities. North Port Police released a short video of different authorities gathering at the reserve Thursday morning.

Thursday search for Brian Laundrie in the Carlton beginning. pic.twitter.com/cV3v1JsdHV
— North Port Police (@NorthPortPolice) September 23, 2021

“We’re covering many, many acres so we need all the manpower and all the staff we can grab,” Commander Joe Fussell said. “This is a tremendous mass of land … About 75% of this area is underwater.”

Authorities have long discussed how difficult the terrain is. "We are trying to cover every acre of this preserve," North Port Police Commander Joe Fussell said Tuesday. "It's rough out there. It's hot, it's wet."

It is unclear how many days police intend to continue their search.

Police began searching Saturday and Sunday, and resumed their search Tuesday, after an FBI raid of the Laundrie home on Monday. A local survival expert told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that if Laundrie is indeed in the alligator-infested, swampy wilderness, he is probably dead.

"If he's down there, he's living in hell," local survival expert Mark Burrow told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Laundrie faces the danger of not only of being preyed on by alligators, poisonous snakes, coyotes, bobcats or panthers, but also of dehydration and/or starvation, Burrow said. Nothing in the environment is edible or potable, and the humidity and rain makes it impossible to light any fires.
Burrow said Wednesday if authorities haven't found evidence that Laundrie was in the reserve, it probably means he was never there in the first place. Authorities should have found either tracks leading to him, or signs he was eaten, said Burrow, who teaches people how to survive in the wilderness.

Many, like former "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh, have questioned whether Laundrie is actually in the reserve. On CNN, Walsh suggested that Laundrie was never inside his parents' house, and they waited four days to give him time to plot his escape.

“What if he came back with the van and was there for 10 days?” Walsh asked, saying that was a “great amount of time to prepare for an escape” and scrub the van of evidence.

“His parents and the lawyer … bought him four days to get out in front of this,” Walsh postulated.

Since Laundrie went missing, many police departments have been inundated with false leads. One of the more popular theories from earlier this week was that Laundrie has been sighted based on images from a trail camera in Baker, Florida, that picked up images of a man who matches Laundrie's description. The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook that after an "extensive search" of nearby farmlands that included use of a drone, "no one – and nothing – of note was located."

Other rumors have suggested Laundrie was sighted in Pooler, Georgia, based on a social media post looking for a man with similar build being sought for financial fraud, according to the North Port Sun.

Utah Police Launch Investigation Into Bodycam Footage

Police in Moab, Utah announced Thursday that they are launching their own investigation into the handling of an Aug. 12 fight between the couple.

Moab City Police Chief Bret Edge said in a Thursday statement that an outside party had filed a request asking for a formal investigation into the department's response. "In compliance with department policy, we will conduct an investigation. The police department will identify an unaffiliated law enforcement agency to conduct the formal investigation on our behalf," Edge said.

Police pulled over the van near the entrance to Arches National Park after several 911 calls that described punching, slapping, crying, and Petito being locked out of the van. In one 911 call, a witness said he saw a man slapping a woman. Another witness told police they saw a man believed to be Laundrie take Petito's phone and lock her out of the van, while another person said they saw the woman punching the man and trying to get into the van.

Bodycam footage shows Petito crying. The couple described their fight to police. Laundrie went to a hotel for the night, while Petito stayed in the van.

Police are also investigating a series of TikTok videos from Miranda Baker, who said she and her boyfriend gave Laundrie a ride on Aug. 29 in Wyoming. Baker said Laundrie was hitchhiking in Colter Bay, Wyoming, not far from where Petito's remains were found. Baker said when Laundrie found out she and her boyfriend were going to Jackson Hole, he asked that the vehicle stop, and got out near Jackson Dam, just 30 minutes after he was picked up.

"Her account is plausible, it appears," North Port police spokesperson Josh Taylor told CNN, though the outlet noted that it has not been able to verify Baker's claims with the FBI.

Police are also investigating further evidence that tension between the couple was mounting prior to Petito's disappearance, including now viral bodycam footage of a distraught Petito crying to police in Moab, Utah. The Grand County Sheriff's Office on Monday released an Aug. 12 911 call where a caller says he drove by the couple's van and saw a man slapping a woman.
A diner at the Merry Piglets restaurant in Jackson Hole told Fox News that she saw Laundrie get so aggressive with staff that Petito had to apologize for him, the same day that Petito's mother got a final text saying simply, "No service in Yosemite."

Nina Celie Angelo says that she and her boyfriend saw Laundrie argue aggressively with staff, presumably over a bill, and then storm out and return four different times. About 4.5 hours later, Angelo said that she and her boyfriend passed the couple's white van just north of town.

Police continue to ask the public for their assistance locating Laundrie. He is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weights 160 pounds. He has brown eyes, short brown hair, and trimmed facial hair. He was last seen wearing a hiking bag with a waist strap.

Anyone with information about Laundrie or Petito is asked to call 800-CALL-FBI, or 800-225-5324.

Laundrie Neighbors Want Media To Leave

For Teri Kiss of North Port, just leaving her house to get to the grocery store has become a complicated ordeal as her neighborhood is spotlighted by national media in the search for Brian Laundrie.

“Trying to go to the store to get milk, trying to get out, the cops are like you have to go around the block, can’t drive through, stuff like that,” Kiss told WFLA News.

Kiss lives on the same block as Chris and Robert Laundrie, the parents of Laundrie, the subject of a manhunt attracting international attention. As the world follows every minor development in the story, a media and law enforcement circus has descended on the block, effectively camping out until Laundrie is found. Some neighbors have had enough.

“No offense to you — we’re ready for you to leave,” a woman across the street from the Laundrie home told WINK News. “We want this nightmare to be over.”

Related: 'Nothing Found': Laundrie Search Comes Up Short For The 5th Day

Teri Kiss and fellow neighbor Gary Coble told WFLA News they call out-of-state residents just to tell them they’re OK.

The Laundries’ 10,000-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom North Port home on Wabasso Avenue, normally a quiet street filled with retirees, has become ground zero after a Wyoming coroner made a preliminary ruling that Gabby Petito died by homicide, and her fiancé Brian Laundrie went missing.

On Monday, swarms of FBI agents closed off the whole block for about five hours while they combed the Laundrie house for evidence. They eventually left the house after four hours, carrying with them several cardboard boxes full of evidence.

Authorities also towed the silver Ford Mustang the Laundries said their son drove to the Carlton Reserve in Venice, which they drove back home after two days. Chris, 62, and Roberta, 55, were pulled from the home into a black van during the search of their house.

Since Tuesday, when their legal team canceled a press conference, the couple has been completely silent. Similarly, neighbors report that their home is just as quiet: the lights are off, the blinds are shut, the lawn hasn’t been mowed for days, and no one has seen or heard anything from them.

Some neighbors are wondering why they’ve been subjected to such madness, and question if Laundrie was ever in their home in the first place.

William Guthrie, who moved across the street from the Laundrie house earlier this summer, told Fox News he saw Laundrie and his parents attaching what appeared to be a new camper to the back of their truck. Guthrie saw Laundrie and his parents drive off with the camper on the same day Petito was reported missing. Another neighbor told WINK-TV the same thing, according to the New York Post.

Guthrie said he found it odd the Laundries would go camping with their son in a small RV, and alerted authorities.

Related: Gabby Petito Case To Be Featured On John Walsh's 'In Pursuit'

Some Wabasso Avenue neighbors remember seeing Petito and Laundrie getting the van ready earlier this summer.

“When they were first working on the van, we saw him and Gabby working on the van together,” neighbor Karyn Aberts told WINK News. “Then we knew they were gone, that’s really all we knew, because the car wasn’t there anymore… I remember noticing he was back, but I didn’t think anything about it, I just thought, ‘Oh, he’s back from a trip.'”

After Petito was declared missing, dozens of people from all over the North Port area descended on the Laundrie home. “Even though we don’t know her personally we’re here for you and you’re not alone,” North Port resident Jenn Nascimento told WFLA News. “I just hope someone would do the same for me.”

Related:

• Brian Laundrie: Gabby Petito Death, Search Ongoing At FL Reserve
• Grassroots Effort To 'Light The Night For Gabby Petito' Friday
• Body Found Sunday In WY Park Matches Gabby Petito's Description
• Gabby Petito's Van Caught On Video: Van Life Family
• Gabby Petito 'World's Daughter' Has Followers All Over Shaken