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Authorities in North Carolina have investigated a wave of calls suggesting Brian Laundrie is hiding on the Appalachian Trail, according to local reports.
The Watauga and Avery County Sheriff’s Offices both confirmed to WSOC-TV that they received more than half a dozen tips earlier this week about Gabby Petito’s 23-year-old fugitive boyfriend.
He was also at the center of the private research team led by Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, whose daughter Lyssa Chapman. tweeted a plea for “experienced hike / survival near the Appalachian Hike Trail in North Carolina”.
“If you have hunters in your family, near the AT in NC. Tell them to check your game cameras !!!! ” she tweeted on Sunday, also asking residents to widely disseminate the image of Laundrie.
The Appalachians are said to be a familiar region for Laundrie, who has already lived there “on his own for months.”
While it is not clear how many official advice purported to be actual sightings, Watauga County MPs pulled a car to investigate a possible lead that went nowhere, local media said.
Watauga officers also have a detective monitoring a mass of posts online claiming people “are seeing Brian Laundrie in Boone, North Carolina,” officials told the Watauga Democrat.
“We are monitoring social media for any suspected sightings or information that Brian Laundrie is in this area,” Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman told the local newspaper.
“But nothing has been verified,” he insisted.
Some information is based on rumors that Laundrie – who went missing over 2 weeks ago, days before Petito’s body was found – may be familiar with the Appalachian Trail, the sheriff said.
Some of it has been strong enough to pass on to other local, state and federal law enforcement officers, the sheriff said.
“We had a conversation with the FBI this morning,” Hagaman told the WSOC on Wednesday. “If there is something legitimate, we will check it out. And if there is anything more, then the FBI will be contacted – but not on every call, ”he said.
Laundrie had returned from a trip across the country with Petito, 22, on September 1 – without her. Petito was officially reported missing on September 11 and later found dead in Wyoming.
The laundromat remains the only person interested in the affair. He went missing on September 14, according to his parents who did not report him to police until three days later.
There is an arrest warrant against him for fraud for using someone’s bank card around the time of Petito’s disappearance.
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