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Authorities are investigating several reported sightings in North Carolina of Brian Laundrie, the missing Florida man wanted for questioning in the disappearance of Gabby Petito, his fiancee whose death was ruled a homicide.
Informants have reported a dozen sightings of Laundrie, 23, in the western part of the state near the Tennessee border since Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
These reports include a call to 911 shortly after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, by a man claiming he was “99.99%” positive he spoke to Laundrie, who was last seen by his parents in Florida. in mid-September.
“He was talking wildly. He said his girlfriend had left him and he had to go out to California to see her, ”the man told the 911 dispatcher, according to the audio of the call released Monday. “He was acting fun. And I didn’t know what he looked like. And then… I went to park and got the photos of him. And I’m 99.99% sure that was him.
The appellant, whose name was not disclosed, also told the dispatcher that the man he spoke to was driving a white pickup truck, which he said could have been a newer Ford F-150 .
“It wasn’t like an old drummer. It was a newer truck, ”he said.
The two men passed each other in a parking lot along a stretch of the Appalachian Trail, after the truck driver signaled with his arm that he wanted to talk, the caller said.
“I’m telling you – that was him,” said the caller.
A Haywood County Sheriff’s Office statement Monday said investigators “carefully” followed every clue, “but to no avail”.
Other reports of laundry sightings have flooded law enforcement in Canada, Alabama and Montana, NBC New York reported. There have been no confirmed sightings of Laundrie since her disappearance, to the knowledge of the FBI, according to the outlet.
Laundrie is wanted by federal authorities in an indictment before a grand jury for his “activities following the death of Gabrielle Petito,” the FBI said late last month.
A Wyoming federal court issued an arrest warrant for him on September 22, alleging that he “knowingly and with intent to defraud, used one or more unauthorized access devices, namely a Capitol One Bank debit card” and personal identification numbers for two accounts.
He was also named a “person of interest” in Petito’s disappearance.
Petito, 22, disappeared at the end of August after embarking on a road trip across the country with Laundrie. Her remains were found at a Wyoming campsite September 19.
The discovery was made in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, near Grand Teton National Park. A coroner has ruled her death a homicide, but the official cause of death awaits final autopsy results.
Laundrie’s family told investigators last month that he had hiked September 14 in the Carlton Reservation in Florida and never returned. Law enforcement searched the 25,000 acre wildlife sanctuary several times looking for it.
But Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino said WFLA, subsidiary of NBC in Tampa on Tuesday that Laundrie’s parents were wrong about when they said they last saw him.
“The laundries based the date of Brian’s departure on their memories of certain events,” Bertolino said. “After further communication with the FBI and confirmation of the Mustang’s presence at the Laundrie residence on Wednesday September 15th, we now believe that the day Brian left for a hike on the reservation was Monday September 13th. “
Police said Laundrie returned home to North Port, Fla. On September 1 in the Ford Transit van without Petito. She was reported missing by her family on September 11. Before his disappearance and after Petito’s disappearance, Laundrie had not cooperated with investigators, officials said.
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