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Authorities returned Thursday to the vast Florida wildlife refuge where they were looking for Brian Laundrie, wanted for questioning in the disappearance of his fiancee, Gabby Petito, whose death was ruled a homicide.
But Laundrie has likely fled the state and may have received help, experts in the missing persons cases have said.
“It seems unlikely that he is still on this reserve. They have found no trace of him so far. It has been weeks,” said former FBI agent Bryanna Fox, associate professor of criminology at the University of South Florida at Tampa.
Laundrie, 23, of North Port, Fla., May have received financial assistance or transportation eluding authorities, Fox said, adding that if someone hitchhiked him while driving a car. stop sign or if he got on a bus, witnesses would probably have gone to the police or the media.
“The idea that nothing was said reinforces me that he was probably receiving help,” Fox said. “Obviously, this person should be very loyal and very close to him… so as not to compromise his identity.”
Laundrie’s family said he hiked September 13 at the Carlton Preserve, which has been repeatedly searched. Law enforcement officers were back at the 25,000-acre wildlife sanctuary on Thursday, with the help of his father, Chris Laundrie, family lawyer Steven Bertolino said.
Again, the search was left blank, Bertolino said in a text message to Telemundo affiliate WRMD of Tampa.
“Chris Laundrie accompanied law enforcement personnel to the reserve to show them the trails and places Chris and Brian hiked that Brian was known to frequent,” said Bertolino. “There weren’t any finds, but the effort was helpful to everyone. It looks like the water in the reserve is receding and some areas are more accessible for research. … Hopefully Brian will be soon. localized. “
The cutthroat terrain and the weather could easily erase any evidence of Laundrie’s presence, Fox said.
“These factors that are here in Florida, a subtropical environment, are known to degrade the evidence,” she said. “Imagine a huge landscape that is extremely dangerous. There are snakes, alligators and animals. There is rain, torrential downpours suddenly falling. It’s hot.”
Laundrie was traveling across the country with 22-year-old Petito when she disappeared in late August. His remains were found on September 19 at a Wyoming campsite near Grand Teton National Park. A coroner ruled that the death was homicide; an official cause of death is awaiting the results of the autopsy.
A grand jury indictment said the FBI wanted to speak with Laundrie about their “activities after Gabrielle Petito’s death.” A federal arrest warrant was issued on September 22 in Wyoming alleging that he “knowingly and with intent to defraud, used one or more unauthorized access devices, namely a Capital One debit card Bank “owned by Petito and personal identification numbers for two accounts.
Thomas Lauth, an Indianapolis private investigator specializing in missing persons cases, said Thursday he agreed with the theory that Laundrie has left his home country and is likely to have received aid.
“I never thought he would be in Florida for very long,” Lauth said. “I think he had outside resources at his disposal at first, but those outside resources probably cut him off because he is a fugitive.”
Laundrie has the skills to disappear into the wilderness, Lauth said.
“He’s been a savvy traveler for many years. When I say ‘savvy’ he is able to make a living off the land, and he knows how to travel alone and lightly,” said Lauth.
Reports of possible laundry sightings have flooded law enforcement agencies in Canada, Alabama and Montana, NBC New York reported, but none have been publicly confirmed by the FBI.
An FBI spokesperson could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.
A Laundrie misstep or a critical clue uncovered by the FBI is likely to lead to its discovery, Fox said.
“He has to be lucky all the time that he doesn’t get caught,” she said. “They only have to be lucky once. In the end, there’s a good chance law enforcement will find him or find out what happened to him as soon as possible.”
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