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NORTH PORT, Fla .– Some who follow the investigation involving Gabby Petito and her fugitive fiancé, Brian Laundrie, draw parallels between the case and the murder of Kristin Smart 25 years ago.
The body of Petito, 22, was discovered in Wyoming on September 19 and has since been ruled dead homicide. Authorities have yet to announce how she died.
Petito’s mother Nichole Schmidt reported her missing in Suffolk County, New York on September 11, when she told authorities she had not spoken to her daughter since 7 a.m. on the 30th. August.
At the time, Petito was supposed to be with her fiance, Brian Laundrie, traveling across the country and visiting national parks in his white Ford Transit van. But Brian went back to North Port, Floridaon September 1 at the house where he and his fiancee lived with his parents. Brian returned to Florida with the van, but without Petito.
Gabby Petito, left, and Brian Laundrie are seen in body camera footage released by the Moab, Utah City Police Department.
(Moab City Police Department)
According to the woman’s family, Brian Laundrie never called them to say his daughter was not with him. His parents then allegedly ignored phone calls and texts from the Petito family, including one in which they told laundries they were going to call the police.
When the police tried to speak to Brian, his parents “had papers at the door” with instructions for the police to contact his lawyer, according to Joe Petito, Gabby’s father.
Investigators seized the white van on September 11 and then executed a search warrant.
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A laundromat lawyer said that after Brian returned to North Port, “a phone was purchased on September 4, 2021 and Brian opened an account with AT&T for that phone.” TMZ reported that Laundrie was seen “with an older woman” in one of the mobile phone stores, although the woman has not been identified.
Then the lawyer announced on September 19 that Brian was missing on September 14 after telling his family he was on his way to a local reserve. The family has since changed the date Brian was last seen to September 13.
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Brian’s parents had not been physically involved in the in-depth search for their son until Thursday, after law enforcement asked Chris Laundrie to help with the day’s efforts, their lawyer said. .
Shortly after his disappearance, authorities named Laundrie as a person of interest in connection with what was then Petito’s disappearance. On September 23, the FBI issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie, charging him with bank card fraud.
Brian Laundrie is still at large but has not been directly blamed for Petito’s death. Laundrie’s parents have not been arrested or charged in connection with the case.
Some after the case said it was reminiscent of Kristin Smart’s disappearance in May 1996.
Paul Flores was the last person seen with a very drunk Smart on May 25, 1996, as he helped escort her back to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University after a party, witnesses said. Prosecutors said he killed Smart while trying to rape her in her dorm.
His remains have not been found. In late September, a judge said Paul Flores would stand trial for murder in his presumed death, and his father was on trial as an accomplice for allegedly helping to bury his body.
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San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen said at the time that there was probable cause Paul Flores, now 44, had killed Smart and Ruben Flores, 80, had helped get rid of his body.
Kristin Smart, left, and Gabby Petito, right (FBI; Instagram)
Since the events related to the Petito and Laundrie investigations unfolded, users have taken to Twitter to note some similarities. One user tweeted that the case reminded him of Smart’s “and how the Flores family had helped their son,” the user wrote.
No one in the Laundrie family has been charged so far for Petito’s death.
A representative for the Kentucky Fried Homicide Podcast described in a tweet that he saw “a future for Brian and his family similar to the life Paul Flores and his family have lived since the death of Kristin Smart.”
Prosecutors presented evidence that Smart’s body had previously been buried under a trellis-protected bridge behind Ruben Flores’ house. Prosecutors said the body was moved from there and was never located.
Traces of human blood were found under the bridge along with stains in the ground and a disturbance of the earth the size of a human body, witnesses said.
When Flores first spoke to the police, he played down his interactions with Smart at the party and on the way home. He said she made it to her dorm on her own, although other witnesses said Flores was helping her stand and that she had passed out earlier that night.
And three days after Smart disappeared, Flores had one black eye that he told police he was playing basketball. Friends disputed this account and Flores then changed his story to say that it happened while he was working on his car.
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As the manhunt for Brian Laundrie continues, authorities have spent days searching the T. Mabry Carlton Preserve in Venice, Fla., As well as Fort De Soto Park in Tierra Verde, where Brian saw his sister and camped with her parents September 6-8. .
Meanwhile, more than a dozen people have reported seeing Brian Laundrie – or someone who fits his description – in other parts of the country, including near the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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