FBI uses Brian Laundrie’s father for more targeted search, ex-agent says

Chris Laundrie accompanied law enforcement to the Carlton Reservation for the first time this week in search of his fugitive son, which former FBI Special Agent Ken Gray said reflects the strategy of the Office of base your research on specific targeted information.

Gray was a member of the New Haven FBI SWAT team when he briefly helped search for Olympic Park Bomber Eric Rudolph in the Appalachians in the late 1990s.

“The SWAT teams came in, went out on the Appalachian Trail over in North Carolina, did a lot of research in that area, but kept coming in empty-handed,” Gray told Fox News on Friday.

The Carlton Reservation, where Brian Laundrie’s parents say he went missing on September 13, is a huge 24,000-acre expanse in Sarasota County, Fla., With 80 miles of hiking trails.

Brian Laundry has been on the run for several weeks since his fiancee, Gabby Petito, was reported missing and then found dead in Wyoming.

Local law enforcement has spent weeks searching the preserve by land, sea and air, but the FBI resumed the manhunt last week.

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Now, instead of doing large sweeps of the area, the FBI will likely target its search based on specific intelligence, Gray said.

“The office, I think, has learned from Eric Rudolph’s research that you can spend lots and lots of resources to search for an area and come in empty-handed,” Gray said on Friday. .

Part of this focused approach was on display Thursday when Brian Laundrie’s dad, Chris, went with law enforcement “on the reserve to show them the trails and places Chris and Brian have hiked and what Brian was known to hang out, ”according to family lawyer Steven Bertolino.

“There were no discoveries, but the effort was helpful to all,” said Bertolino. “It seems that the water in the [reserve] recedes and some areas are more accessible to research. ”

Brian’s parents reported him missing on September 17, telling law enforcement they last saw him on September 13. He is currently wanted on debit card fraud charges and is a person of interest in the death of 22-year-old Petito. , whose remains were found in Wyoming on September 19.

BRIAN LAUNDRIE MANHUNT: IDEAL PLACE ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL TO “GET LOST”, SAYS THRU-HIKER

While law enforcement is still focused on searching the Carlton Reservation, there have been many potential sightings of Laundrie in western North Carolina near the Appalachian Trail, which is the same area. that Eric Rudolph was able to evade authorities for five years.

None of the sightings have been confirmed, but a hiker who believes he saw Brian on the Tennessee-North Carolina border near the Appalachian Trail on October 2 told Fox News this week he met the FBI and that the police were taking his case seriously.

Brian’s sister called him a “poor survivor” earlier this week, while his lawyer said he was just a “backpacker.” A friend of Brian and Gabby Petito said Brian spent time on the Appalachian Trail in 2018.

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Gray noted that Rudolph was caught by a rookie police officer in 2003 while rummaging in a supermarket dumpster in Murphy, North Carolina.

“If you don’t have enough supplies, at some point you have to restock, and that would mean going out into the audience, and he’s still hot enough that if he does, he should be seen there. “Gray said on Friday.