Federal arrest warrant issued for Brian Laundrie, according to FBI

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[Breaking news update at 6:00 p.m. ET]

The U.S. District Court in Wyoming has issued a federal arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie, according to the FBI field office in Denver.

In a statement posted on Twitter, the FBI said the warrant was issued “following an indictment by the Federal Grand Jury relating to Mr. Laundrie’s activities after Gabrielle Petito’s death.”

The warrant was issued for “the use of unauthorized devices” related to laundry activities following Petito’s death.

Special Agent in Charge Michael Schneider said that while the warrant “allows law enforcement to arrest Mr. Laundrie, the FBI and our partners across the country continue to investigate the facts and circumstances of the homicide of Mrs. Petito “.

[Previous story, published at 5:00 p.m. ET]

Authorities resumed their search on Thursday at a Florida nature reserve for Brian Laundrie, who returned home this month after a road trip without his fiancee, Gabby Petito.

Investigators have now spent several days roam the 25,000-acre Carlton Swamp Preserve for any sign of the 23-year-old with the help of dogs, drones and, Wednesday, a dive team from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. Laundrie’s family told police he left the house with his backpack on September 14 and told them he was heading to the reserve near their home.

“We have deployed a lot of resources and we are trying to cover every acre of this reserve,” North Port Police Commander Joe Fussell said in a video shared by the department on Wednesday.

Petito’s remains were found on Sunday in an undeveloped camping area in Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming, and his death was deemed a homicide. Tuesday in the preliminary findings. She was reported missing by her family on September 11, after Laundrie returned home to Florida without her on September 1.

Meanwhile, a small crowd gathered in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night to mourn the 22-year-old, whose death caught the attention of people across the country.

The couple had visited Western National Parks in their van, chronicling their travels on social media with the hashtag #VanLife, before Petito disappeared. And although she had never lived in Utah, Petito’s love for nature and her time there – including a meeting with the Moab Police who was captured on bodycam – linked her to the community.

“We won’t forget you. We won’t let your light go down,” vigil organizer Serena Chavez said in front of the group.

“We will remember other missing women or children,” Chavez continued, raising a larger problem highlighted by the disappearance of Petito. “Their families are devastated and I can only imagine what Gabby’s family is going through.”

Prior to moving to Florida, Petito had worked as a hostess at Smoke on the Water in Wilmington, North Carolina. Her colleagues say she made everyone feel loved, according to CNN WWAY Affiliate. This is another community in which the young woman has made her mark.

“It’s not just a name. It’s not just a business. She was a person, and she was very special to a lot of people and a lot of us here,” said the CEO. of the restaurant, Lara Witschen, at WWAY. “She was a good soul, a good spirit and touched so many lives. That’s why we want to be remembered.”

A small memorial now also marks the spot in Wyoming where Petito’s remains were found this week. Petito’s stepfather Jim Schmidt left a memorial at the site and sunflowers, “which were his daughter’s favorite flower,” family lawyer Rick Stafford told CNN.

The laundry neighbor last saw him on the weekend of September 10

A neighbor who lives right across from the house Petito shared with Laundrie and her family told CNN the last time she saw Laundrie in North Port, Florida, the house was on the weekend of September 10.

Karyn Aberts said she saw Laundrie and her family “in the neighborhood in the front yard”, saying it looked like “a normal thing… they were going for a walk” and that she “was never there. think .”

Aberts told CNN outside her house that she watched Petito and Laundrie convert the van they ultimately drove across the country. (Officials will later find this pickup, a white Ford, at the Laundrie house.)

“They seemed to be sitting and laughing in their car, then in the van they were working on,” Aberts said, noting that the last time she saw Petito was in early summer, before the coupe did not leave for their road trip.

When asked if she had ever seen anything strange between Petito and Laundrie that would have been a red flag, Aberts said no.

Overall, Aberts described the Laundrie family as “very nice people”.

“We saw them walking around as a family,” she told CNN. “We saw them riding bikes as a family and things like that.”

Witness says he saw “commotion” involving the couple

Petito’s story has become a national obsession for many, tricking digital sleuths to comb through the couple’s online trail to try and resolve the case. History also highlighted the nearly 90,000 active missing persons cases at the end of 2020, according to the National Crime Clearinghouse. Few cases of missing persons are encountered as much urgency and national attention as Petito.

It also prompted people to recount Petito’s last days.

Nina Angelo and her boyfriend, Matt England, saw a “commotion” last month as Petito and Laundrie left The Merry Piglets Tex-Mex restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, she told CNN on Wednesday.

Petito was in tears and Laundrie was visibly angry, entering and exiting the restaurant several times, showing anger towards the staff around the hostess booth, Angelo said. The couple’s waitress was also visibly shaken by the incident, said Angelo, who told CNN she had not seen any violence or physical altercation between Petito and Laundrie.

A Merry Piglets official, who declined to give her name, saw “an incident” at the restaurant on August 27 and called the FBI on Wednesday, she told CNN. The manager declined to describe what happened and said the restaurant did not have surveillance video of the incident.

Separately, Jessica Schultz saw Laundrie parked in a white van on August 26 at Grand Teton National Park, and no one appeared to be with him, she told the Chronicle of San Francisco.

And in a series of videos on TikTok, Miranda Baker said that she and her boyfriend drove Laundrie on August 29 in Wyoming – and that he claimed he was camping alone for several days while Petito returned. in their van working on social media. posts.

Baker said they picked up Laundrie while he was hitchhiking in Colter Bay, Wyoming, which is not far from where Petito’s remains were found. He offered to pay $ 200 for the ride before even getting in the car, she said.

911 call from a domestic dispute

Petito’s mother received a strange text on August 27 it became the last communication from her, Florida police said in a recent search warrant affidavit. Petito also stopped posting on social media at that time.

Evidence from a 911 call regarding a “domestic conflict” involving Petito and Laundrie shows that the couple’s volatile relationship was not as ambitious as their sunny Instagram and YouTube lives suggested.

A man who saw the marital dispute between Petito and Laundrie in Utah last month said, “They were talking to each other aggressively, and something seemed to be wrong.”

In a handwritten affidavit, the witness said it appeared the two were arguing over control of Petito’s phone. “At one point she would hit him on the arm and / or face and try to get into the van.” The witness’s first name is Chris and the last name was redacted in the document provided by Moab City Police to CNN.

The witness said he heard Petito say, “Why do you have to be so mean? Though Chris added that he couldn’t be sure the comment was meant to be taken seriously.

Police subsequently arrested the couple and had previously released police documents and body camera video reveals what followed That day. Officials in the city of Moab have since announced that they would investigate the management by the City of Moab Police Department of the dispute between Petito and Laundrie.

Although Petito and Laundrie are described in a police report as having engaged in a physical fight over an argument, “the man and woman said they were in love and engaged to get married and did not desperately wanted to see anyone charged with a crime, “Officer Eric Pratt wrote in the report.

At the suggestion of the police, the couple separated for the night, according to the report, which describes Petito as “confused and emotional.”

A National Park Service ranger who also answered the call spent about 90 minutes with Petito and warned her that her relationship with Laundrie had signs of “toxic,” the ranger told Deseret News. ‘Utah.

“I begged with her to reassess the relationship, asking her if she was happy in the relationship with him, and basically saying it was an opportunity for her to find another path, to change her life,” said the ranger. Melissa Hulls. the Deseret News.

CNN has sought comments from Hulls.

The-CNN-Wire
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