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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – The search was suspended Monday at a Florida nature reserve for a man who police say is a person of interest in the death of his girlfriend Gabriel “Gabby” Petito, whose authorities believe it was discovered at a Wyoming national park the visited couple.
The North Port Police Department said in a press release that the agency “is not currently planning to conduct a major search” for Brian Laundrie, 23, on Monday in the 24,000-acre (9,712-hectare) Carlton Reservation on Monday. ) in Sarasota County, Florida.
The police statement said they “have exhausted all possibilities to search the land there”.
It was not immediately clear whether investigators were looking elsewhere for Laundrie.
Investigators focused intensely over the weekend on the wildlife area after Laundrie’s parents told police he may have been there last week. The reserve has over 160 kilometers of trails and numerous campgrounds.
In Wyoming, the FBI announced Sunday that a body found in northern Wyoming is believed to be 22-year-old Petito. The body was found by officers searching campsites on the eastern border of Grand Teton National Park.
The cause of death has not yet been determined, said FBI Special Surveillance Agent Charles Jones. Details of where and how the body was found were not disclosed.
“Full forensic identification has not been done to 100% confirm that we have found Gabby, but her family has been made aware,” Jones said. “It is an incredibly difficult time for (Petito) family and friends.”
Jones and other law enforcement officials declined to answer questions at a Sunday night press conference in Grand Teton announcing the discovery of the body.
Petito’s father, Joseph, posted on social media the image of a broken heart above a photo of his daughter with a message saying: ‘She touched the world’.
A lawyer who acted as a spokesperson for Petito’s family asked in a statement that the family be given an opportunity to mourn.
Attorney Richard Benson Stafford said the family would make a public statement at a later date, and thanked officials from the FBI, Grand Teton Search and Rescue and other agencies who were involved in the search for Petito.
“The family and I will be forever grateful,” Stafford said in a statement.
An undeveloped camping area on the east side of Grand Teton bordering national forest lands will remain closed until further notice while the investigation continues, Jones said.
Jones said investigators were still seeking information from anyone who might have seen Petito or Laundrie around campsites in the Spread Creek area, where law enforcement search efforts were focused over the weekend.
The couple set out in July for a cross-country hike in a converted pickup truck to visit national parks in the western United States. Laundrie was alone when he drove the van back to his parents’ home in North Port, Fla. On September 1, police said.
Petito’s family filed a September 11 missing persons report with police in Suffolk County, New York.
Petito’s family had begged the Laundrie family to tell them where their son had last seen her. Petito and Laundrie were childhood sweethearts who met growing up in Long Island, New York. His parents then moved to North Port, about 55 kilometers south of Sarasota.
The couple’s ride in the Ford Transit began in July from Long Island. They intended to reach Oregon by the end of October, according to their social media accounts. But Petito went missing after his last known contact with his family in late August from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, authorities said.
Police video released by the Moab Utah Police Department showed an officer stopped the van on August 12 after he was seen speeding up and hitting a sidewalk near the entrance to the Arches National Park. Body camera video showed an emotional Petito, who sat inside a police car while officers also questioned Laundrie.
Moab Police ultimately decided not to lay any charges and instead separated the couple for the night, with Laundrie checking in at a motel and Petito staying with the converted van sleeper.
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