Utah police officers confirmed they responded to an incident involving Laundrie and Petito on August 12, about a month before she was reported missing. Neither Laundrie nor Petito were the reporting party.
Officers in Utah investigated the incident and determined there was “insufficient evidence” for criminal charges. They did not confirm what the incident was about.
Police said the pair were traveling in a white 2012 Ford Transit van that has since been recovered, according to the North Port Police Department.
“The van is here. We have it under safekeeping. We’re working with the FBI that will be a very thorough process with all of their skillsets and ours to discover anything that may be there,” Josh Taylor with the North Port Police Department said.
“We currently have no definitive information that a crime took place here in North Port,” NPPD said in a statement. “With that said, the circumstances are odd.”
Petito is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, 110 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. She also has several tattoos including one on her finger and one on her forearm that reads ‘let it be,’ police said.
The family told police they were last in contact with Petito during the last week of August. They said Petito is believed to have been in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
An attorney for Laundrie provided this statement Tuesday:
“This is understandably an extremely difficult time for both the Petito family and the Laundrie family. It is our understanding that a search has been organized for Miss Petito in or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. On behalf of the Laundrie family it is our hope that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is re-united with her family. On the advice of counsel the Laundrie family is remaining in the background at this juncture and will have no further comment.”
Taylor said Laundrie is a person they are interested in talking to.
“We initially on Saturday night went to the residence where both he and her lived with his parents. We talked to the parents. The parents provided us a phone number for their family attorney. That’s been the extent of our conversation with the family,” Taylor said.
The 22-year-old and her boyfriend of two years, Brian Laundrie, were on what the couple described as a ‘van life journey in a YouTube video that documented the pair’s travels.
Petito and her boyfriend moved from Blue Point, New York to North Port two years ago before setting off on a cross-country van trip in July.
Family members said they noticed the 22-year-old’s Instagram posts slowing down toward the end of August around the same time they lost communication with her.
The Petito Family released this statement:
“The Schmidt and Petito family are going through the worst moments of their lives. Their beautiful twenty-two-year-old daughter is missing, and the one person that can help find Gabby refuses to help. Brian Laundrie was traveling with Gabby in the Grand Teton – Yellowstone area. They were traveling together in Gabby’s 2012 Ford Transit van. That is where we believe Gabby was last seen.
Brian is refusing to tell Gabby’s family where he last saw her. Brian is also refusing to explain why he left Gabby all alone and drove her van to Florida. These are critical questions that require immediate answers.
The Schmidt and Petito family beg the Laundrie family to not “remain in the background” but to help find who Brian referred to as the love of his life. How does Brian stay in the background when he is the one person that knows where Gabby is located?
The Schmidt and Petito family implore Brian to come forward and at least tell us if we are looking in the right area.”
North Port Police report foul play is not out of the question.
“You know we’re in the job of preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. So we are not in a position to just hope that we find her and then start an investigation, which might be of more significance. We have to play both right now,” Taylor said.
The Suffolk County Police Department is asking anyone with information on Petito’s whereabouts to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
The North Port Police Department and the FBI Tampa Field Office are assisting with the investigation. Tips can also be submitted to 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitted to tips.fbi.gov.
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September 15, 2021 at 05:50AM
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