Sad end to happy trip as remains identified
MIAMI: The story of two young lovers whose seemingly happy road trip went horribly wrong appears to have reached its tragic conclusion after the FBI announced human remains found in a Florida nature reserve are those of Brian Laundrie.
Authorities had been hunting for Mr Laundrie after his girlfriend Gabby Petito first mysteriously disappeared and then was found dead, having been strangled.
The FBI said “a comparison of dental records confirmed the human remains … are those of Brian Laundrie”.
The discovery means both sets of parents are now free to grieve the loss of their children, having spent two months in the full glare of the global media spotlight as the heartbreaking tragedy unfolded.
Earlier, FBI special agent Michael McPherson revealed that personal items belonging to Mr Laundrie – who had been named a “person of interest” in Ms Petito’s murder – had also been found in the Carlton Reserve near Venice, Florida.
Police had been searching for the 23-year-old Mr Laundrie for weeks. The body of Ms Petito, 22, lay in the wilderness of the western US state of Wyoming for up to a month before it was found in midSeptember. She had been strangled to death.
Ms Petito had quit her job and packed her life into a camper van for a cross-country adventure with Mr Laundrie, starting in July, documenting their journey in a stream of social media posts.
In images shared by the couple online they are all smiles – often seen barefoot in a canyon or surveying the ochre rocks of state and national parks.
But police in Utah revealed one disturbing incident after the young woman’s disappearance – a domestic violence report involving the pair in August. Police investigated but opted to lay no charges.
Ms Petito’s family filed a missing-person report on September 11 after she mysteriously vanished and Mr Laundrie returned home to Florida alone in her van.
Mr Laundrie was subsequently declared a “person of interest”. He declined to cooperate with police before vanishing himself.
Laundrie family lawyer Steve Bertolino told CNN that the parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, had helped with the grim discovery of their son’s possessions.
“They stumbled upon these items,” he said.