LAUNDRIE HOME IS RAIDED
FBI agents stormed Brian Laundrie’s home in Florida on Monday, declaring it a crime scene and hauling out his parents the day after a body believed to be his missing girlfriend, Gabby Petito, was found.
About a dozen G-men wearing bulletproof vests descended on the Laundrie family’s home in North Port just before 10 a.m. shouting, “Search warrant!” — with at least some with their guns drawn and crouching behind shields.
At one point, several of the agents investigated a large, open, outside storage container. One of them trained his weapon on it as another stood next to him with a body shield.
Several agents also approached a shed in the backyard shouting, “Clear the shed! Clear the shed!” a witness said.
A federal agent warned away the media during the daylong search, telling reporters: “Get behind the tape. This is now an active crime scene.”
The FBI confirmed that the raid was tied to the disappearance of Petito, a 22-year-old Long Island native whose body authorities believe they discovered on Sunday in western Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest.
She went missing in late August during a cross-country van trip with Laundrie, 23, who showed up alone with the vehicle in his parents’ driveway on Sept. 1.
His parents, Christopher and Roberta, have said their son — who authorities describe as a “person of interest’’ in Petito’s disappearance — told them last Tuesday that he was going on a hike to the local Carlton Reserve. He never returned and is still missing, they said.
Two tow trucks arrived at the home Monday afternoon — and the Ford Mustang that Brian Laundrie allegedly drove to the reserve was loaded onto one of them by authorities and taken away.
His parents have said that when he didn’t return from his hike, they drove to the reserve in another vehicle, found his MusThe tang and returned it home before reporting him missing.
Christopher and Roberta Laundrie were taken out of the home on Monday and to their backyard patio to talk with authorities, the witness said. The couple was then escorted to black van outside by the agents.
The parents were allowed back inside the house about an hour later, according to video posted to Twitter.
North Port police put crimescene tape around the property before the feds arrived in six unmarked vehicles.
Federal agents were seen bringing equipment into the home, as well as carrying pink evidence envelopes.
More than two hours into the search, agents also unloaded large, flat cardboard boxes from a vehicle and were seen toting brown paper evidence bags, possibly to fill with items from inside the house.
“The FBI is executing a courtauthorized search warrant today at the Laundrie residence in North Port, Fla., relevant to the Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito investigation,” the bureau’s office in Tampa said.
“No further details can be provided since this is an active and ongoing investigation.”
The office tweeted at 6:21 p.m. that their search of the premises had “concluded.’’
The scouring of the property came as newly released affidavits seeking permission for search warrants noted signs of
increased tension between Petito and Laundrie during their trip.
The affidavit cited repeated text messages and phone chats involving Petito and her mother, Nicole Schmidt.
“During these conversations there appeared to be more and more tension between [Petito] and Laundrie,” the document said.
The affidavit says Schmidt received a final text message from Petito’s phone on Aug. 27, about two days after her family last talked to her.
“Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls,” the message read.
“Stan” is a reference to Gabby’s grandfather, but Schmidt said her daughter never called him that.
“The mother was concerned that something was wrong with her daughter,” the affidavit said.
Meanwhile, a report on Monday shed more light on an alleged Aug. 12 dust-up in Moab,
Utah, between Gabby and Laundrie.
Audio surfaced of a 911 call reporting a “domestic dispute” between the two, with the caller saying a man was “slapping” a woman.
Moab police responded to the call and stopped the couple in their van outside of Arches National Park, but chose not to press charges. Instead, they separate the pair for the night, according to bodycam footage of the incident.
Laundrie has retained a lawyer and has refused to cooperate with authorities since returning home without Petito.
North Port police said they had no grounds to take Laundrie into custody for questioning while the search for Petito continued in Wyoming.
Authorities on Saturday launched a massive search for Laundrie inside the 25,000-acre, alligator-infested Carlton Reserve but were unable to locate him.
The search continued on Sunday but was called off on Monday by police, who told reporters that they “exhausted all avenues” there.
On Monday, Alabama police said they were investigating unconfirmed reports that Laundrie had been spotted in Tillman’s Corner, a city about 600 miles away from his home, WKRG-TV reported.
With Gabby’s disappearance gaining national attention, amateur sleuths have taken it upon themselves to investigate — and some may have helped lead authorities to the body.
Two YouTubers from Florida said their videos of their trip to Grand Teton National Park captured what they now believe to be the couple’s parked van on Aug. 27 near the Spread Creed Dispersed Camping Ground.
Gabby’s suspected body was found next to the campground.
Authorities have scheduled an autopsy on the body for Tuesday to identify it and determine the cause of death, according to Teton County, Wyo., Coroner Brent Blue.
Officials have said the found remains are “consistent” with a description of Petito.