The blog will chronicle updates in this case from September 27. Please check our previous blogs for earlier info:
Police continued their (fruitless to date) searches of the Carlton Preserve for Brian.
News broke late on September 27 about Dog the Bounty Hunter’s search for Brian. His search has tracked both Brian and his parents to a Florida campground, not once, but TWICE! And on the second visit, three people checked into the campground, and only two people left.
The Laundrie family issued a statement on September 27:
“Chris and Roberta Laundrie do not know where Brian is. They are concerned about Brian and hope the FBI can locate him. The speculation by the public and some in the press that the parents assisted Brian in leaving the family home or in avoiding arrest on a warrant that was issued after Brian had already been missing for several days is just wrong.”
The Petito family are planning to hold a press conference on September 28:
On September 30, new body cam footage showing Gabby and Brian was released.
This info is from the New York Post:
Gabby Petito told a Utah cop that boyfriend Brian Laundrie assaulted her during their Aug. 12 domestic dispute, according to bodycam video obtained by Fox News on Thursday.
The attack allegedly took place shortly before the couple was stopped by police at the entrance of Arches National Park. A 911 caller told police he saw a man slapping a woman outside an organic grocery store in Moab.
Laundrie, who was driving Petito’s white 2012 Ford Transit, slammed into the curb when cops flashed their lights. He later told them that Petito tugged the steering wheel.
“Did he hit you though?” an officer asked Petito, according to Fox News, which obtained a second bodycam video from cops at the scene.
“I guess. I guess, yea,” a crying Petito reportedly continued. “But I hit him first.”
“Where did he hit you?” the officer replied, according to the outlet. “Don’t worry, just be honest.”
“He didn’t like hit me in the face,” Petito reportedly told the officer, about two weeks before she was last seen alive. “He didn’t like punch me in the face or anything.”
“Did he slap your face, or what?” the officer asked, according to Fox.
“Well he like, grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that’s why it looks, I definitely have a cut right here,” she reportedly said, rubbing her cheek. “I can feel it, when I touch it, it burns.”
“He got really frustrated with me, and he locked me out of the car and told me to go take a breather, but I didn’t want to take a breather. And I wanted to get going. We’re out of water.”
The new video reportedly showed the witness clarify that he did not see Laundrie “strike the female” when questioned by cops.
“I wouldn’t say that,” the witness said, according to the article. “I think I saw maybe a push or a shove, but not a full-on punch to a face or anything.”
“You did see her slapping him though it sounds like,” the officer reportedly asked.
“Yes,” the witness replied.
Laundrie, 23 has been on the lam for more than two weeks, as police continue to investigate the homicide death of Petitio, 22, whose body was found in a Wyoming park on Sept. 19.
Moab City Police Department Chief Bret Edge took a leave of absence earlier this week as internal investigators look into whether or not the cops mishandled the situation by letting the couple drive off without pressing charges.
The two local officers were later joined by two US Park Rangers at the traffic stop, footage of which led former “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh to call Petito a victim of “classic domestic abuse.”
Bodycam footage from the Rangers’ remained under wraps.
Did police ever make contact with or physically see Brian Laundrie between Sept 1 when he returned and the Friday they realized he wasn’t at home?