Gabby Petito: Florida park surveillance footage part of FBI investigation: LIVE UPDATES
Brian Laundrie’s mom Roberta checked into a Florida park about a 75-miles drive north of the family’s home earlier this month, records obtained by Fox News show.
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Duane, "Dog the Bounty Hunter," Chapman and his team found no conclusive evidence that Brian Laundrie was on Egmont Key by Wednesday evening.
Brian Laundrie's father, Chris Laundrie, on Wednesday afternoon walked outside for the first time since Tuesday morning as protesters and media continue to wait outside their North Port, Florida, home for answers.
Chris Laundrie cracked open his front door on Wednesday afternoon to pick up a box of Dunkin Donuts, other boxes and flowers that had been delivered to his home earlier that day.
Delivery services including FedEx, Amazon, local florists and food delivery apps like GrubHub continue to leave things at the Laundries' door as they wait inside for hours on end.
North Port, Fla. – Wyoming investigators have discovered what they believe are likely the remains of a man who was missing since late August – and authorities are crediting the national news surrounding Gabby Petito’s disappearance for shedding light on his case.
Teams with Teton Search and Rescue discovered a body fitting the description of Robert "Bob" Lowery on Tuesday at the base of Teton Pass in Wyoming, the agency announced on social media. Lowery was last seen on August 29, and was located Tuesday after a four-hour search with the help of three K9 teams and 25 search volunteers.
The search for Lowery and the investigation into his disappearance has been ongoing since he was first reported missing, but received newfound gumption after "new clues recently surfaced," Teton Search and Rescue said Tuesday.
Duane "Dog" Chapman discovered a campsite and fresh Monster can deep in the woods while searching Shell Island off the coast of Florida for Brian Laundrie Wednesday.
The Monster can showed no rust or faded colors, according to a Fox News Digital reporter on the scene with Chapman.
But Chapman and his team found no conclusive evidence that Laundrie was still on Egmont Key.
Duane "Dog" Chapman arrived on Shell Island in Florida after a tip led him to believe Brian Laundrie had been there.
FIRST ON FOX: Brian Laundrie’s mother Roberta canceled camping reservations for two people at a Florida park on Aug. 31 and made new reservations for three people at the same park on Sept. 3, documents obtained by Fox News show.
Roberta Laundrie on Aug. 24 initially made reservations for two people to camp at Soto Park Campground in Saint Petersberg between Sept. 1-3, about 75 miles north of the family’s home in North Port, but she canceled those reservations on Aug. 31.
On Sept. 3, she made a new reservation for three people to camp on the weekend of Sept. 6-8. Other documents obtained by Fox News show the Laundries checked in to the campground on Sept. 6 and checked out on Sept. 8.
Chief Patrick L. Gallagher of the New Bern, NC police department told Fox News Wednesday his team became aware of a possible Brian Laundrie sighting in the city.
His department investigated the tip in coordination with the FBI branch office in Raleigh and does not believe it is credible.
Gallagher added they do not believe Laundrie is or was in the coastal community.
Federal authorities are investigating the possible purchase of a burner phone by Brian Laundrie the day he went missing, according to reporting from TMZ.
Sources told TMZ that the FBI visited an AT&T store near the Laundrie family home and seized surveillance footage.
The report indicates that Laundrie entered the store on Sept. 14 with an older woman and purchased a phone, which is the date the Laundrie family says they last saw him.
Laundrie family lawyer Steve Bertolino told Fox News that the FBI is in possession of a phone purchased by the Laundrie family, but declined to say why they would have purchased a new phone, noting he would not "speculate" on their rationale.
Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman on Wednesday contracted a private search and rescue K-9 team to search an island called Egmont Key off the coast of St. Petersburg, Florida, in his search for Brian Laundrie.
A crew of four people carrying backpacks and other supplies left on boats with three K-9s. Chapman confirmed to Fox News that he hired the team for help in looking for Laundrie, a fugitive person of interest in the disappearance and homicide of his fiancé, Gabby Petito.
Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, in a Twitter video posted Wednesday, says he is “out here at the island” in the search for Brian Laundrie.
“This would be and could be a perfect spot for him to hide, not too many people out here,” he added, without elaborating.
The FBI is looking at surveillance footage from the area of Florida’s Fort De Soto Park as part of their investigation into the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie, who has allegedly been missing since mid-September, Fox News has learned.
A spokesperson for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Fox News Digital on Wednesday that surveillance footage from Fort De Soto Park in Tierra Verde was being looked at as part of "the open and active investigation" being conducted by the FBI.
News of the FBI’s investigation of the footage was released after Fox News Digital requested surveillance videos from certain portions of the park and was told by a county spokesperson that the sheriff’s office was referring all records regarding the case to the FBI’s Denver field office.
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North Port Police Department Public Information Officer Josh Taylor tells Fox News that searchers "are out today" at the Carlton Reserve as Brian Laundrie's whereabouts remain unknown.
"Water levels have decreased, which was needed in some areas," he added.
Floral arrangements have been delivered this week to the Laundrie's home in North Port. (Fox News/Stephanie Pagones)
Mike Parsons, a resident of North Port, returned to the Laundrie’s property Wednesday to water flowers he previously left at the home.
The floral deliveries have been trickling into the property this week as the search remains ongoing for Brian Laundrie, the person of interest in the death of Gabby Petito.
"We dropped off some flowers the other day and I figured they'd be getting kind of dry so I wanted to come put some water on them... It's just important, like it is to a lot of people,” Parsons told Fox News’ Stephanie Pagones.
Parsons said he didn’t know the Petito family personally but “I’ve been following the case really close.”
"I think everybody [has], it touches their heart,” he added.
Investigators working with Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman are honing in on portions of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina as they continue their search for Brian Laundrie, who is wanted on bank fraud charges after his fiancée, Gabby Petito, was found dead in Wyoming.
As the manhunt for Laundrie forges on, people have claimed to have seen the 23-year-old avid hiker in Watauga County, North Carolina, according to multiple reports. Users in a private Facebook page, Appalachian Classifieds, described how people were "reporting seeing Brian Laundrie in Boone, NC," according to the Watauga Democrat.
The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office told local affiliate FOX 46, "We were looking into these claims, but nothing has been verified." The sheriff's office did not immediately respond to Fox News' request seeking confirmation.
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The Teton County Search and Rescue nonprofit says it has located a body in Wyoming believed to be Robert Lowery – a missing 46-year-old man – following renewed interest in the case because of the Gabby Petito investigation.
"The widespread news coverage of the Gabby Petito search helped bring light to Lowery’s case, and resulted in at least two members of the public calling local authorities this past weekend with new information about his possible last seen point," the group wrote on Facebook.
Lowery, from Houston, was last seen on Aug. 20.
"Teton County Search & Rescue conducted a search for Robert ‘Bob’ Lowery at the base of Teton Pass, Wyo., on Tuesday, Sept. 28," the group said. "After four hours of searching on foot, a team with a search dog located a body fitting Lowery’s description on a steep, timbered slope."
A Louisiana man believes he spoke with Brian Laundrie near Yellowstone National Park days before Gabby Petito’s disappearance. Hunter Mannies, who was traveling around the country in late August, described an "extremely uncomfortable" interaction with a man who looked like Laundrie and introduced himself as "Brian" at a local bar.
"It was an odd encounter," Mannies said on "Fox & Friends", noting that he didn’t know who Laundrie was at the time, as it was before Petito disappeared.
Mannies was traveling with a friend through Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The pair stopped at a bar in West Yellowstone, Montana, after visiting the Tetons.
"There was a guy by himself at the end of the bar," Mannies said. "We really didn’t pay him much attention until he got kind of – he just seemed overly invested in our conversation and eventually ended up speaking up."
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Marci Newsom, who camped next to the Laundrie family at Fort De Soto park in early September, according to documents, tells NBC2 that “they kept to themselves”.
A selfie that the couple captured at their campsite shows a man walking in the background, possibly Brian Laundrie.
"If somebody I knew was missing, I wouldn’t be going camping,” her husband Kenny said to the station.
Brian Laundrie’s mom Roberta did check in to a Florida park about 75 miles north of the family’s home earlier this month, records obtained by Fox News show.
Laundrie, 23, vanished on Sept. 14 – although his parents didn’t say anything until three days later. His 22-year-old fiancée Gabby Petito was found dead in Wyoming on Sept. 19 – weeks after the couple was seen camping near the site of her remains. The coroner later ruled her death a homicide.
Duane "Dog" Chapman, also known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, announced Saturday he was entering the search for Laundrie, and tips quickly poured in. He told Fox News he learned Monday that Laundrie’s parents spent the night in Fort De Soto Park with their son twice in early September from Sept. 1 to 3 and Sept. 6 to 8. -Paul Best
A flood of flower deliveries addressed to Gabby Petito continue to arrive at Brian Laundrie’s family’s home in North Port, Florida, where she lived for roughly two years before departing on a cross-country road trip with her fiancé in June.
The initiative is meant to keep Gabby's memory alive as Brian Laundrie's parents keep facing backlash on several fronts.
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