Who / What done it? Why? II

pete_c

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Who Done It? Why? (II)
 
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is a 1942 comedy-mystery film starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
 
This post though is not about the 1942 comedy mystery film. 
 
The search for Brian Laundrie in a swampy Florida nature reserve enters its second week - 25th of September, 2021
 
Since being informed a week ago by Brian Laundrie's parents that they had not seen him for days, dozens of local and federal officers have searched high and low in a swampy Florida nature reserve for the 23-year-old following the disappearance and then the discovery of the body of his fiancée Gabby Petito in Wyoming.
 
The search of the Carlton Reserve will resume Saturday, officials said.
Laundrie, who his parents say departed their home with his backpack on September 14 and told them he was headed to reserve, left his cell phone and wallet behind, a source close to the family told CNN on Thursday. The police were told of Laundrie's departure by his parents on September 17, officials said.
 
A multitude of personnel scoured the area this week, using drones and bloodhounds as part of the search, North Port Police Department spokesperson Josh Taylor said.
 
An underwater dive team from the Sarasota Sheriff's Office who are "called upon to search for evidence of crimes and victims of drowning, water accidents and foul play" was also brought in mid-week, according to the sheriff's office.
 
"We're looking through wooded areas, we're looking through bodies of water, we're looking through swampy areas," North Point Police Commander Joe Fussell said in a video shared online Friday. "And we're deploying the resources to be able to do that. We have air units, we have drones, we have the swamp buggies, air boats, multiple law enforcement agencies, we have ATVs, we have UTVs and we have officers on foot as well."
 
Petito, 22, and Laundrie embarked on a cross-country trip in June and were visiting national parks. They posted online regularly about their travels with the hashtag #VanLife, but those posts abruptly stopped in late August.
 
Laundrie returned home with their van on September 1. Petito was reported missing September 11 after her family had not been able to get in touch with her. She was found dead eight days later near a campground in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest.
According to an arrest warrant issued Thursday, Laundrie is wanted for the alleged use of "unauthorized devices" in the period following Petito's death.
The warrant "doesn't change anything for us," Fussell said. "We're working as hard to find him now as we did on day one."
 
The conditions are challenging with murky water, muddy roads and thick vegetation, according to videos shared by North Port police. "Rough is an understatement," Taylor said Thursday of the conditions in the reserve.
 
He said Saturday's and Sunday's efforts will be focusing on "areas of more likelihood."
 
Another person says she gave hitchhiking Laundrie a ride in August
With law enforcement combing through the reserve, more stories are emerging of interactions involving Laundrie before his return to Florida.
 
Norma Jean Jalovec, a seasonal Wyoming resident, told CNN that she picked up Laundrie not far from Jackson Lake Dam on August 29, around 6:15 p.m. and gave him a ride to the Spread Creek dispersed campground where Gabby Petito's remains were later found.
 
Laundrie was hitchhiking, Jalovec said, and got in the passenger seat of her Toyota SUV 4-Runner.
According to Jalovec, Laundrie told her he and his fiancée had a travel blog, that she was in their van at the camping area working on the blog, and that he had been hiking along the Snake River embankment for a few days.
 
Jalovec said when they arrived at Spread Creek, she dropped Laundrie off before the gate at the entrance of the camping area. She said she offered once or twice to take him farther, but he was insistent that he be dropped off at the entrance.
 
Laundrie then offered her gas money, but she declined, she said.
 
Jalovec said as soon as she saw a series of videos posted on TikTok by Miranda Baker, who said she picked up Laundrie hitchhiking and dropped him at Jackson Lake Dam, she called the FBI and shared all the information she had.
 
Baker had said she dropped Laundrie near the dam at 6:09 p.m. and Jalovec says she picked him up just a few minutes later.
 
"I'm glad I was able to help in the investigation that placed him at Spread Creek at a definite time on August 29," Jalovec told CNN.
 
CNN has not been able to independently verify Baker's claims. North Port police confirmed to CNN that Baker spoke with the department before posting the videos on TikTok.
 
 
 
 
 
My theory is that he is not even in the Carlton Reserve. The whole hiking story plus leaving the car there was just misdirection so everybody would waste days looking there while he quietly put some distance between himself and local law enforcement.
 
Similar thoughts here plus he (if he did it) might have felt very guilty and is / was a survivalist and may have killed himself.
 
Maybe but based on bodycam footage when they were stopped and separated I have a hard time seeing his personality as someone who could go through with suicide. Think he will rationalize a scenario where he disappears and eventually people stop looking for him. Can picture him weeping a lot when finally captured. 
 
Another interesting fact is that Laundrie and Petito were in the Moab area when Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner were killed. If Laundrie killed them and Petito saw or knew about it she might have been freaked out to the point that Laundrie was afraid she would turn him in so had to silence her. Dramatic speculation but it aligns with what we know at this time.
 
upstatemike said:
My theory is that he is not even in the Carlton Reserve. The whole hiking story plus leaving the car there was just misdirection so everybody would waste days looking there while he quietly put some distance between himself and local law enforcement.
 
This 100%
 
He also clearly had clear intentions to disappear.  Leaving his wallet (credit cards, ID, etc) and his phone at his parents home show this.  If he was just going out there to kill himself, odds are he would have taken those items.
 
Status October 02, 2021 - unedited video
 
Gabby Petito details fight with Brian Laundrie in new body camera footage
 
Sep 16, 2021

14,609,483 views
 
[youtube]http://youtu.be/fCGsW41aQEw[/youtube]

Lots of comments. I watched the entire video. Interesting. Video was stripped out when I went back to this post.

Published September 20, 2021

MOOSE, Wyo. - After days of pleading and searching for answers in Gabby Petito's disappearance, the FBI announced Sunday they believe they found the remains of the 22-year-old. Now, an autopsy scheduled for Tuesday will to determine a cause of death and positively identify the body.

Her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the case, is also missing as of Monday morning. North Port police have been searching for him throughout the weekend. On Friday, investigators spoke to his family for the first time since Gabby was reported missing on Sept. 11. They told police they haven't heard from Brian since Tuesday.
 
12 October, 2021
 
Gabby Petito autopsy: Cause of death was strangulation, Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue says
Fox News
 
NORTH PORT, Fla. – Gabby Petito died from strangulation, Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue revealed during a Tuesday news briefing, weeks after the FBI uncovered the 22-year-old's remains at Bridger-Teton National Forest, north of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
 
Blue last month announced the young woman's manner of death was homicide. 
 
Brian Laundrie, Petito's fiance and the only person of interest named in connection with the case, hasn't been seen since Sept. 13. He is also the subject of a federal warrant for alleged bank card fraud.
 
Petito's remains were out in the Wyoming wilderness for three to four weeks, Brent said, without going into detail about the impact this may have had on the autopsy. She was seen alive in public on Aug. 27, three weeks and two days before the discovery.
 
"We hereby find the cause and manner of death to be, the cause, death by strangulation, and manner is homicide," Blue said. "By Wyoming state statute, no other information will be released about the autopsy."
 
He ruled out rumors that Petito had been pregnant at the time of her death and stressed that information about a potential suspect would have to come from law enforcement.
 
The FBI’s Denver Field Office is leading the investigation into Petito's slaying. 
 
Blue declined to go into greater detail about the autopsy findings, citing Wyoming law.
 
Pat Diaz, a longtime Miami-Dade homicide detective, said the examiner likely reached the strangulation conclusion due to a broken hyoid, which he said could only be seen through an X-ray due to the body's state of decomposition.
 
 
Strangulation could be difficult to prosecute in court without a confession, Diaz said, but not impossible.
 
Blue had previously declined to answer questions about whether his office was equipped with an X-ray machine -- but said Tuesday that the entire autopsy was conducted at his facility.
 
He attributed the lengthy delay in announcing the cause of death to his thoroughness in the examination of the body.
 
"We were very exacting our examination and the detail by which that examination was done," he said. "We were waiting for various specialists to come in and help us with this investigation. We were waiting on toxicology to be returned, and it was just a matter of making sure we had everything right."
 
He declined to release any findings from the toxicology report, citing Wyoming statute.
 
As of Friday, Petito's remains were still being held in Wyoming. Blue said the family was making arrangements for her return home to New York.
 
"Bringing her home is the family's top priority," the attorney for her parents, Richard Stafford, told Fox News. 
 
Authorities found Petito's body near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sept. 19, near where a travel-blogging couple saw the pair's 2012 Ford Transit van parked in late August.
 
The discovery came eight days after her mother reported her missing on Long Island, New York, and 18 days after her fiance, Brian Laundrie, returned home to Florida without her. 
 
"Gabby Petito’s death at such a young age is a tragedy," Laundrie's attorney, Steve Bertolino, said in a statement Tuesday. "While Brian Laundrie is currently charged with the unauthorized use of a debit card belonging to Gabby, Brian is only considered a person of interest in relation to Gabby Petito’s demise.  At this time Brian is still missing and when he is located we will address the pending fraud charge against him."
 
The couple grew up on Long Island and began dating after attending high school together. They later moved to North Port, Florida., where they lived with Laundrie's parents. In June, they embarked on a cross-country journey in a converted white Ford Transit with the plan to visit national parks along the way.
 
On Aug. 12, witnesses called police on the couple in Moab, Utah, after allegedly seeing Laundrie slapping and hitting Petito outside an organic grocer just off Main Street. No charges were filed, but police told them to split up overnight and drove Laundrie to a hotel. 
 
However it's unclear whether he checked in. The owner told Fox News the room had been booked through a nonprofit for domestic violence victims and was not in his name.
 
Jason Jensen, a Salt Lake City-based private investigator, predicted Monday that the cause of death could be strangulation due to Petito’s gesturing toward her chin and neck in bodycam video of the Aug. 12 incident.
 
On Aug. 27, in what was possibly the last public sighting of Petito, eyewitnesses said they saw her crying as Laundrie fought with restaurant staff at Merry Piglets, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
 
On Sept. 1, months after they began their trip, Laundrie returned to the North Port home in the couple's van, but without Petito, officials said. The young woman was not reported missing until 10 days later, on Sept. 11, when her mother notified police in Suffolk County, New York. Authorities later seized the van from the Laundries' home.
 
Laundrie was subsequently named a person of interest in Petito’s disappearance. His whereabouts remained unknown as of Tuesday afternoon. He has not been charged in her death. 
 
Brian Laundrie search: 'Probability is high' that his remains were found
THU, October 21, 2021
 
Steve Bertolino, the attorney representing the Laundrie family, confirms to Fox News Digital that the "probability is high" that remains found Wednesday in a Florida park belong to Brian.
 
Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden tells “Fox & Friends First” that he agrees with the belief that the remains found yesterday in a Florida park is likely Brian Laundrie. 
 
“The difficult part will be the cause of death depending on the environment, since he was underwater apparently for a while,” he said.  
 
“The most important thing will be what kind of animal activity there was during the past, perhaps, five weeks that he has been missing,” he added. “Remember, they have insects, rodents and alligators there, so that won’t affect the identification, but will affect the cause of death and that is what the medical examiner in Sarasota will be working on for the next couple of days.” 
 
Brian Laundrie found: FBI confirms remains
A comparison of dental records confirmed Laundrie's identity
By Audrey Conklin , Michael Ruiz | Fox News October 21, 2021
 
The FBI on Thursday confirmed remains recovered from the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Florida, on Wednesday were Florida fugitive Brian Laundrie's. 
 
A comparison of dental records confirmed the 23-year-old's identity, according to the FBI.
 
Laundrie's former fiancée Gabby Petito, 22, turned up dead near a Wyoming campsite the couple shared in late August. The FBI discovered her remains on Sept. 19.
 
"On October 21, 2021, a comparison of dental records confirmed that the human remains found at the T. Mabry Carlton, Jr. Memorial Reserve and Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park are those of Brian Laundrie," the agency tweeted Thursday.
 
The remains were discovered in the park Wednesday near items belonging to Laundrie.
 
Steven Bertolino, the attorney representing the Laundrie family, confirmed the findings to Fox News.
 
"Chris and Roberta Laundrie have been informed that the remains found yesterday in the reserve are indeed Brian's. We have no further comment at this time and we ask that you respect the Laundrie's privacy at this time," Bertolino said.
 
Law enforcement officers visited the Laundries' home for about two minutes on Thursday afternoon just before the news was announced.
 
The Laundries themselves helped lead police to the remains, visiting the park Wednesday with a pair of officers and searching an area where they have for weeks insisted their son liked to hike. With water levels significantly lower this week than on Chris Laundrie’s Oct. 7 visit to the same area with investigators, more ground was visible.
 
"Chris confirmed with me just this morning that when him and Roberta looked, I believe it was on the 14th (of September), the whole area was waist deep or higher in water," Steve Bertolino, the Laundries’ attorney, told Fox News Digital earlier Thursday. "The FBI confirmed that yesterday that that area until recently had been flooded with water. When that water receded, obviously more things were accessible."
 
Laundrie and Petito, both New York Natives, were traveling on a cross-country road trip in Petito's Ford Transit van over the summer before Petito was reported missing. Laundrie drew national attention after returning to his parents' home in North Port, Florida on Sept. 1 home in Petito’s van – without her – and saying nothing about it before vanishing himself less than two weeks later.
 
Petito’s mother reported her missing on Sept. 11 after spending more than a week trying to reach her daughter, Laundrie and his parents to no avail.
Petito was last seen in public on Aug. 27 at a restaurant called Merry Piglets in Jackson, Wyoming. That day, Laundrie was seen by multiple eyewitnesses arguing with female restaurant workers.
 
Two weeks before the Wyoming fight, witnesses in Moab, Utah, called police to report an apparent domestic dispute between the couple in which Laundrie allegedly slapped and hit Petito outside an organic grocery store in broad daylight. Responding officers ultimately issued no charges in that incident.
 
Richard Stafford, a lawyer and spokesman for Petito’s parents, told Fox News’ Laura Ingle that the family was not immediately prepared to make a statement.
 
"They are grieving the loss of their beautiful daughter," he said. "Gabby’s family will make a statement at the appropriate time and when they are emotionally ready."
 
Numerous criminal profilers and advocates for domestic abuse survivors have speculated that the heated display in public led to an argument between the couple that eventually led to Petito’s death, which Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue ruled a homicide by strangulation earlier this month.
 
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