The FBIannounced Wednesday that the U.S. District Court of Wyoming issued an arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie, days after the body of his fiancé Gabby Petito was found in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest.
“While this warrant allows law enforcement to arrest Mr. Laundrie, the FBI and our partners across the country continue to investigate the facts and circumstances of Ms. Petito’s homicide,” the agency said in a statement. “We urge individuals with knowledge of Mr. Laundrie’s role in this matter or his current whereabouts to contact the FBI.”
Even though autopsy results haven’t come back yet, Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue initially ruled Petito’s death to be a homicide. Since she was reported missing, Laundrie has been considered a person of interest since he was believed to be the last person with Gabby before her disappearance. However, the warrant is pertaining to bank fraud for allegedly obtaining items valued at over $1,000, per WWSB.
Laundrie returned to his parents’ home in Florida on Sept. 1 without Petito, who was reported missing nearly two weeks later. The two had been living in their residence before embarking on a cross-country trip last month. Laundrie left again last week with a backpack, telling his family that he was headed to the nearly 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County.
Laundrie has been missing since Sept. 17.
Authorities have reportedly used drones and bloodhounds to try and locate Laundrie, but have come up empty, leaving some to wonder if he ever went to the reserve in the first place.
“People that are trying not to get caught for something sometimes use people, right? So he may have told his parents that’s where he’s going,” Chris Boyer, executive director for the National Association for Search and Rescue, told Insider. “They may be telling the authorities that in all honesty, but he lied to them.”
