Brian Laundrie—whose body was found in late October following a nationwide search for his fiancée Gabby Petito—reportedly likely died by suicide.
Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman told people “in town” that Laundrie—who was a person of interest in Petito’s disappearance—“went out there and by all accounts probably committed suicide,” adding that “he was right out there where we thought he was,” per TMZ.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune shares that Hoffman said this during a Friday panel at the South County Tiger Bay Club alongside North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison. His comments came as he praised Garrison and his department on the search.
“We talked probably 20 times during that situation and obviously we supported them out in the preserve looking for Brian Laundrie,” Hoffman said. “I told them; you guys were right—he and [the] deputy chief were right.”
As previously reported, the five-week search for Laundrie ended on Oct. 20, when his remains were discovered on a Florida trail near his notebook and backpack.
Laundrie’s remains were found a month after Petito was discovered dead in a national forest in Teton County, Wyoming. Her cause of death was determined to be strangulation, according to a coroner.
“By Wyoming state statute, only the cause and manner of death are released,” Teton County, Wyoming coroner Brent Blue said last month. “The autopsy findings and photographs and that sort of material [will not be] released.”
For more on the discovery of Petito and everything you may have missed regarding her disappearance and the ensuing hunt for Brian Laundrie, head here.
