Police Armed With Rifles At Site Of Brian Laundrie Search

NORTH PORT, FLORIDA — Police were spotted walking into the forest with rifles on Friday, during their efforts to search the are of the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park for a person wanted by the FBI, Brian Laundrie.

When Allyson Henning, a reporter for WFLA, called the North Port police to inquire about the officers with rifles, she was told that the group was “training and searching.”

Police tape was also put up on the same day at that location, the first time since the search began one month ago.

Laundrie is a person of interest in the homicide of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, whose body was found in Wyoming in September. Laundrie and Petito were a couple, and were on a cross-country road trip when Laundrie returned home to North Port with Petito’s van, alone. Neither Laundrie or his family have provided police with any information regarding Petito, who lived with the family in North Port for 2 years.

Petito’s death was ruled a homicide, and the cause of death was determined to be manual strangulation.