A former federal prosecutor has claimed that Brian Laundrie’s parents could face obstruction and accessory charges if they have provided false information to law enforcement.
So far, parents Chris and Roberta Laundrie have not been accused of any crime. However, critics have been following their every move and they are skeptical of their claims that they know nothing about their son Brian’s location.
The family said nothing about the fact that Petito was missing and it wasn’t until last week that Dog the Bounty Hunter said Laundrie and his parents went on a camping trip at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8.
He added that on the latter visit only the parents left.
‘If they provided false information to law enforcement that let Brian Laundrie take off and get a week head start, or if the parents sent law enforcement on a wild goose chase, searching the preserve when he wasn’t there, there’s certainly a basis to charge them,’ Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told Fox News.
The Laundrie family has remained tight-lipped since Petito’s disappearance even though she lived with them before her and Brian left to travel across the country and tour national parks.
Chris (back) and Roberta (front) Laundrie, parents of Brian Laundrie, leave their North Port, Florida, said they have no idea where their son is
Parents of missing Brian Laundrie, seen last Thursday, are under surveillance from the FBI
Brian came home to his parents on September 1 without former fiancee Gabby Petito in the van they travelled around in.
An FBI-led search team eventually found Petito’s remains near Grand Teton National Park on September 19th, at a campsite where she stayed in the van with Laundrie in late August.
Until now, Brian has only been described as a ‘person of interest’ in the Petito case.
His only charge is using a debit card fraudulently for allegedly using a bank card that is not his without permission and retrieving more than $1,000.
‘Since he lawyered up right away, I doubt they made any statements,’ said Pat Diaz, a former Miami-Dade homicide detective.
‘So it’s going to be hard-pressed to prove [wrongdoing] unless they get actual evidence on the parents, which I don’t think they’re going to have.’
What the Laundries exactly told investigators remains unknown, but if they kept almost entirely quiet behind closed doors as they have been publicly, then it would be hard to demonstrate how they lied to authorities, Diaz added.
But the FBI may have uncovered physical or digital evidence that is not yet publicly available.
The home of the Laundrie’s in North Port, Florida, where Gabby and Brian were living before they decided to tour national parks across the country in a remodeled Ford Transit van
Brian Laundrie, 23, who was reported missing since September 14, remains a person of interest in the disappearance and death of fiancée Gabby Petito
The Ford Transit van that Gabby and Brian traveled in is seen on the Laundrie’s driveway on September 20, 19 days after Brian came home without his girlfriend
Lara Yeretsian, a criminal defense attorney based in Los Angeles, said the potential charges against the Laundriers depend on what, if anything, they told the FBI when investigators searched their home last month, and whether they actually misled or deceived authorities.
‘We don’t have enough information,’ she said. ‘All of this is conjecture, honestly.’
But if Brian’s parents are charged, Yerestian said, then it is likely that the offenses relate to obstructing justice or accessory after the fact.
The family’s lawyer, Steven Bertolino, said Brian saw his sister Cassie twice in the first week of September although she told reporters on September 17 that she had not been in contact with her brother.
However, Bertolino has maintained that Brian’s whereabouts are unknown and that the parents have no idea where their son is. The attorney for Petito’s parents has alleged that Brian Laundrie is hiding.
Petito and Laundrie had been travelling on a cross-country trip together since July 2, when they left New York. Petito was reported missing on September 11
Rahmani said he expects federal investigators to have already begun summoning phone records and other evidence as part of the investigation and that more serious charges against Laundrie will soon be brought forward.
He also said the Laundrie family’s unusual silence has been suspicious.
‘People that are worried about their future daughter-in-law, this is not how they act,’ he said. ‘They don’t call a lawyer before reporting her missing to law enforcement, right?
‘They assist an investigation. They don’t go camping when they’re looking for someone. Everything that they’ve done is inconsistent with someone who is concerned about finding their missing children.’
Timeline of missing Gabby Petito’s case
- July 1: Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie left Blue Point, New York for a cross-country road trip
- August 12: Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple
- Aug. 21: Petito’s father, Joseph Petito, has his last FaceTime video call with his daughter who was in Salt Lake City, Utah
- Aug. 24: Petito is last seen at a hotel in Salt Lake City with Laundrie
- Aug. 25: Petito makes final call to her mother, Nicole Schmidt, saying she was in Grand Teton National Park
- Aug. 25 or 26: The couple chats with the owner of a shop called ‘Rustic Row’ in Victor, Utah for about 20 minutes
- Aug. 27: Video of Petito’s van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune, of Red White & Bethune, around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground
- Aug. 29: The day that Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker claimed that she and her boyfriend were approached by Laundrie at Grand Teton National Park and asked them for a ride at 5.30pm; Schmidt says she is not entertaining this claim and believes it possibly factual
- Aug. 30: Schmidt receives the last text from Petito: ‘No service in Yosemite’
- Sept. 1: Laundrie returns to his parents’ home in North Port, Florida in a van without Petito
- Sept. 6-7: Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida
- Sept. 11: Schmidt reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie’s van was impounded by police in Florida that same day
- Sept. 12: Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito
- Sept. 14: Laundrie issues a statement about Petito’s disappearance through his lawyer; Also on this day, Laundrie allegedly left his parents’ home for a hike
- Sept. 15: Laundrie is officially named a person of interest in Petito’s case
- Sept. 17: Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown
- Sept. 18: North Port police and the FBI start searching the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County for missing Brian Laundrie
- Sept. 19: Bethune realizes she has video of Petito’s van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials announce a body was found near Grand Teton National Park that matched Petito’s description in the afternoon
- Sept. 21: Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under invesetigation
- Sept. 20 – 22: FBI and North Port police continue search for Laundrie in Carton Reserve
- Sept. 22: Neighbors say they saw the Laudrie family pack up their detached camper on the day Gabby was reported missing. DailyMail.com photos show the camper was back in the driveway two days later, on September 13
- Sept. 23: FBI issues an arrest warrant for Laundrie for ‘use of unauthorized access device’ for fraudulently using a Capitol One Bank debit card that was not his between August 30 and September 1 to spend $1,000; A probe is launched into the police handling of the Utah police incident on Aug. 12; Laundrie’s parents visit their attorney in Orlando
- Sept. 25: Dog the Bounty Hunter joins the search for Laundrie
- Sept. 26: A funeral is held for Petito in Holbrook, New York, and her family launch a charity to help parents find missing children
- Sept. 27: Manhunt for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve is scaled back after 10 day search doesn’t find him. Dog the Bounty Hunter says Laundrie and his parents stayed at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8 – and that on the latter visit only the parents left
- Sept. 28: Laundrie’s mom is accused of using a burner phone to contact her son Sept. 29: Documents reveal Laundrie’s mom canceled a reservation for the Fort De Soto Park campsite for two from September 1 to 3 and booked for three from September 6 to 8; FBI seizes surveillance footage from site; FBI investigates lead Laundrie bought a burner phone on September 14; Dog the Bounty Hunter searches the area near Fort De Soto finding a recently drunk can of Monster Energy at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods
- Sept. 30: Bodycam footage from a second officer at the August 12 incident is released showing a distressed Petito admitting Laundrie hit her; FBI agents collect more evidence from the Laundrie home
- Oct. 1: It emerges Laundrie’s sister had contact with him after she said she did
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