BRIAN Laundrie’s cause of death has not yet been confirmed, weeks after his bones were located at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, and sleuths appear convinced that the fugitive’s notebook will provide insight into his fiancée’s death.
Laundrie’s remains have been given to a forensic anthropologist to be inspected, and his cause of death is expected to be determined by the end of November.
It’s unknown if authorities will release Laundrie’s cause of death to the public, but some sleuths think he may have been eaten after “alligator bones” seem to have been spotted near where his bones were located.
Meanwhile, despite the contents of Laundrie’s notebook not yet being revealed, a friend of Brian’s told The Sun in an exclusive interview that the notebook could contain clues to solve Gabby Petito’s death, whom a medical coroner determined had died due to strangulation.
Criminologist Casey Jordan said a notebook “pointed to the possibility” of a suicide note, 7News reports.
Gabby Petito was last seen on August 24, 2021, checking out of a hotel with Brian in Salt Lake City, Utah and she was reported missing on September 11 by her mother after Brian returned home without her on September 1.
On September 19, 2021, authorities in Wyoming announced a body was found in the area where the search for Gabby had been underway.
Read our Brian Laundrie live blog for the latest news and updates…
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LAUNDRIE FAMILY ATTORNEY INSISTS ‘NO DEAL WAS CUT’
Web sleuths have similarly speculated Laundrie’s parents “made a deal” with the FBI to reveal what they know about where the location of his body might be on the condition they were free from prosecution.
In a TV interview, Steven Bertolino, the lawyer for Laundrie’s family, said “conversations were had with respect to certain charges” insisted “no deal was cut” after claims were put to him.
But internet detectives believe there were “clearly negotiations” that they claim led to Laundrie’s parents telling authorities information related to where their son’s body was – in exchange for immunity from being prosecuted.
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WHEN WERE BRIAN’S REMAINS FOUND?
Six days later, on Sept. 19, Gabby’s remains were found at a campsite near Grand Teton National Park.
A five-week nationwide search for Laundrie then ensued.
While he wasn’t named as a suspect in her death a warrant was issued for his arrest on allegations of bank fraud.
That search came to an end on October 20 after skeletal remains were found in Myakkahatchee Creek Park, which is adjacent to the Carlton Reserve, in Sarasota County, Florida.
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WHEN DID BRIAN DISAPPEAR?
Brian quietly returned home to Florida alone on September 1, failing to alert police or Gabby’s family that she was missing.
Gabby was eventually reported missing by her mother in New York on September 11. That came after 10 days of allegedly being stonewalled by Brian and his parents about where her daughter was.
Brian then vanished himself on September 13, telling his parents he was going hiking in the Carlton Reserve. They described him as being “upset” and “out of sorts” when he left their home for the last time.
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CONSPIRACY THEORISTS SUGGEST BRIAN IS STILL ALIVE
Online sleuths are claiming that Brian Laundrie is in fact still alive and is now living as a cop, among other wild conspiracies pushed in the wake of his skeletal remains being found.
In one TikTok video, someone posted a blurry photo showing a police officer with a resemblance close to Laundrie.
The man, seen in the photo wearing a baseball cap and glasses, was seen walking next to Laundrie’s father Chris on October 7.
The user, posting under the name conspiracyteacrimetimeee, then captioned the TikTok: “Brian Laundrie’s father seen laughing with officer who looks exactly like his son while on their search in Carlton Reserve.”
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GABBY’S DAD: ‘I KNOW WHY YOU CAME HERE’
When he traveled to Wyoming to recover his daughter’s remains, Joe Petito posted the “beautiful view” of a lake near where Gabby’s body was found in Wyoming.
“I now know why you came here. #gabbypetito has a beautiful view from now on. Love you, and miss you,” Joe Petito wrote on Twitter, alongside a picture of a lake surrounded by mountains.
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INVESTIGATORS LOOK FOR DNA ON GABBY’S BODY
Paul Belli, an ex lieutenant of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, thinks Gabby’s killer could have left DNA on her body.
He told CNN: “You would expect DNA on either one of them from the other. But I mean, if there’s DNA maybe where it shouldn’t be, that could be kind of a clue as to what may have occurred.
“So there are ways to absolutely, at least get you to a point where you’re like ‘Ok this definitely makes sense, this is the person who did this crime.”
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WHAT WAS BRIAN LAUNDRIE’S CAUSE OF DEATH?
Following a weeks-long search through Myakkahatchee and the nearby Carlton Reserve for Brian, the fugitive’s bones were found inside the alligator-infested parks, but questions still remain on how he died.
The location where Brian’s remains were eventually found had previously been submerged in four feet of storm waters for more than a month.
The advanced state of decomposition that his remains were found in means that they were likely feasted on by gators and other local wildlife, as five weeks wouldn’t be long enough for a body to decompose that much naturally, experts told The Sun.
A cause, manner, and date of death have not yet been determined for Brian after an autopsy came back inconclusive late last month.
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SHERIFF SAYS BRIAN LIKELY KILLED HIMSELF
A Florida sheriff revealed that Brian likely took his own life, as authorities were desperately searching for the fugitive’s fiancé, Gabby Petito.
The Herald Tribune reported that Sarasota County Kurt Hoffman said Laundrie went out to the preserve ‘and by all accounts probably committed suicide.’
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BRIAN’S FAMILY FURIOUS OVER WOMAN POSING AS EX
The Sun exclusively revealed that the Laundries are furious at the woman who was pretending to be Brian’s ex-girlfriend.
According to a family source, Brian’s sister, Cassie, said she and her family did not know who the woman is.
April Valenzuela, who shares a mutual friend with the Laundries, told the US Sun that she spoke to the alleged “fake” girlfriend for two hours on the phone last Tuesday.
Valenzuela said Cassie was “furious” after seeing stories about “Gabriella Darling.”
“It was messed up, and it made Cassie so mad,” Ms Valenzuela told the US Sun.
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OFFICIALS ‘ILLEGALLY’ CHARGED $3,000 IN FEES FOR VIDEO, CONTINUED
The thousands of dollars in fees charged by Moab police the dissemination of the footage – which grabbed national spotlight – cost three times more than what the department had expected to take in for the entire fiscal year of fee revenues, the Salt Lake Tribune reported citing a city budget document.
Moab Police Department charged 30 entities – mostly news organizations – $98 to provide the footage totaling $2,940, according to a document The Tribune obtained through an open records request.
The law enforcement agency has since agreed to refund the fees which may have violated Utah law.
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OFFICIALS ‘ILLEGALLY’ CHARGED $3,000 IN FEES FOR VIDEO
Officials in the Utah city where Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie had an explosive domestic dispute have been accused of illegally collecting nearly $3,000 in fees for the distressing police bodycam footage of the incident.
The Moab Police Department are planning to return the fees collected from multiple media organizations featuring footage of the officers pulling over Gabby and her ex-fiancé Brian outside of Arches National Park.
The August 12 recordings showed the 22-year-old Gabby holding her neck and explaining to both Moab and park officers that her fiance Brian had “scratched and grabbed” her, causing the bruises – nearly a month before the woman was reported missing and later found dead.
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BRIAN ‘HAD WEEKS TO DISTURB EVIDENCE,’ SAYS EXPERT
Paul Belli, of the International Homicide Investigations Association, told The Sun: “Here’s a person that had weeks to handle or do things to disturb scenes such as the van.
“I would be looking at the scenes. Cops may be looking at the actual scene of the crime. They may not have that. I don’t know.”
Belli said investigators will have carried out a lot of “forensic processing” on the young couple’s Ford transit van that they traveled in.
Belli fears that investigators may not fully know what happened in Gabby’s final moments.
The expert said: “I think they’ll get a lot of information and have a circumstantial idea of what actually occurred but there’s a good possibility that they may never know every detail.”
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BRIAN LAUNDRIE MAY HAVE DIED BEFORE MANHUNT BEGAN
Investigators piecing together Brian Laundrie’s last known movements may be looking at a timeline change after cops admitted he likely died before the manhunt for him even began.
North Port Police spokesperson Joshua Taylor told PEOPLE “there is a very good possibility” the 23-year-old fugitive died on September 13 – the same day he told his parents he was going hiking in Carlton Reserve but never came home.
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‘INCOMPETENCE’
Investigators with the North Port Police Department watched Brian leave home in his silver Ford Mustang on September 13 through hidden cameras they’d secretly planted around the property.
Two days later, they thought they saw him return in the same car.
However, on September 17, Brian’s parents reported him missing. They said he’d told them he was going hiking four days earlier – the day police watched him leave – in the nearby Carlton Reserve but never returned home.
Police later realized that it was, in fact, Roberta Laundrie, Brian’s mother, who they had seen get out from the fugitive’s Mustang on Sept. 15.
Former NYPD homicide detective told The Sun that the misidentification amounts to “incompetence”, adding that police should have tailed Laundrie when they saw him leave.
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HOW WERE BRIAN LAUNDRIE’S REMAINS IDENTIFIED?
Laundrie’s remains were positively identified through his dental records – exactly a month after those of Gabby.
They were sent to an anthropologist for further tests as an autopsy came back inconclusive.
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‘BOMBARDED WITH VIOLENT IMAGES’
“Then there can be people in the throes of various mental illnesses that can be kind of bombarded with violent images that are representations of how they feel inside,” Dr Guralnik added.
Laundrie shared numerous art pieces that featured blood, knives, and violence to social media.
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‘SOCIOPATHS WILL ACT ON VIOLENT IMAGES’
Brian Laundrie’s artwork was analyzed by a psychologist, who told The Sun that it’s “rare to act on violent images”.
Dr Orna Guralnik, a Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst from New York, said “sociopaths will act on violent images.”
She added: “Many people translate difficult feelings that they have inside to violent images. Many people translate bad feelings into violent motifs.”
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QUESTIONABLE FIREARM
Photos surfaced of Brian Laundrie’s bedroom revealing an American Flag-painted gun hanging off his bookshelf.
The gun hangs diagonally from a black-and-white poster above a bookshelf of people beating each other.
The gun was noticed by internet sleuths, but investigators are still looking into Brian’s habits leading up to Gabby Petito’s death and his disappearance.
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BRIAN’S FAMILY ‘MAY NEVER SPEAK’ ABOUT SON
Brian Laundrie’s parents may never tell their side of the story, Steven Bertolino said to CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
Cuomo asked the reason behind the family’s decision not to speak with authorities or Gabby Petito’s family.
“I can tell you the reason,” Bertolino said. “I told them not to.”
Cuomo then asked if the Laundries will “explain the situation” at a later date.
“It may come out in the future, it may not,” said Bertolino.
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BRIAN LAUNDRIE BUFFET, CONTINUED
The pictures were shared in several Gabby Petito Facebook groups, sparking a flurry of both positive and negative comments.
One person asked: “Did your kid have fun? That’s all the matters! I think it’s very creative.”
Another commented: “It’s funny for Halloween but idt that’s a great theme for a first birthday. She might look back on that when she is older and be like wtf (sic).”
However, the theme of the birthday party was also slammed by some furious users online.
One posted: “I could understand the skeleton/Halloween theme but trying to poke fun of a situation like Gabby and Brian’s is completely unacceptable.”
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DAD THROWS BRIAN LAUNDRIE-THEMED BUFFET FOR DAUGHTER’S BIRTHDAY
A father threw a Brian Laundrie themed buffet party as he celebrated his daughter’s first birthday and uploaded photos on social media.
Pictures uploaded to Facebook show a skeleton lying on a table that’s been covered in pancetta.
Gummy worms appear to be in the skeleton’s eyeballs and mouth and there is a selection of cheese and crackers scattered on a black tablecloth.
The name “Brian Laundrie” was also written on a black chalkboard standing next to the skeleton.
Posting in an Aldi-themed Facebook group, Jack Bersch said: “We did this with Aldi food for my daughter’s first birthday.”
“If you don’t like it that’s fine. We all thought it was funny and I would understand if I’m no longer a part of this group tomorrow morning.”
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JOKERS DRESS UP AS BRIAN AND DOG
Some trolls decided to pair up and dress as Brian and Dog the Bounty Hunter, after supposedly being inspired by the bounty hunter’s well-documented search for the fugitive.
Pictures shared on social media show people posing as Dog pretending to have caught Brian.
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TROLLS DRESS UP AS BRIAN FOR HALLOWEEN
Social media trolls shared photos of themselves dressed up as Brian Laundrie for Halloween this year.
Others have gone as far as to put up distasteful decorations.
The nationwide search for Brian came to an end on October 21, when his remains were identified after being located by authorities at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.
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‘LUDICROUS’ CLAIMS
The Laundrie’s attorney, Steven Bertolino, spoke with News Nation Now to express his anger at the accusations that the Laundrie’s planted their son’s remains.
“Do you really think the Laundries had skeletal remains of their son, you know, in a plastic bag and brought them to present to the [Carlton Reserve]?” he said.
“Do you realize how ludicrous that is, how aggravating, how maddening it is to even hear those things?”
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‘I KNOW WHY YOU CAME HERE’
When he traveled to Wyoming to recover his daughter’s remains, Joe Petito posted the “beautiful view” of a lake near where Gabby’s body was found in Wyoming.
“I now know why you came here. #gabbypetito has a beautiful view from now on. Love you, and miss you,” Joe Petito wrote on Twitter, alongside a picture of a lake surrounded by mountains.