The Search for Brian Laundrie

Ever since the news of Gabby Petito’s disapperance hit national news in mid-September, I have been hooked on following all of the updates. As discovered through the public fighting caught by onlookers to actual police encounters in Utah, Gabby and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie weren’t just some carefree couple traveling the West in their van — there was something more going on. As it turns out, there was. Gabby’s body was found late in September in a campsite in Wyoming, and Brian had already returned home to Florida weeks before, without her. When he body was discovered, Brian Laundrie had already disappeared.

It is clear — to me at least — that he is definitely guilty of the crime. I thought so from the beginning, after all why would he return home to Florida without her, and the couples’ emotional instability was notable from several public encounters. Then there is the evidence of the van being at the campsite around the time that she died (this GoPro footage from another vehicle was actually what led police to her body). The fact that he disappeared cemented it in my mind, however. He is guilty as sin.

So where could he be? There was the searching of a Florida wildlife reserve by the Fed after Brian told his family he was going there. Then there were clues that led Dog the Bounty Hunter to search a campground that Brian had visited with his family in early September. Based on the amateur investigation and current evidence, though, those were two fruitless searches that missed the mark by weeks. There’s no chance he was in either of those places after September 19th.

I am almost 100% that he made his way through the Florida panhandle and up into Alabama. From there, he went to northern Georgia and into North Carolina following the Appalachian Trial. This is obvious from the reports linking him to each place. There was a trail camera in Florida that caught someone that looked like him in the middle of the night. Then at least 8 people reported seeing him in Mobile, Alabama. Now, there are dozens of calls and reports rolling in from North Carolina suggested he is/was in the area recently.

Wherever his exact location, I hope that he is caught soon and it is likely that he will. It would be too hard to evade capture for long after all of the national news, and with the technology and instant information age that we live in. I am pretty surprised, however, that he has lasted more than a few weeks without being apprehended. I am fascinated to see what happens and see where the story goes. What a wild ride it has been, and can’t wait for the documentaries in a few years.