Brian Laundrie manhunt: North Port Police conduct 'special response team training while searching'
A forensic pathologist says Teton County, Wyoming, coroner Brent Blue's brief press conference this week discussing Gabby Petito's cause of death was "quite disappointing," citing a lack of information shared with the public.
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Mementos displayed at the site where Gabby Petito's remains were found. (Fox News)
The grieving parents of Gabby Petito on Thursday left mementos at the site where their daughter's remains were recovered at a campground area within Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest.
The family traveled to Wyoming to collect their daughter's ashes after Teton County coroner Brent Blue ruled her cause of death as strangulation on Tuesday.
Petito's parents left a yellow sunflower and a white bag decorated with messages written in pen the other items at the site where her remains were found. Other items that were at the site when they arrived included a pink rock with writing on it and a wooden cross.
Her parents and their attorney also met with law enforcement in Wyoming this week to discuss the case but could not share details and are returning home this weekend with her cremated remains.
Laura Ingle contributed to this update.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday said he hopes fugitive Brian Laundrie "is apprehended and brought to justice" if officials find him guilty of a crime.
DeSantis' comments came after a press conference in North Port, Florida — where Brian Laundrie used to live with his parents and deceased fiancée, Gabby Petito — during which the governor announced a $1.69 million grant for the city to facilitate job creation.
"You know, my view would be: it's a little disappointing that we still don't have this guy's whereabouts," DeSantis said in response to a question from Fox News Miami correspondent Phil Keating about his theory on where Brian Laundrie is hiding after the press conference.
Officers returned to the Carlton Reserve Friday afternoon
North Port Police officers are seen near the the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on Friday afternoon.
Police say what's happening there is "special response team training while searching."
Chris Laundrie, father of fugitive Brian Laundrie, last Thursday helped law enforcement search for his son in the park.
Fugitive Brian Laundrie appeared "very much in control" of his late fiancée, Gabby Petito, during their cross-country road trip before she disappeared, former FBI Behavioral Science Unit researcher Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess says.
Laundrie and Petito were traveling in a van from New York to Oregon over the summer before Petito's parents reported her missing on Sept. 11. The FBI discovered her remains eight days later at a dispersed camping area within Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest on Sept. 19.
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Chris and Roberta Laundrie appeared outside their home Friday to pick up packages left outside their door.
The couple had not been seen since Wednesday – one day after Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue announced that Gabby Petito died from manual strangulation.
Neither of the Laundries responded to questions from the press, including queries as to whether they would again assist in the search for their son Brian Laundrie.
A new sign bearing Gabby Petito's image has been installed at the Laundrie family home.
Two women arrived to install the new sign, which is located at a makeshift memorial on the corner of the property.
A memorial poster of Gabby Petito hangs on a fence across the street from the funeral home where the memorial service for the murdered woman was being held, September 26, 2021 in Holbrook, Long Island, New York. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
Forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht says Teton County, Wyoming, coroner Brent Blue's brief Tuesday press conference discussing Gabby Petito's cause of death was "quite disappointing," citing a lack of information shared with the public.
Blue announced that Petito died from manual strangulation, weeks after the FBI located the 22-year-old's remains at Bridger-Teton National Forest, north of Jackson Hole on Sept. 19.
"I found the [press] conference by the coroner's office there to be quite disappointing. I don't know why, frankly, he conducted a news conference at all," Wecht said.
He noted there were only two important details Blue announced: the cause of death as strangulation and the determination that Petito’s remains were discovered three to four weeks after she died.
"Well, three to four weeks is no surprise because that was the period of time she was missing," said Wecht, who also criticized the Warren Commission's findings after former President John F. Kennedy's assassination. "Strangulation is a diagnosis that requires some anatomical, pathological question, and every question he was asked, he said he could not answer … or [was] not permitted to answer. I don't know why he held that conference."
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Gabby Petito (Instagram)
Lizbeth Meredith, a former domestic violence advocate and probation officer who now works as a domestic violence educator, told Fox News that strangulation "very well can be a precursor to homicide, as it was in the case of deceased 22-year-old Gabby Petito.
Meredith, who is herself a victim of domestic violence and, specifically, strangulation, said the violent act "is considered to be a red flag of an extremely volatile abuser and now taken more seriously … as it can very well end in homicide."
"It is truly one of the most deadly forces of violence," she said.
Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue on Tuesday announced that Petito died from manual strangulation, weeks after the FBI uncovered the 22-year-old's remains at Bridger-Teton National Forest, north of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
"It is very important to understand that a non-fatal strangulation incident is an incident of an indicator that you are 750% more likely to die at the hands of that abuser," added Andrea Wyant, the assistant director of Hope United Survivor Network, which helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
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