Police on Monday swarmed the home of a young man wanted for questioning in the disappearance of his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, whose body was apparently discovered over the weekend at a Wyoming national park.
The officers served a search warrant, and local media reported that 23-year-old Brian Laundrie’s parents were seen getting into a police van. Video showed at least a dozen law enforcement officers, including one wearing an FBI jacket, pulling up to the house in North Port, Florida, and rushing inside.
Police have obtained a search warrant for Laundrie’s computer in North Point, according to reporter Kristin Thorne.
Petito, 22, disappeared after she and Laundrie left in July on a cross-country trek in a converted van to visit national parks in the West. They got into a fight along the way, and Laundrie was alone when he returned in the van to his parents’ home in North Port on Sept. 1, police said.
In Wyoming, the FBI on Sunday announced the discovery of a body by agents searching campsites on the edge of Grand Teton National Park, which the couple had visited. An autopsy was set for Tuesday.
“Full forensic identification has not been completed to confirm 100% that we found Gabby, but her family has been notified,” FBI agent Charles Jones said. “This is an incredibly difficult time for (Petito’s) family and friends.”
Jones and other law enforcement officials took no questions during the evening news conference.
Petito’s father, Joseph, posted on social media an image of a broken heart above a picture of his daughter, with the message: “She touched the world.”
An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday, KUTV2News reported, citing the coroner.
An attorney who has been acting as a spokesman for Petito’s family asked in a statement that the family be given room to grieve.
Jones said investigators were still seeking information from anyone who may have seen Petito or Laundrie around Grand Teton.
A weekend search of a Florida nature preserve failed to find Laundrie, North Port police said. They said in a statement that they “exhausted all avenues in searching the grounds” of the 24,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County.
Investigators focused intently on the area after Laundrie’s parents told police he may have gone there.
Petito’s family on New York’s Long Island has been pleading for the Laundrie family to tell them where their son last saw her. Petito and Laundrie were childhood sweethearts who met while growing up on Long Island. His parents later moved to North Port, about 35 miles south of Sarasota.
The FBI said the investigation is active and ongoing, according to a statement released Sunday night.
Laundrie has been identified as a person of interest in the case. He was last seen Tuesday by family members in Florida, and investigators have been searching for him for the past two days in the 24,000-acre wildlife reserve near Sarasota.
More than 50 law enforcement officers on Sunday started a second day of searching near Florida’s Gulf Coast for Laundrie.
The North Port Police Department said it is “saddened and heartbroken” to learn about Petito’s body being found in Wyoming.
Petito’s family filed a missing persons report Sept. 11 with police in Suffolk County, New York.
“It is important to note that while Brian is a person of interest in Gabby’s disappearance, he is not wanted for a crime,” North Port Police said in a statement. It added that the investigation is now a “multiple missing person” case.
The couple’s trek in the Ford Transit van began in July from Long Island. They intended to reach Oregon by the end of October according to their social media accounts, but Petito vanished after her last known contact with family in late August from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, authorities said.
The FBI in Denver said Saturday that agents had started conducting ground surveys at Grand Teton National Park, with help from the National Park Service and local law enforcement agencies, seeking clues to Petito’s disappearance.
FBI agents tweeted that they were focusing on an undeveloped camping area near Spread Creek on the east boundary of the park, which was closed to the public during the surveys. They urged anybody who had been there between Aug. 27 and 30, and had seen Petito, Laundrie or their vehicle, to contact them.
Rich Barak of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report.
