Brian Laundrie’s parents leave house, mum about fugitive son fleeing
Brian Laundrie’s parents broke cover and left their Florida home early Thursday — still mum about their fugitive son more than two weeks after he went missing.
Christopher and Roberta Laundrie hopped into their red Dodge Ram pickup early Thursday and calmly drove out of their North Port home, with the windows up as they drove past waiting journalists.
It was not immediately clear where the normally housebound couple — who both wore caps — were heading. However, it was exactly a week after they had left to visit their attorney.
The Laundries hit the spotlight when their 23-year-old son returned from a cross-country trip, arriving home Sept. 1 without his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, who was later found dead in Wyoming.
The parents claim they last saw their son when he left their Florida home on Sept. 14 — the same day they’d refused to let in officers who wanted to talk to him at the house about his then-missing girlfriend, a Long Island native.
They further came into the spotlight this week after confirming they went camping with their son in the period between his return from the trip and Petito, 22, officially being reported as missing.
Fort De Soto Park Campground in St. Petersburg — about 75 miles from their home — is now a focus in the massive manhunt for Laundrie, who is a “person of interest” in Petito’s death and subject to an arrest warrant for allegedly using someone else’s bank card after she went missing. Her autopsy ruled the death a homicide.
The family camping trip was first brought to the public’s attention by Dog the Bounty Hunter, real name Duane Chapman, who has said he is working on strong leads in the case.
