The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed Thursday afternoon that partial human remains discovered Wednesday in a Florida wilderness region were those of Brian Laundrie, the fiance of Gabby Petito, a young lady who vanished while on a road trip with Laundrie.
Authorities also discovered things suspected to be Laundrie's after his parents, Chris and Roberta, joined the FBI and police in the search more than a month after Laundrie went missing after traveling to the sprawling Carlton Reserve park.
"On October 21, 2021, a dental record comparison established that the human remains discovered at the T Mabry Carlton Jr Memorial Reserve and Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park are those of Brian Laundrie," the FBI said in a Twitter post.
Petito's body was discovered in late September in a rural area of Wyoming. FBI agents in Florida had been scouring Carlton Reserve, which is adjacent to the park, according to the agency's Tampa division.
On Wednesday, the Sarasota county medical examiner's office confirmed that officials had been dispatched to the reserve following the discovery of the items.
Laundrie, 23, was a person of interest in the homicide of Petito, who went missing on September 11 while on a cross-country journey out west with her parents.
The case sparked widespread public interest but also highlighted uncomfortable questions about the disparate attention paid to the hundreds of cases of missing or murdered Native American and other minority women across the United States. Petito was white.
Laundrie was reported missing on September 14, two weeks after returning home alone after his cross-country journey. His parents stated that he left their North Port home with a backpack but did not bring any money or telephone.
Laundrie's abduction spurred days of searching by scores of FBI agents and law enforcement teams utilizing drones, sniffer dogs, and underwater equipment in the swampy Carlton Reserve wilderness park.
Laundrie was accused in late September with unlawful use of a debit card while he was away.
A federal grand jury indicted him for allegedly using a Capital One Bank card and another person's personal ID number to make illicit withdrawals or charges totaling more than $1,000 while Petito was missing.
