Amid Brian Laundrie Search, Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park In North Port Reopens

NORTH PORT, FL — A park at the center of the search for Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the death of his fiancée, Gabby Petito, has reopened to the public, the city of North Port tweeted Tuesday morning.

Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, which sits on 160 acres at 6968 Reistertown Road in North Port, closed Sept. 23, days after North Port police and the FBI began searching for Laundrie in the adjacent 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve.

The Carlton Reserve remains closed to the public, according to the Sarasota County website.

Laundrie and Petito, both Long Island, New York natives living in North Port with his family, were traveling across the country visiting national parks this summer when she disappeared at the end of August. Her body was found near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sept. 19.

Laundrie, who returned to Florida without her Sept. 1, was reported missing Sept. 17, and authorities have been looking for him ever since.

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Since Sept. 18, much of the search for Laundrie in Florida has focused on the swampy, snake-and gator-infested Carlton Reserve and the nearby Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. The park is connected to the reserve by a 12-mile trail.

Laundrie’s parents told police that their son left their home Sept. 13 to go hiking at the Carlton Reserve. He drove the family’s Ford Mustang to the area, parking it near the environmental park.

Police left a notice on the car Sept. 14 asking the owner to move it. Laundrie’s parents eventually picked it up and brought it home Sept. 15.

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Various methods have been used to comb the swampy reserve, including K-9 dogs, ATVs, drones, helicopters, dive teams and airboats. There have been no signs of Laundrie, at least nothing that has been publicly disclosed by police or the FBI.

His father, Chris Laundrie, was also asked to assist in recent weeks, and he shared his son’s favorite trails and other locations with authorities.