Authorities Deny Rumors That Brian Laundrie Is In Custody, Was Seen In Sarasota Friday

Updated: 5:50 p.m., Friday

SARASOTA, FL — Rumors regarding Brian Laundrie, 23, a person of interest in the death of his fiancée, Gabby Petito, were widely shared on Twitter Friday after police scanner feeds included reports that he was possibly seen in Sarasota.

After listening to radio dispatch feeds, some Twitter users shared the rumors that Laundrie was in Sarasota, while others said he was taken into custody by authorities there.

Laundrie has been missing since mid-September, days after Petito was reported missing to the Suffolk County Police Department in New York by her family.

The couple was traveling throughout the western United States in her converted camper van this summer when she was last seen. Her family last heard from her at the end of August, and her body was found Sept. 19 near Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. Her death has been ruled a homicide, although no cause of death has been released.

Laundrie returned to his family's North Port home — where Petito also lived for the past two years — alone in her van Sept. 1. He hasn’t been seen since Sept. 13, when his parents say he left their home to go hiking at Sarasota County’s Carlton Reserve.

Local law enforcement agencies say Friday’s rumors regarding Laundrie aren’t true.

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“Despite rumors and possible sightings (Brian Laundrie) is not in the custody of our agency at this time,” Sarasota police tweeted.

Genevieve Judge, public information officer for the Sarasota Police Department, said in an email to Patch, “Radio dispatch was widely shared on Twitter and other social media platforms this afternoon that included mentions of possible sightings of Brian in the city limits.”

The agency tweeted that it’s received several inquiries via social media, email and phone, though Judge isn’t certain of the exact number.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office also debunked the rumors about Laundrie.

“We understand interest in scanner traffic, however, it is how we communicate. It is real-time (and) changes by the second,” the agency tweeted. “We have received several reports of Brian Laundrie sightings (and) there may be more. Please know that we will tell the world if (and) when we have him in custody.”

This didn’t stop Twitter users from sharing calls from the police scanner and speculating on whether Laundrie had been caught.

In one recording shared by Twitter user @JosephMorrisYT, a radio dispatcher said that there was a sighting of Brian Laundrie driving a white cargo van over the North Siesta Key Bridge heading toward Siesta Key around 11:40 a.m. She told law enforcement members listening to be on the lookout for him.

Brian Laundrie Was Under Surveillance When He Fled

As the search for Laundrie continues, a police spokesperson said Friday that Laundrie was under surveillance when he fled his North Port home in mid-September.

His parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, initially told North Port police they last saw their son Sept. 14 when he left their home to go hiking at Sarasota County’s Carlton Reserve. They recently corrected themselves, though, through a statement from their attorney, Steve Bertolino, who said his parents now believe they last saw their 23-year-old son a day earlier, on Sept. 13.

Joshua Taylor, the public information officer for the city of North Port, told Patch that North Port and Suffolk County police, and the FBI had Laundrie under surveillance after Petito was reported missing. He wouldn’t provide specific details about this surveillance or a timeline.

The law enforcement agencies “were doing everything we could to keep an eye on Brian within the law based on the facts and evidence we had at the time,” he said.

Authorities also never spoke with Laundrie before he fled, Taylor told CNN. Police went to his home Sept. 11, after Petito was reported missing, to recover her van.

While there that evening, they didn’t speak with fiancé, the PIO said. His parents handed police information for their attorney, Bertolino. Laundrie was gone just two days later.

Since fleeing, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Laundrie on Sept. 23 in connection with the unauthorized use of another person's debit card, but that person was never named by the FBI. The Petito family attorney said Tuesday that Laundrie used Gabby Petito's bank card to make the drive from Wyoming back to Florida.

Since Sept. 18, authorities have focused their search on the snake- and gator-infested Carlton Reserve. The fugitive’s father assisted law enforcement Thursday to show them Laundrie’s favorite trails and spots at the swampy 25,000-acre nature reserve.

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Though it was reported Thursday that the remnants of a recently used campsite had been found at the nature preserve, Taylor told CNN that isn’t true.

"Is it possible that they thought that there might be a campsite out there or something they may have seen from the air, but when they got on the ground that's not what it turned out to be? Sure, I think that's a possibility," he said. "Bottom line is that investigators are telling me that no campsite was found out there."

Though no signs of their son have been during the three-week search of the reserve, his parents believe he’s there, Bertolino said.

This is why they haven’t publicly addressed the media, he added. "In short, the parents believe Brian was and still is in the preserve, so there was no reason to issue a plea on media that he does not have access to."