Petition Calls For FL Governor To Investigate Police Handling Of Laundrie, Petito Case

NORTH PORT, FL — Thousands have signed a Change.org petition calling for Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis to launch an internal investigation into North Port police over their handling of the Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito case.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, nearly 4,000 people have signed the petition asking the governor to review police actions taken during the case. The petition was launched Oct. 27 by a user named “Gabby’s Safe Haven 2.0.”

Police have admitted they made some mistakes during the investigation into Laundrie, a person of interest in the disappearance and strangulation death of Petito, his fiancée, whose body was found near a Wyoming national park Sept. 19.

According to the petition, while asking the governor to focus on this one case, “the bigger picture is to bring about change. Police deal with citizens on a daily basis, and the actions of incompetence can have tremendous, life-altering effects on numerous people in their communities. What happens when you have a department that’s full of incompetence? Well Governor DeSantis, this case right here is what happens.”

Laundrie and Petito, both Long Island, New York, natives who previously lived with his family in Florida, were traveling across the country visiting national parks this summer when she disappeared at the end of August. She was reported missing Sept. 11 and her body was found weeks later near Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park.

He returned home alone to Florida in Petito's van Sept. 1 and was reported missing by his parents Sept. 17, says after they last saw him.

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Laundrie's skeletal remains, including a portion of his skull, were found Oct. 20 in the Carlton Reserve and the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, along with several of his belongings, after more than a month of searching for him. The FBI used dental records to match the remains to Laundrie.

After Petito was reported missing and in the days before North Port police realized Laundrie fled, authorities were surveilling the Laundrie family home. During that time, they mistook Laundrie’s mother, Roberta Laundrie, for her son, allowing him to slip away Sept. 13, the city’s public information officer, Josh Taylor, said.

They saw Brian Laundrie leave the home in the family's gray Ford Mustang on Sept. 13. Days later, on Sept. 15, they thought they saw him return with the car, but it was really his mother.

"They're kind of built similarly," Taylor told WINK.

News Nation reporter Brian Entin tweeted that Taylor said there was also some confusion because Roberta Laundrie was wearing a baseball cap.

During a Sept. 15 news conference, North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said investigators knew Laundrie's whereabouts. When his parents reported him missing Sept. 17, police were surprised to learn it had been days since they had seen their son. He left the home Sept. 13 to go hiking at the Carlton Reserve.

"When the family reported him (missing) on Friday (Sept. 17). That was certainly news to us that they had not seen him," Taylor told WINK. "We thought that we (had) seen Brian initially come back into that home on that Wednesday."

During an Oct. 29 panel of regional law enforcement leaders in Venice, Garrison defended his officers when asked about errors his agency made in the case, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

"As a leader, what do I do?" the police chief said. "Do I not tell the public what's going on? Do we conceal it? Cover it up?"

He added, "No, people want open, transparency and honesty from their law enforcement officials. Yes, we made a mistake. It was human error, but I still stand behind my team."

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Garrison told the audience his team watching the Laundrie family's home reported seeing Brian Laundrie enter the house, the Herald-Tribune said.

Because of this, he believed Petito's fiancé was at home when he spoke at the Sept. 15 news conference. When he learned Laundrie was missing, "there was nobody more surprised about that than me," he said.

When North Port police officers joined the FBI to meet with Laundrie's parents Sept. 17, "I sat with the deputy chief in my office, hoping that they would find Brian hiding in a back bedroom," Garrison added. "I was hoping, maybe it was a ploy. It wasn't."