Dental Records Used To Identify Human Remains At Park As Brian Laundrie: FBI

Updated: 6:15 p.m., Thursday

NORTH PORT, FL — Human remains found at two Sarasota County parks Wednesday are confirmed to belong to Brian Laundrie, the FBI’s Denver office said in a news release Thursday evening.

Dental records were used to confirm the skeletal remains, which included part of a human skull, were his, authorities said.

After more than a month of searching, the remains were found at the Carlton Reserve and Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park near items, including a notebook, that belonged to Laundrie, a person of interest in the strangulation death of his fiancée, Gabby Petito.

The Laundrie family attorney, Steven Bertolino, told a WPBF reporter by text Thursday at 5:30 p.m. that Laundrie's parents had been notified the remains were those of their son.

“Chris and Roberta Laundrie have been informed that the remains found yesterday in the reserve are indeed Brian’s,” Bertolino said. “We have no further comment at this time and we ask that you respect the Laundries' privacy at this time.”

Earlier Thursday, the attorney told CNN the Laundries were “heartbroken” after the discovery of the remains and their son's belongings.

His parents were searching the area with law enforcement officers for signs of their son, who hasn’t been seen in more than a month, when the remains and items were found Wednesday morning.

"It's quite sad, you can imagine as a parent, finding your son's belonging alongside from the remains. That's got to be heartbreaking. And I can tell you that they are heartbroken," Bertolino said.

Laundrie and Petito, both Long Island, New York, natives living in North Port, Florida, 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 returned to Florida in Petito’s van, alone, Sept. 1 and was reported missing by his parents Sept. 17. Authorities had been searching for him ever since.

His parents said they last saw him Sept. 13 when he said he was going hiking at the Carlton Reserve, which is connected to Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park by a 12-mile trail.

Authorities searched both the park and the reserve for the past month, using various methods to comb the swampy reserve including K-9 dogs, ATVs, drones, helicopters, dive teams and airboats.

The park reopened to the public Tuesday, though the Carlton Reserve remained closed.

The Laundrie family attorney told CNN Brian's parents let authorities know Tuesday night that they planned to search the park for him Wednesday morning.

Law enforcement met them at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on Wednesday and, after a "brief search," they found a white dry bag belonging to Laundrie off a trail.

Partial human remains and a backpack were found nearby in an area that had been under water during earlier searches.

During a Thursday morning news conference at the reserve, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, whose agency has been assisting with the search, said law enforcement has been working in “very, very difficult conditions” with chest-high waters in some areas and dangerous wildlife, including rattlesnakes, water moccasins and alligators.

“You’re searching in areas you can’t just walk up and look,” he said. “It’s not like you’re searching a house or a car. These areas are huge and they’re covered by water.”

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An FBI evidence response team, cadaver dogs from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and the Sarasota County Medical Examiner’s Office responded to the scene Wednesday.

Bertolino told CNN that Laundrie’s father, Chris Laundrie, found the dry bag while searching the woods with law enforcement, about 20 feet off the trail in some brambles.

When he found the bag, there weren’t any law enforcement officers nearby, the attorney said. He didn’t want to leave the bag with a news reporter standing close to where he found it, so he picked up the bag and brought it to authorities.

Law enforcement also showed the Laundries a picture on a phone of a backpack they found in the area.

"At that point, the Laundries were notified there was also remains near the backpack, and they were asked to leave the preserve,” Bertolino said.

Josh Taylor, spokesperson for the North Port Police Department, told CNN the remains were found "about 2 to 3 miles inside the Carlton Reserve, or about a 45-minute walk" from the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park entrance.

Bertolino told Fox News the area where the items and remains were found was one where the Laundries “had initially advised law enforcement that Brian may be.”

Gov. DeSantis Calls Gabby Petito’s Father After Remains Found

After human remains possibly belonging to Laundrie were found Wednesday, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis called Joseph Petito, the father of Gabby Petito, to express his condolences for the family’s loss.

"He's a dad as well — the governor," Christina Pushaw, DeSantis's press secretary, told Fox News. "He has kids. He just empathizes and he wanted to reach out and express his support."

WFLA reported the governor called Joseph Petito just before the FBI’s news conference from the reserve Wednesday afternoon.

After Laundrie was reported missing in September, DeSantis directed state agencies to help with the search.

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Pushaw said the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s criminal division was involved in the search in the area of the Carlton Reserve, providing 16 officers, 16 trucks, four UTVs, three ATVs, a buggy and an airboat.

On Friday, DeSantis told a Fox News correspondent it was “a little disappointing” that Laundrie hadn’t been found yet and he hoped the fugitive would be “apprehended and brought to justice.”

Bradenton Farm Creates Corn Maze To Honor Gabby Petito

For its annual pumpkin festival, Hunsader Farms in Bradenton has designed this year’s corn maze in honor of Petito.

The farm shared a picture of the maze, which is designed to read “RIP Gabby.”

“Every year we try to make some sort of design in the corn maze and we always take a picture of it so (people) know what they’re walking through,” Rachel Hunsader-Sliker said.

Her father creates the design each year and wasn’t sure what he should create this year. When she saw other businesses finding ways to honor Petito, she “thought it was so cool,” she said. Hunsader-Sliker suggested to her father that he dedicate the corn maze to her.

“We’ve been following this story from the beginning, and we didn’t know her, but it was really devastating when they found her body and it’s crazy that she lived down here,” Hunsader-Sliker said. “So, we really were very invested in the story and hoping she would be found alive. We just thought it would be a good way to honor her and her family.”

The corn maze is open to those visiting the farm for its pumpkin festival, which takes place Oct. 23-24 and 30-31.

The tribute is “100 percent heartfelt,” Hunsader-Sliker added. “We wanted to do it solely to honor her and didn’t want to try to get anything out of it. … It’s meant to honor her and all the other missing persons found since this story started.”

Dog the Bounty Hunter Says Search For Laundrie Seems To Be Over

Even before partial remains possibly belonging to Brian Laundrie were found Wednesday, reality star Duane Chapman, known by many as Dog the Bounty Hunter, ended his search for Laundrie in Florida and returned home to Colorado.

There, he planned to receive treatment for an ankle injury and to look through thousands of tips and possible Laundrie sightings, Radar reported.

Now that remains have been found, though, Chapman said the search for the fugitive seems to be over.

“We are praying for Gabby’s family as yet another day ends with seemingly more questions than answers though it does seem the search for Brian is indeed over,” he told the U.S. Sun Wednesday.

He added, “There will be time to ask questions such as what was the extent of the Laundries’ involvement in aiding Brian. But now we wait.”

Chapman joined the search for Laundrie in September, focusing on a series of small islands off southern Pinellas County, not far from Fort De Soto Park, where Laundrie and his parents camped Sept. 6-8.