Neighbors say Brian Laundrie, parents went on a trip in new camper after Gabby Petito disappeared



Brian Laundrie and his parents reportedly took a weekend camping trip on the same day Gabby Petito was reported missing.

Charlene and William Guthrie live directly across the street from the home of the Laundries in North Port, Florida. The couple claim they saw the family take a camping trip in a new "attached camper." The Daily Mail reported the family took the trip on Saturday, Sept. 11 — the same day the now-deceased Gabby Petito was reported missing,

"I was doing some work in the front yard and I noticed they got a new camper for the back of the pickup," William Guthrie said during an appearance on Fox News' "The Story." "I didn't think anything unusual."

"Then when they prepared for their trip, I saw them load the camper," he told Martha MacCallum.

William thought it was "odd" that the parents and their 23-year-old son went on a trip together in a "small camper that's on the back of the truck."

Charlene Guthrie said the Gabby Petito case has been a "nightmare."

In an earlier interview with Fox News, William Guthrie remembered the last time he saw Gabby.

"Right when we moved in ... in June, they were working on the van, I guess to get ready for the trip," he said. "She was in the back of the van doing something, and as we pulled away she turned, waved, I waved back, and she smiled, and we drove away. That's the last time we saw her."

"She was a pretty girl and you see her turn around and just smile," Guthries said of the "van-life" girl. "You see the images on their trip of her smiling, it was a haunting sight and memory."

William Guthrie also criticized the actions of the Laundrie family after Petito was reported missing.

"If their son was innocent, I don't feel like they should have lawyered up as soon as he came back into the state," the neighbor stated. "I felt that if he had nothing to do with it they should have released a statement somehow stating his innocence."

"I'm really upset now because … [the Laundries] should have absolutely come forward now," Charlene Guthrie told Fox News. "I mean, I just … can't believe they didn't do something. I'm really angry now that they … let this go. And that everything was so natural and they remained so normal through the whole thing, you know, while they were here, till he went on the run."

Laundrie neighbors describe last time they saw Gabby Petito alivehttps://t.co/GsJQVjsqpB https://t.co/cGwwocGYNP

— Fox News (@FoxNews) 1632184811.0

Petito's body was found on Sept. 19 near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, where the couple had stayed during a cross-country trip. The remains were found in the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area of the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Teton County Coroner Brent Blue, who conducted a preliminary autopsy on Petito's remains, said his "initial determination" is the manner of her death was homicide.

"The FBI's commitment to justice is at the forefront of each and every investigation," FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Michael Schneider said. "The FBI and our partners remain dedicated to ensuring anyone responsible for or complicit in Ms. Petito's death is held accountable for their actions."

Brian Laundrie is currently a "person of interest" and not a suspect in the death of his fiancé.

Authorities will continue to search for Laundrie on Thursday in the Carlton Reserve, a large nature preserve in Florida where his parents claimed he went hiking over a week ago. Law enforcement has used drones, swamp buggies, ATVs, airboats, dive teams, and scent-sniffing dogs to attempt to track down Laundrie in the swampy 24,565-acre nature preserve park near his family's North Port home.

As of Tuesday, the preserve is closed until further notice, according to the nonprofit group Friends of Carlton Reserve.

Laundrie hasn't been seen since Sept. 14, according to investigators. He returned to his parents' North Port home on Sept. 1 in the Ford camper, but Petito was not with him.

Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, last heard from Gabby on Aug. 27, but described the last communication as "odd," according to a search warrant obtained by WFLA-TV.

Neighbors recall Laundrie family's trip after Brian's return in Gabby's vanwww.youtube.com

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Family of missing New York woman says her fiancé refuses to help find her or even speak with police — even though she mysteriously disappeared during a road trip with him



The parents of a missing New York woman say that their daughter's fiancé — who was with her when she went missing — is refusing to say where he last saw her or even why he returned home from a Wyoming road trip without her, NBC News reported.

What are the details?

Long Island's Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito, 22, was traveling with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, across the country in a van on a road trip to Wyoming when she apparently went missing.

Petito and Laundrie had been documenting their travels across the country to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, where Petito was reportedly last seen in late August. According to a report from the Sun, the couple left from Blue Point, New York, in July and, after various stops across the country, arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, in August.

The two reportedly left the area due to heavy smoke and wildfires in the area and stopped in Grand Teton National Park on Aug. 25 — Petito's last known location. The two initially intended to reach Portland, Oregon, for Halloween on Oct. 31, but Laundrie abruptly opted to return to his family home alone in Florida instead.

Richard Stafford, an attorney for the family, told NBC News that the family is "going through the worst moments of their lives."

"Their beautiful 22-year-old daughter is missing and the one person that can help find Gabby refuses to help," Stafford said, adding, "Brian Laundrie was traveling with Gabby in the Grand Teton-Yellowstone area. They were traveling together in Gabby's 2012 Ford Transit fan. That is where we believe Gabby was last seen."

Laundrie, along with Petito's van, returned to Florida, where Laundrie's family resides — but without Petito.

In a Monday statement, a spokesperson for the North Port, Florida, police said, "We currently have no definitive information that a crime took place here in North Port. With that said, the circumstances are odd. The vehicle she was traveling in was located here in North Port. So we are actively gathering local details and any evidence to assist in finding needed answers."

Authorities took the van into custody on Saturday to conduct forensic tests, and the FBI's Tampa Field Office is working with New York's Suffolk County police in the investigation.

'Remaining in the background'

An attorney for Laundrie did not respond to NBC's request for comment on the Petito family's statement, but earlier in the day, Laundrie's family released a statement saying that the situation is "understandably an extremely difficult time for both the Petito family and the Laundrie family."

"It is our understanding that a search has been organize for Miss Petito in or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming," the family's attorney, Steven P. Bertolino said. "On behalf of the Laundrie family it is our hope that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is re-united with her family. On the advice of counsel the Laundrie family is remaining in the background at this juncture and will have no further comment."

Family of #GabbyPetito has now released their own statement, insisting that her boyfriend is “refusing to tell Gabb… https://t.co/YcUcOw6fUY

— Evan Axelbank Fox13 (@EvanAxelbank) 1631655470.0

Stafford responded to the family's statement on Tuesday night, saying, "The Schmidt and Petito family beg the Laundrie family to not 'remain in the background' but to help find who Brian referred to as the love of his life. How does Brian stay in the background when he is the one person that knows where Gabby is located?"

He added, "Brian is refusing to tell Gabby's family where he last saw her. Brian is also refusing to explain why he left Gabby all alone and drove her van to Florida. These are critical questions that require immediate answers."

Police have yet to name Laundrie as a suspect in Petito's disappearance.

Anything else to know?

WTVT-TV on Tuesday reported that Utah police were called to an "incident" involving Petito and Laundrie two weeks before she went missing.

The outlet reported that it obtained a police report that Utah authorities were called to an "incident involving Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito roughly two weeks before she was last seen and a month before she was officially reported missing."

Moab Chief of Police Bret Edge told the station on Tuesday, "Our officers did respond to an incident involving Brian Laundrie and Gabrielle Petito on 12 August 2021 however neither Brian or [sic] Gabrielle were the reporting party. ... Officers conducted an investigation and determined that insufficient evidence existed to justify criminal charges."

WTVT reported that Florida officials visited Laundrie at his family's home in Sarasota County this weekend, but he refused to talk.

"You had someone who was in constant communication with her family on a pretty regular basis and then all of a sudden, nothing," Joshua Taylor, a spokesperson for the North Port Police Department said. "All of a sudden, the person she is traveling with is back here and she is not here. That person is unwilling to talk with us to this point."

Gabby Petito Case: Family of Missing YouTuber Claims Fiancé Is 'Refusing' to Help Find Herwww.youtube.com