It has been over a month that Brian Laundrie vanished and police is yet to find any trace of him amid multiple reports of his sightings. On Tuesday, a Florida resident claimed sighting Laundrie, this time riding a bike. The resident has claimed to have footage of the fugitive who has been on the lam since the death of his girlfriend Gabby Petito.
The resident has shared the information of the possible sighting of Laundrie with the FBI who are combing the area to ascertain if the tip is correct. Laundrie disappeared on September 17, and Petito body was found in Wyoming two days later on September 19.
Who's This Man?
A few people in Florida claim to have spotted Laundrie, with one even stressing that he has to his possession a video footage that shows Laundrie, the sole person of interest in Petito's homicide, biking in a Florida.
The video, which was obtained by TMZ, shows a man resembling Laundrie, hurriedly cycling on a muddy road in Florida. The tipster told TMZ that he had seen Laundrie on October 9 near his property in the small town of Dunnellon, three hours north of Laundrie's home in North Port.
The video shows a man carrying a large backpack and struggling down the rough path. He is wearing a dark sweatshirt, a dark baseball cap, and light pants. Although there is no surety it's Laundrie, but the man definitely looks a lot like him, which prompted the tipster to raise an alarm.
The homeowner said he reported the sighting to the FBI and handed over the footage. He added that there is a rugged sugar sand path along several rural acres of his property and that people rarely venture into the area.
Where is Laundrie?
So far, the search for Laundrie has been unfruitful. FBI is reviewing the video footage provided by the homeowner but a lot of similar reports and claims of Laundrie sightings have turned out to be red herrings, and some have even had run-ins with the law over a mistaken identity.
Among the multitude of sightings was one of an upstate New Yorker named Severin Beckwith, who was handcuffed and held at gunpoint by US Marshals as he napped with his partner on the Appalachian Trail, after cops were wrongly tipped.
However, he was later released, when cops realized that they received a wrong tip. Beckwith's only crime was being bald and bearded — thus bearing a close resemblance to Laundrie — when the feds barged into a room he shared with Anna Brettmann at the Lodge at Fontana Village Resort.
As far as this sighting is concerned, the homeowner claims he is sure that it was Laundrie and it appeared that the man was trying to lay low as he passed through. The sighting comes over a month after Laundrie disappeared.
Laundrie has not been named a suspect in her death but is a person of interest. He has remained on the run as the FBI conducts a search of the Carlton Reserve. On Tuesday, the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park was reopened to the public after a search. It had been closed for a month as the manhunt for Laundrie continued.
