Gabby Petito news live Autopsy scheduled for body found over weekend as Brian Laundrie spotted in Alabama

Related video: 911 call reveals Brian Laundrie seen hitting, ‘slapping’ Gabby Petito before disappearance

Medical examiners in North Port, Florida, have said they will conduct an autopsy on Tuesday of the body found in Wyoming over the weekend, as officials seek to determine if it is that of Gabby Petito.

The examination of the remains, which were discovered on Sunday in a remote area of Bridger-Teton National Forest, in western Wyoming, was announced as police and FBI agents continued to search for Ms Petito’s fiancé, Brian Laundrie. Ms Petito disappeared while the pair were on a road trip.

A spokesman for the agency said the body found was “consistent” with the 5ft 5in, 110-pound missing 22-year-old.

Investigators spent much of Monday searching the Laundrie family home and were pictured loading cardboard boxes into a van and towing away a silver Ford Mustang. His parents claim they have not seen their son for more than a week.

Police were tipped off to a potential sighting of Mr Laundrie near Mobile, Alabama, on Monday. Officers are yet to confirm if the lead was legitimate.

Show latest update 1632211950Travel blogger describes coming across Petito’s van in WyomingTravel blogger describes coming across Petito’s van in Wyoming Sam Hancock21 September 2021 09:121632210623‘Possible’ Laundrie has fled US, says private investigator

A private investigator has said it is possible that Brian Laundrie could have fled the US, a report suggests.

Mr Laundrie was named a person of interest in Ms Petito’s missing-person case after he returned from a cross-country road trip on 1 September without her. Remains consistent with the description of her were found over the weekend in Grand Teton National Park, according to the FBI.

Police have not charged Mr Laundrie with a crime but say they have “exhausted all avenues” searching for him in Florida’s Carlton Reserve.

Harvey Morse, a private investigator with Florida’s Locaters International Inc., told Insider that it would be easy for Mr Laundrie to evade detection by wearing a face mask.

Mr Morse, who has more than 50 years of experience, said it was harder than ever for police to identify missing persons because the pandemic has made it common for people to wear face coverings in public.

“It would be easy for him to get on a plane,” Mr Morse said.

According to Mr Morse, police are likely considering two scenarios while searching for Mr Laundrie: that he is in hiding or that he will attempt suicide. Mr Morse added the chances of Mr Laundrie attempting suicide were “above average”.

Officials continue to search for Mr Laundrie, but police said he could be dangerous to himself or those around him. Mr Morse advised that if someone came into contact with Mr Laundrie, they should not interact with him and instead take a photo or video of him discreetly before calling police.

“I hope that this person is found and, if he is the perpetrator, he pleads guilty and doesn’t draw this case out, which would cause so much pain for so many people,” the PI told the news website.

Sam Hancock21 September 2021 08:501632209529Fox News host under fire for calling Petito case ‘huge distraction’

Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo has come under fire for calling the Gabby Petito case a “huge distraction” from political matters.

A clip of Mr Arroyo speaking on Fox News was uploaded by TikToker Morgan S’more on Sunday and has since gone viral. In the video, Mr Arroyo seems to claim that the media was giving more attention to Petito’s case than other matters, writes Stuti Mishra.

“This is like a lifetime movie, an ongoing mini-series for America but I think it’s basically a local story, it’s a missing person,” he said, according to the Daily Dot. “I hope they get to the bottom of it, but I do worry we’re spending way too much time on this case.”

Sam Hancock21 September 2021 08:321632207795Alabama police investigate ‘sightings of Brian Laundrie’

In case you missed this one, authorities in Alabama began looking into potential sightings of Brian Laundrie in the state over the weekend, widening the search for the missing “person of interest” in Gaby Petito’s death.

Officers from the Mobile Police Department received information that Mr Laundrie may have been in Tillman’s Corner, southwest of the city, 600 miles (965kms) from his home in North Port, Florida.

Mr Laundrie left the home he shared with his parents last Tuesday, telling them he was going for a hike in the nearby Carlton Reserve, report Bevan Hurley and Andrew Buncombe.

Sam Hancock21 September 2021 08:031632206356Autopsy scheduled for body thought to be Gabby Petito

An autopsy is scheduled to take place in North Port, Florida, later today on a body found in Wyoming, as medical examiners seek to determine if it is Gabby Petito.

The examination of the remains, which were discovered on Sunday in a remote area of Bridger-Teton National Forest, in western Wyoming, takes place as police and FBI agents search for her fiance, Brian Laundrie.

Investigators spent much of Monday searching the Laundrie family home, loading cardboard boxes into a van and towing away a silver Ford Mustang.

Ms Petito and Laundrie left her home state of New York in late June, heading west in her white van with plans to visit America’s national parks and document the trip on social media.

Laundrie returned home to North Port alone in the van on 1 September. Ten days later, members of Ms Petito’s family reported her missing. They believe she was headed to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming when they last heard from her.

The body, which reports suggest is that of Ms Petito, was discovered on the edge of that park, in a remote area less than 1,000ft (300 meters) from where a pair of travel bloggers filmed the white van parked along a dirt road near Spread Creek on the evening of 27 August.

An FBI spokesman has said the body was “consistent” with the 5’5, 110-pound missing 22-year-old. The autopsy was expected to identify the remains and determine a cause of death, he added.

Officials are to determine if the body found on Sunday is that of Gabby Petito

Sam Hancock21 September 2021 07:391632203867Travel blogger reveals ‘chilling’ moment she found the van

The Florida travel blogger who turned over footage of Gabby Petito’s van to the FBI â€" a tip that is believed to have led the agency to find a body believed to be that of Ms Petito â€" called the moment she found the van “chilling”.

Jenn Bethune of ‘Red, White and Bethune’ on YouTube who captured the footage of the van on 27 August at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area near Grand Teton National Park said after she reviewed the footage on her laptop: “I got chills all over my body and ran straight back to my laptop, got my GoPro footage, and lo and behold Gabby’s van was on there.”

She told Fox News in an interview: “I am so sad that we couldn’t bring her back alive, but to be able to bring her back home to her family or to help with that is everything.”

Ms Bethune also recalled noticing the van’s Florida number plate and “the reason why we noticed the van is because we’re from Florida and the van had Florida plates and we wanted to stop by and say hi.”

She added that the “van was very dark, closed up, looked like no activity so we ended up continuing to drive.”

Read the full story:

Maroosha Muzaffar21 September 2021 06:571632202526Gabby Petito’s father says he ‘would have discouraged trip’

Gabby Petito’s father has said that had he known that there were problems between Ms Petito and her boyfriend, he would have “discouraged” her from going on the trip.

In a Dr Phil interview that was broadcast on Monday â€" but recorded before the FBI found human remains they believe to be Ms Petito’s â€" Joseph Petito said that his daughter and Brian Laundrie had dated for two and a half years and that Mr Laundrie was “always respectful.”

Mr Petito also said that prior to the cross-country trip that the couple embarked on in July, they had been on a road trip to California “and there were no problems”.

He said: “If there were, I would have discouraged going on the trip.”

The Petito family claim that Mr Laundrie is hiding. The FBI searched the boyfriend’s house on Monday.

During the interview, Mr Petito also said that when their daughter didn’t return home with Mr Laundrie “we called Brian, we called the mom, we called the dad, we called the sister, we called every number that we could find. No phone calls were picked up, no text messages were returned”.

Maroosha Muzaffar21 September 2021 06:351632199902Questions around 'strange' reappearance of Laundrie’s silver mustang outside house

Late on Monday, after the FBI had searched Brian Laundrie’s residence in North Port, there was speculation about the “strange” reappearance of the silver mustang outside Laundrie household.

Mr Laundrie, the boyfriend of 22-year-old YouTuber Gabby Petito, drove the mustang to a reserve for hiking on Tuesday, his parents had told the police. But when the parents realised that he hadn’t returned home, they went to get the car.

Brian Entin of News Nation Now said that “if they knew their son was missing, why would they go get the mustang and bring it back to the house and still not tell the police until Friday”.

Mr Laundrie was reported missing by his parents on Friday last week. The Petito family have said in a statement that the 22-year-old is “hiding - not missing”.

Maroosha Muzaffar21 September 2021 05:511632197966Nearly 90,000 active missing persons cases in the US in 2020

By the end of 2020 there were nearly 90,000 active missing person cases in the United States, according to the National Crime Center data.

However, the disappearance of 22-year-old YouTuber Gabby Petito has captured the imagination of Americans and netizens worldwide, prompting “digital detectives” to comb through the social media profiles of Ms Petito and her “missing” boyfriend Brian Laundrie to try and come up with solutions for the law enforcement agencies.

The FBI on Sunday found remains that matched Ms Petito’s description in a national park in Wyoming.

An FBI spokesperson told The Independent that the information provided by the general public was “vital”.

In a 2007 study by Sarah Stillman titled, “The Missing White Girl Syndrome: Disappeared Women and Media Activism”, the author notes that “the mainstream media play a vital role in constructing certain endangered young women as valuable ‘front-page’ victims while dismissing others as disposable.”

She notes that these messages are “powerful â€" they position certain sub-groups of women â€" often white, wealthy and conventionally attractive â€" as deserving of our collective resources while making the marginalisation and victimisation of other groups of women, such as low-income women of colour, seem natural.”

Maroosha Muzaffar21 September 2021 05:191632194702Laundrie lawyer cancels press conference after speaking to FBI

Steven Bertolino, the attorney representing the family of Brian Laundrie, has cancelled a press conference he had earlier called to address the media on Tuesday.

US media reports suggest that he announced the cancellation after speaking with the FBI.

Mr Bertolino was scheduled to address the media about his client’s whereabouts and the FBI’s ongoing search at 1pm ET in Long Island, New York.

However, a reporter with 10 Tampa Bay, Shannon Clowe, tweeted that Mr Bertolino had told her not to expect any “bombshells”.

The lawyer didn’t give any reason for the cancellation.

It also comes after the FBI searched Brian Laundrie’s house in North Port, Florida on Monday. His family said last week that they hadn’t seen him since Tuesday 14 September.

Maroosha Muzaffar21 September 2021 04:25

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