Gabby Petito update - latest FBI issue Brian Laundrie arrest warrant as second woman says she gave him a lift

Police continue search for Brian Laundrie

Thursday marked the sixth day in the search for Brian Laundrie and the FBI announced that a federal arrest warrant had been issued in relation to the death of Gabby Petito.

“While this warrant allows law enforcement to arrest Mr Laundrie, the FBI and our partners across the country continue to investigate the facts and circumstances of Ms Petito’s homicide,” said Special Agent in charge Michael Schneider.

“We urge individuals with knowledge of Mr Laundrie’s role in this matter or his current whereabouts to contact the FBI.”

Meanwhile, a second woman has come forward to say that she gave Mr Laundrie a lift on 29 August in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, two days after Ms Petito was last sighted.

Earlier A local law firm issued a press release offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the exact location of Mr Laundrie. Co-workers of Mr Laundrie’s claimed he was well versed in outdoor survival, though there is little beyond anecdote to substantiate those claims.

Funeral services for Gabby Petito are up in the air as the Teton County Medical Examiner has yet to release her remains to her family. The family’s lawyer said once Ms Petito’s body is back in New York with her family they will determine specifics for her funeral service.

Authorities have not said why they are convinced Laundrie, who police call a “person of interest” in the case, may still be somewhere inside the more than 24,000-acre Carlton Reserve near his home in North Port, Florida, more than a week after he told family members he was headed there to hike alone. The Carlton Reserve has more than 80 miles (128 km) of hiking trails but is dominated by swampy water.

Also on Wednesday, a witness came forward to describe a stand-up argument between Laundrie and a waitress at a restaurant in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, around the time Ms Petito is believed to have sent her final text to her mother.

If confirmed, it would be one of the last sightings of Ms Petito alive.

Show latest update 1632470244What is ‘Missing White Woman Syndrome’?

In the wake of Gabby Petito’s homicide, a number of experts have said that America is facing so-called “MissingWhiteWomenSyndrome,” defined by the heavier attention that white women and girls receive from the media, should they go missing, compared to anyone outside this demographic.

This is according to a study published by the Northwestern University School of Law in 2016. It highlights how black people are less likely to gain attention from the media than other groups, should they go missing. The study also noted that when these groups do make the news, they tend to receive a lower intensity of coverage.

According to 2020 FBI data, black people make up 35 per cent of missing persons reports, but only account for 13 per cent of the US population. Meanwhile, white people constitute 54 per cent of those reported missing and 76 per cent of the US population.

Eleanor Sly24 September 2021 08:571632469140Second woman reveals she picked up hitchhiking Brian Laundrie

Amid the ongoing manhunt for Brian Laundrie, a second woman has come forward to say that she gave him a ride while he was hitchhiking in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park on 29 August.

His fiancé, YouTuber Gabby Petito, was last seen in the region on 27 August at a Tex-Mex restaurant, where they allegedly had an argument.

Norma Jean Jalovec, a resident of Florida, said that she realised that she had picked up Mr Laundrie and dropped him off at the Spread Creek dispersed camping area after seeing a TikTok video.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:

Eleanor Sly24 September 2021 08:391632468358Gabby Petito’s stepfather leaves stone cross at site where she was found

Gabby Petito’s stepfather James Schmidt, who is married to Ms Petito’s mother, left a stone cross in her memorial in Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Eleanor Sly24 September 2021 08:251632465081Body of missing student identified a day after his mother complained about Gabby Petito attention

The body of a missing Illinois Black student has been recovered by the police after a month-long disappearance and the family’s accusation that officials were not taking his case as seriously as Gabby Petito’s.

Jelani Day, 25, a first semester graduate student from Illinois State University was missing since 24 August after last being spotted at ISU and at a store in Bloomington.

His body was found floating in the Illinois river on 4 September about a mile from where the car was found, however, the police took almost three weeks in identifying him, WGLT News reported.

Stuti Mishra has more:

Eleanor Sly24 September 2021 07:311632463445Deb Haaland says Gabby Petito case is a reminder of missing Native American women and girls

Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary, has said that the Gabby Petito case should be a reminder of “hundreds of Native American girls and women who are missing or murdered in the United States”.

Ms Haaland empathised with the Petito family and said that her heart goes out to them.

She however added that she also grieves for “so many Indigenous women″ whose families have endured similar heartache “for the last 500 years”.

The Gabby Petito disappearance and the subsequent categorisation of the case as homicide have generated a huge reaction online even as some critics described the media coverage as an example of “missing white woman syndrome”.

A report prepared by the state of Wyoming - where Petito’s body was found - showed that “at least 710 Native Americans were reported missing between 2011 and late 2020” in the state. It found that between 2010 and 2019, the homicide rate per 100,000 for Indigenous people was 26.8 â€" eight times higher than the homicide rate for white people.

Maroosha Muzaffar24 September 2021 07:041632461703‘In Pursuit with John Walsh’ host’s son comments on ‘mistakes’ made in Petito case

The TV personality Callahan Walsh â€" co-host of ‘In Pursuit with John Walsh’ â€" believes that the law enforcement made “mistakes” in the Gabby Petito homicide case.

Walsh, who co-hosts the crime show with his father John Walsh, said that he believes Petito was in an abusive relationship with boyfriend Brian Laundrie. He pointed out that the police should have handled things “differently” when they responded to two emergency calls about the couple fighting.

He said: “When law enforcement showed up, they didn’t have that information of the caller saying they had seen Brian assaulting Gabby. Mistakes were absolutely made. Were those mistakes made intentionally? No. Law enforcement works off of â€" especially law enforcement officers out in the field â€" [they’re] working on the information that they get. When the police show up, it’s a scary situation. People are nervous.”

He added: “There were multiple accounts from multiple different witnesses that there was some sort of abuse going on between them. Who the aggressor was â€" that line blurs sometimes in domestic disputes.”

Walsh also said that he is convinced that 23-year-old Mr Laundrie is responsible for Petito’s death.

A federal arrest warrant for Mr Laundrie was issued by the FBI on Thursday.

Maroosha Muzaffar24 September 2021 06:351632459879Academic says Gabby Petito homicide coverage threatens to turn the case into ‘entertainment’

A California State University academic has said that the Gabby Petito homicide coverage threatens to turn the case into “entertainment.”

Danielle Slakoff, who specialises in criminal justice and the media was quoted in the New York Times as saying that there were a number of reasons people were interested in the 22-year-old YouTuber’s case. She said that because Petito documented the road trip on her social media, “providing glimpses of her life,” people wanted to feel that they were “part of the story” by helping to solve her disappearance.

Prof Slakoff pointed out that research and her own work has shown that “white missing women and girls do receive more initial coverage and they do receive more repeated coverage.”

She said that white women in the media were usually portrayed as “good people” while women of colour were often depicted as risk-takers or “somehow complicit in their own disappearances.”

Emphasising the media coverage, she pointed out: “I don’t think we can discount the profit motive and the fact that, historically, these types of stories have gotten tons of engagement, viewers and clicks. So I do think it could be argued that it’s kind of this vicious cycle.”

Maroosha Muzaffar24 September 2021 06:041632458108Brian Laundrie left home without cellphone and wallet, source says

Brian Laundrie left his parents’ home in North Port, Florida, without his mobile phone or wallet, an anonymous close friend of the Laundrie family has told CNN.

A federal arrest warrant has been issued for Mr Laundrie who was reported missing by his parents last Tuesday.

The source also revealed to CNN’s Chris Cuomo that Mr Laundrie’s parents feared that he might hurt himself.

Gabby Petito’s remains were found on Sunday in Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming and the FBI said that she was a victim of homicide.

Meanwhile, Brian Laundrie’s parents returned from a trip to Orlando on Thursday. Reports said that they were there to meet their lawyer.

Maroosha Muzaffar24 September 2021 05:351632456608QAnon channels calling Gabby Petito homicide a ‘false flag’

Several QAnon channels are claiming that the attention given to the Gabby Petito case is a “false flag” operation to distract from president Joe Biden’s “failures”.

Some conspiracy theorists have come up with their own elaborate theories about the 22-year-old’s disappearance, with suggestions that Petito never even existed, or was played by an actor.

Earlier this week, Petito was declared a victim of a homicide and the FBI has issued an arrest warrant for her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie.

The search for Mr Laundrie in Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County was halted on Thursday and police said they’ll resume the search on Friday.

Maroosha Muzaffar24 September 2021 05:101632454699Second woman says she gave Brian Laundrie a ride

A second woman has come up with information about Brian Laundrie, claiming that she gave him a ride on 29 August in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Norma Jean Jalovec is the second woman â€" after Miranda Baker â€" to give “missing” Brian Laundrie a ride during his hitchhiking, just two days after Gabby Petito was last seen.

Ms Jalovec told Fox News that she dropped him off around 6.30 or 6.40 pm local time at the Spread Creek dispersed camping area, where Petito’s remains were discovered weeks later.

Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was also issued for Mr Laundrie and a North Port law firm is offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information that could help find him.

Maroosha Muzaffar24 September 2021 04:38

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