New search for friend in Florida

North Port. The US police have started a new search for the friend of the allegedly killed Gabby Petito in Florida. Investigators were looking for Brian Laundrie again in the Carlton Conservation Area near his home, police in North Port said on Tuesday. Police had not found Laundrie over the weekend in the 9,712 hectare nature reserve. His parents said he might have gone there.

The FBI announced on Sunday that a body had been found on the edge of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. An autopsy of the body, which is believed to be Petito, was scheduled for Tuesday. Laundrie is a person of interest on the case.

22-year-old Petito and 23-year-old Laundrie left in a van on a national park tour in July. They argued along the way. On September 1, police said Laundrie returned in the van to his parents’ home in North Port without Petito. Laundrie and Petito had lived in the house. The FBI took several boxes out of the home on Monday. A car was also towed away, which neighbors say was normally driven by Laundrie’s mother.

Witness saw the couple arguing

A man saw Laundrie and Petito arguing in Moab, Utah, on August 12. He called the police to report a domestic violence case, according to a recording of the call that the Grand County Sheriff’s Office had. The eyewitness said he saw Laundrie hit Petito.

Petito’s father Joseph said in an interview taped prior to the alleged finding of her body that the family became concerned after hearing nothing from Petito for days. “We called Brian, we called the mother, we called the father, we called the nurse, we called every number we could find,” said Joseph Petito on the TV show “Dr. Phil ”, which was broadcast on Monday (local time). “No phone calls were accepted, no text messages were answered.” Petito said he wanted Laundrie and his family to be held accountable for his daughter’s disappearance. “Because I’m telling you right now, for me they (the parents) are just as complicit.”

Joseph Petito said his daughter and Laundrie had been together for two and a half years. Laundrie was “always respectful”.

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