Is Brian Laundrie a narcissist? Expert says a person like him is 'likely to run away'
Amid the massive manhunt for deceased Gabby Petito's boyfriend Brian Laundrie, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, experts believe that some clues hidden in Laundrie's behavior may lead investigators to him. Laundrie drove Petito's van back to Florida without her and has now been accused of using a debit card that does not belong to him. Soon after Petito was reported missing, Laundrie disappeared. Days later, Petito's body was found and her death was ruled a homicide.
For weeks now, after Laundrie vanished, people have been wondering if he is someone who is likely to take his own life. Petito's father recently claimed that he did not see any red flags with Laundrie. The question that the Internet has since been raising is: is Brian Laundrie dead or alive?
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Dr James Huysman, a renowned Florida psychiatrist who is writing a book on personality disorders at present, said after watching the much-talked-about body camera video of Brian Laundrie during an incident with Petito in Utah, "This is pretty much something that happens in America and around the world, pretty much under the radar", Fox5 New York reported. However, he said that it is not proper to diagnose Laundrie based on the footage, but he believes that the video and several reports show signs of narcissism in him, which is likely to lead to an abusive relationship.
While Laundrie and Petito were on their cross-country road trip, police received a 911 call where the caller said that the gentleman was slapping the girl." It was later found that the gentleman was Laundrie and Petito was the girl that the caller referred to. Police arrived at the scene to find that Petito was sobbing, but Laundrie was seemingly unemotional and quite composed. "In terms of this disorder, they have no core values," Huysman said of someone with narcissistic behaviors. This knowledge, Huysman said, could suggest that a person like that is "very likely to run away, to hide, to think they can get away with it."
Days have passed while investigators are on the lookout for Laundrie around a wildlife refuge near his home in North Port. At present, Laundrie is the only person of interest in Petito's death. Huysman confirmed that narcissists too reach a breaking point. "This is a time when self-harm issues or suicide can be triggered," he said. "There's a lot of pointing fingers. ‘I didn't do it… I'm not accountable.’ But there's also those times alone when you can't deny what's happening in my life is it's entirely falling apart."
Meanwhile, a friend of Petito has said that Laundrie has wilderness survival skills that he could use to evade arrest. “He is out in the wilderness, I promise you,” Rose Davis told People. “...If he’s alive, he’s out there, camping out ... He lived in the Appalachians by himself for months.” Davis also said that Laundrie and Petito's relationship was “very toxic", and Laundrie had “jealousy issues”. "At the time, it just seemed like he was jealous," said Davis, 21. "Honestly, it seemed like a jealousy problem, which I understood because, you look at Brian and then you look at Gabby and you're like, 'Gabby, you could have anyone in this entire world.'"
“He did have jealousy issues and that was apparent. I mean that you could see right through it when after you hang out with them just a few times," Davis said. She described Laundrie as "a sociopath" adept at lying and said that Petito often opened up about the tense altercations between them. Davis also claimed that Laundrie is an avid reader and "does not have friends."