Gabby Petito: What's in the pink envelope 'cops dropped' off at Brian Laundrie's home?
Police in Florida, in an effort to find the whereabouts of the missing Long Island woman Gabby Petito, has now reportedly dropped off a pink envelope at her boyfriend’s home. Authorities are trying to contact Petito’s boyfriend Brian Laundrie after her last known location was in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park in late August. Police are also now getting themselves ready for odds that something “sinister” might have happened to the 22-year-old, who was on a cross-country road trip in a converted van with Laundrie.
According to reports, Laundrie is currently at his home in North Port, Florida — located between Tampa and Fort Meyers. However, he is reportedly not cooperating with the investigators in finding Petito. North Port police said that when they tried to contact Laundrie previously, they were sent off by his parents, who asked them to talk to their lawyer. Josh Taylor, a spokesman for North Port police, told The New York Post, “We talked with his parents, who did not make him available.”
READ MORE
The silence of Brian Laundrie: Where is Gabby Petito's boyfriend?
Gabby Petito: How missing case may have links to Kylen Schulte-Crystal Turner murders
He added: “We would love to [talk to him]. He certainly has whatever rights he has available. We will see how it goes, we are roughly 72 hours into this.” However, Taylor claimed that he has no idea if any envelope has been dropped off at Laundrie’s place.
Petito's parents — mother Nicole Schmidt and father Joe Petito — said in a statement that the man “is refusing to tell Gabby’s family where he last saw her.” They added: “Brian is also refusing to explain why he left Gabby all alone and drove her van to Florida. These are critical questions that require immediate answers. The Schmidt and Petito family beg the Laundrie family to not ‘remain in the background’ but to help find who Brian referred to as the love of his life. How does Brian stay in the background when he is the one person that knows where Gabby is located?” The family also pleaded to Brian “to come forward and at least tell us if we are looking in the right area.”
Meanwhile, it has been said that police have taken the pair’s converted van into their custody for investigation purposes. Taylor said, “It’s here at the police department. It will be processed with the FBI.” Petito’s father, Joe, also confirmed to The New York Post that the investigators were combing through data to find information about his daughter. He stated: “I was told a lot of great work was done yesterday by the FBI, but they’re still going through a lot of data. Everyone has been amazing in helping to try to find Gabby.”
Reports said Petito’s family realized something was not right after their daughter did not contact them for several days. She last spoke to her mother on August 25. Then on September 11, her family filed a missing report in Suffolk County, New York, where they live. North Port police are also co-operating in the probe. Taylor said: “We’re hopeful that she’s out there somewhere, sometimes people just don’t want to communicate so that’s certainly still a viable option but we have to prepare for something more sinister.”