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'Mother of darkness': Brian Laundrie's mom wore black dress, veil BEFORE body was ID'd

The pictures were screenshots from a video taken by a neighbor living next to the Laundrie family home, who saw Roberta Laundrie dressed in black on Wednesday, October 20

Pictures of Brian Laundrie's mother dressed in black attire, with a black hat and a veil went viral after she was recorded coming out of the house to throw out the trash on the day items belonging to her son were discovered at a Florida swamp shortly before his skeletal remains were found. 

According to social media reports, the pictures were screenshots from a video taken by a neighbor living next to the Laundrie family home, who saw Roberta Laundrie dressed in black on Wednesday, October 20, after she and her husband joined the FBI and the North Port police in searching the Carlton Reserve for their then-missing 23-year-old son, who was named a person of interest in the murder of his girlfriend and travel vlogger, Gabby Petito. The video was then posted by the unnamed neighbor on a Facebook group. Snapshots of the video then found their way to Twitter where they went viral. 

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Apparently, at the time that the video was recorded by the neighbor, there were no reporters covering the Laundrie home, which for the past month has been swarming with paparazzi. However, one of the protesters who have been camping near the lawn of Laundrie's property did bear witness to the sight of Roberta Laundrie dressed in black. "So Roberta Laundrie yesterday decided to wear a black dress and a black veil and come out here and then open her blinds for the world to see her like that. Are you kidding me? Are you frigging kidding me? She's a sick woman. She's sick in the head. That's what's wrong with the family. They're sick in the head," the protester said.

Social media users were quick to note that Roberta Laundrie seemed to be grieving even before the remains discovered at the Carlton Reserve were positively ID'd to be Brian's. "Why grieve now? They didn’t do anything to search for him even knowing his state of mind. She should have turned him in to at least have him alive. Not to go after 30 days to search for him," one of them said, while another noted, "Mother of darkness?" A third commented, "Nice. Now they're adding costumes. Getting ready for the final act." The next remarked, "Omg was that her?! That is very creepy!!" One more quipped, "It's like an LMN movie lol."  A commenter tweeted, "Yeah that was suspicious." Another added, "Wow that’s calling the kettle black." One more said, "That is so creepy and weird af! Who dresses up like that!" A person reacted with, "A black veil? She’s a joke." Another noted, "This family gets stranger and stranger as the days pass. A family of freaks."

Chris and Roberta Laundrie found Brian's items

Despite a massive search operation for weeks, authorities were not able to find anything crucial. But the startling recent discovery came only after Brian’s parents -- Chris and Roberta Laundrie -- helped authorities and pointed in a particular direction. The remains were found in Florida's Carlton Reserve in an area that had earlier been swamped. Michael McPherson, special agent in charge of the FBI's Tampa office, said: “Earlier today investigators found what appears to be human remains along with personal items, such as a backpack and notebook, belonging to Brian Laundrie. These items were found in an area that up until recently had been under water.” Steven Bertolino, an attorney for the Laundrie family, said in a statement: “Some articles belonging to Brian were found.” 

In another statement, he added, “Chris and Roberta Laundrie were at the reserve earlier today when human remains and some of Brian’s possessions were located in an area where they had initially advised law enforcement that Brian may be. Chris and Roberta will wait for the forensic identification of the human remains before making any additional comments.” Besides, in a phone interview to CNN, the lawyer said that “the probability is strong that it is Brian's remains, but we're going to wait for the forensic results [to] come in and verify that.”