Brian Laundrie Update: 8 Dead Bodies Found In Manhunt For Gabby Petito’s Boyfriend

Authorities have uncovered multiple dead bodies in the manhunt for Brian Laundrie, the sole person of interest in the murder of his girlfriend, 22-year-old Gabby Petito.

U.S. authorities have found at least 8 bodies amid the search for Laundrie, who went missing on Sept. 14 after he went out to take a hike in Carlton Reserve near his parents’ home in North Port, Florida.

Since Sept. 14, authorities have found remains suspected to belong to New Jersey woman Lauren Cho, who was staying with friends in the Yucca Valley before she went missing on June 28 after leaving her Airbnb on a remote hiking trail in California.

In late September, authorities uncovered the body of hiker Robert Lowery who has been missing since Aug. 20. His body was found in Wyoming.

The bodies of newlywed couple Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner were also found at a campsite in Utah in August. Authorities said the couple had been fatally shot.

Authorities have said that Schulte and Turner’s deaths were not connected to Petito’s case, but investigators in a Utah resort town refuse to rule out a possible connection between their deaths and Petito’s murder, The Independent reported. Investigators noted that Schulte worked at the Moonflower Community Cooperative where Petito was seen engaged in a violent argument with Laundrie days before the couple’s bodies were found

Authorities also found the bodies of a homeless man in Alabama, a mission woman in Colorado and remains in North Carolina, according to 7News Australia.

Partial human remains—the eighth body to be found throughout the course of the manhunt—were found Wednesday afternoon at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida. The body was found near personal items belonging to Laundrie.

“These items were found in an area that up until recently had been underwater,” FBI Tampa special agent Michael McPherson said at a press conference.

Officials found Laundrie’s backpack and notebook near the human remains. Authorities are now testing the DNA of the remains.

Laundrie disappeared days after his fiancée Petito was reported missing in the wake of their cross-country road trip. A Wyoming coroner ruled Petito’s cause of death as homicide by manual strangulation.