Gabby Petito Case: Why Brian Laundrie Search Is ‘Even Harder’ For Law Enforcement

It’s been nearly two weeks since his former fiancée's body was found in Wyoming and three weeks since she was reported missing, and yet, Brian Laundrie, who remains a person of interest in Gabby Petito’s death, has yet to be found.

Police have been searching for Laundrie since Sept. 17, just a few days after Petito’s mother reported her missing after not having contact with her daughter since late August. As the search for her heated up and took social media by storm, Laundrie’s behavior since her last contact with her family raised questions, especially after it was revealed he had driven back to Florida in his fiancée's van without her on Sept. 1—and then refused to get in touch with her concerned family. He then reportedly told his parents he was going hiking at the Carlton Reserve near his North Port home on Sept. 14—and hasn’t been seen since.

Now, experts tell CNN that as time continues to stretch on with no sign of the 23-year-old, the search for him is getting more complicated, especially since he has seemingly gone off the grid, leaving his phone and wallet behind, making him harder to track.

“Unlike other fugitives or people that are missing, we typically have reason to believe they’re in a populated area,” Bryanna Fox, a former FBI special agent and associate professor in the department of criminology at the University of South Florida said. “In this case, it looks like he attempted to maybe go off the grid and is not living in society. So it makes it even harder to find him.”

The search for Laundrie has mainly taken place at the 25,000-acre Reserve, which consists of swampy conditions and alligator-infested waters. If Laundrie did in fact go to the Reserve, the ability to track him dwindles more each day because of the conditions.

“Down in Florida, during the summer and wet time, a body can start to skeletonize in less than five to seven days,” Chris Boyer, executive director of the National Association for Search and Rescue said. “And with predators, you can lose a lot of evidence that way.”

Many believe Laundrie never went to the Reserve, and that he actually has gone elsewhere. Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, who has also gotten involved in the search, has indicated he believes Laundrie actually went to the Fort De Soto Campground, while one of Gabby Petito’s best friends previously warned that he knows how to live completely off the grid, after having done so in the Appalachian Mountains for months previously.

Currently, Laundrie is not an official suspect in Petito’s death, though a warrant was issued for his arrest for using bank cards that didn’t belong to him. Petito’s body was found in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest on Sept. 19, and her death has been ruled a homicide.