NORTH PORT, Fla. (NewsNation Now) — Police in North Port, Florida, say they wouldn’t be surprised if Brian Laundrie was dead or alive at this point in the search.
North Port police officer Josh Taylor told NewsNationNow.com they haven’t been able to find anything in the Carlton Reserve — other than Laundrie’s car.
“We need to find something. I think there’s so much attention on this. I don’t know that this case would ever get to be a cold case,” said Taylor. “We’ll continue to search. You know, we could be searching that Carlton Reserve and nearby lands for a long, long time.”
Police have been searching the reserve since Laundrie was reported missing after his family said they last saw him wearing a hiking bag with a waist strap heading into Carlton Reserve.
Laundrie was declared a person of interest in Gabby Petito’s death after he refused to talk with authorities and his subsequent disappearance. Petito’s body was found at a camping area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming in September, days after a nationwide search was launched.
On Oct. 5, the Laundrie family attorney said Laundrie’s parents now believe they last saw him Sept. 13, a day earlier than they’d previously told investigators.
When asked if he believed the Laundrie family, Taylor said “I don’t know necessarily what to believe anymore.”
“It’s certainly possible that they’re expressing what they know. But we’ll see. This is an ongoing investigation that will continue to evolve. I think you saw yesterday the (Laundrie) family was out there helping in the search, I think it’s a sign of them trying to work with investigators,” said Taylor.