Manhunt on for fiancé of missing US woman Gabby Petito
- Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the disappearance of his fiancée, is thought to be in a vast wildlife reserve in Florida
- The pair set out on a cross-country trek in a converted van in July, but Laundrie returned alone to his parents’ home in September
US police on Saturday searched a vast wildlife reserve in Florida for 23-year-old Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the disappearance of his girlfriend, Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, while across the country, the FBI hunted for clues about the missing woman in a mountainous national park in Wyoming.
More than 50 police officers, FBI agents and members of other law enforcement agencies were searching the 9,712-hectare (24,000-acre) Carlton Reserve in the Sarasota, Florida area of the Gulf Coast.
Authorities used drones, scent-sniffing dogs and all-terrain vehicles in the reserve, which has more than 160 kilometres (100 miles) of trails, as well as campgrounds. Investigators took some of his clothing from his parents’ home on Friday night to provide a scent for the search dogs.
“His family says they believe he entered the area earlier this week,“ North Port Police tweeted on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the FBI in Denver on Saturday said that agents were conducting ground surveys at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, with help from the National Park Service and local law enforcement agencies, seeking clues to Petito’s disappearance.