Remains, backpack found in Brian Laundrie search identified

The human remains, backpack and notebook found during a search for Brian Laundrie in Florida’s Carlton Reserve have been identified.

After more than a month of searching, the FBI says Gabby Petito’s fiancé, Brian Laundrie, has been found dead.

The agency confirmed the human remains found on October 20 at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida belonged to Laundrie.

The identification comes one day after FBI agents in Tampa revealed a backpack and notebook belonging to Laundrie, 23, were discovered in the same area as the human remains.

#UPDATE: On October 21, 2021, a comparison of dental records confirmed that the human remains found at the T. Mabry Carlton, Jr. Memorial Reserve and Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park are those of Brian Laundrie. @FBITampapic.twitter.com/ZnzbXiibTM

— FBI Denver (@FBIDenver) October 21, 2021

On Wednesday local time, police personnel along with Laundrie’s parents Roberta and Chris, scoured a swampy region of Carlton Reserve which had been covered in water just weeks prior.

During the search, a backpack, notebook, dry bag and “partial remains” were discovered when the water had receded. The items were confirmed by the FBI belonging to Laundrie, however the remains needed to be examined by the coroner.

After the discovery the FBI said portions of the Carlton Reserve and Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park would remain closed for several days, as an evidence response team worked at the location.

The remains found in the search of Brian Laundrie have been identified.

Brian Laundrie search officials at Carlton Reserve.

Earlier in the week Laundrie’s lawyer Steven Bertolino made the bombshell revelation that while police had made the grim discovery of the remains and the backpack, it was Laundrie’s father who found the white dry bag also containing certain possessions.

The search for Brian Laundrie had entered its fifth week, after he was reported missing by his parents on September 17.

Mr Laundrie was wanted by the FBI as a “person of interest” in the case of Gabby Petito, who was found dead near a campground in Wyoming.

Police carry a white ‘dry bag’ which lawyer Steven Bertolino says Chris Laundrie found.

Ms Petito and Laundrie were on a cross-country road trip together when she allegedly stopped communication with her parents, Nichole Schmidt and Joe Petito in late August.

Mrs Schmidt became concerned, given she had been talking to her daughter via text or on the phone daily since she departed for the road trip in mid-July.

Mr Bertolino said Chris and Roberta Laundrie were ‘heartbroken’ when told remains were found. Picture: Fox News

After days of no communication, Mrs Schmidt and Mr Petito reported their 22-year-old daughter missing on September 11. The pair were soon made aware that their daughter’s fiance, Mr Laundrie, had been home in Florida — without Ms Petito — since September 1.

Following an extensive ground, air and water search in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, Ms Petito’s remains were discovered on September 19.

Gabby Petito was found dead in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park Picture: Instagram

Lead coroner in the case of Gabby Petito’s death ruled the cause as strangulation, and the manner a homicide.

Following the discovery of the remains, Mr Bertolino said the Laundrie’s were “heartbroken” at the discovery of the remains.

Mr Bertolino said the findings were discovered “in an area where they had initially advised law enforcement that Brian may be.”

As of Wednesday, the park was closed to the public, having reopened only Tuesday following a weeks-long search for the fugitive.

Chris and Roberta Laundrie said Brian, left his family’s North Port, Florida, home on September 13 to hike in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, located alongside the Carlton Reserve. The Laundries’ lawyer had initially identified the date of Brian’s disappearance as being September 14 before changing the timeline weeks later.