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Brian Laundrie manhunt: Could parents face obstruction, accessory charges?
Brian Laundrie’s parents told police they haven’t seen him since Sept. 14
As the manhunt for Florida fugitive Brian Laundrie enters its third week, questions are mounting about how he’s been able to elude authorities this long and whether his parents may have helped give him a head start.
Parents Chris and Roberta Laundrie have not been accused of any wrongdoing, but critics have taken to scrutinizing their actions in the weeks following the disappearance of their former future daughter-in-law, Gabby Petito, who was found dead in Wyoming at a campsite she shared with their son. They said nothing about the fact that she was missing and went on a Labor Day camping trip.
“If they provided false information to law enforcement that let Brian Laundrie take off and get a week head start, or if the parents sent law enforcement on a wild goose chase, searching the preserve when he wasn’t there, there’s certainly a basis to charge them,” said Neama Rahmani, a former legal prodigy and federal prosecutor.
The Laundrie family has kept almost entirely quiet since Petito’s disappearance even though she lived with them.
Their son returned home from a road trip out west – in her van but without her – Sept. 1. The family said nothing for 10 days, and Petito’s mother reported her missing on Sept. 11 after repeated unsuccessful attempts to make contact with the 23-year-old Long Island native.
An FBI-led search team found her remains near Grand Teton National Park eight days later at a campsite where she stayed in the van with Laundrie at the end of August.
So far, Laundrie has been described as a person of interest in the Petito case but charged only with debit card fraud for allegedly using someone else’s bank card without permission and withdrawing more than $1,000.