NORTH PORT, Fla. (Scripps News Tampa) — Brian Laundrie died by suicide, the Laundrie family attorney said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Chris and Roberta Laundrie have been informed that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was suicide. Chris and Roberta are still mourning the loss of their son and are hopeful that these findings bring closure to both families,” Steven Bertolino told WFTS.
FILE – This Aug. 12, 2021 file photo from video provided by the Moab, Utah, Police Department shows Brian Laundrie talking to a police officer after police pulled over the van he was traveling in with his girlfriend, Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, near the entrance to Arches National Park in Utah. (The Moab Police Department via AP, File)
Brian Laundrie’s skeletal remains were found on October 20 at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.
The search for Laundrie had been ongoing for more than a month. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Laundrie by U.S. District Court of Wyoming in September following the death of his fiancé Gabby Petito.
The warrant was for violation of the federal statute “use of unauthorized access devices.”
Laundrie and Petito were on a cross-country trip over the summer when he returned to his parent’s North Port home, where they both lived, without her. Petito was reported missing on September 11 and her body was found in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton on Sunday, September 19. The body was confirmed to be that of Petito on September 21.
The Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue announced on October 11 that her cause of death was manual strangulation/throttling and ruled the manner of death a homicide.
This story was originally published Nov. 23, 2021, by WFTS in Tampa Bay, an E.W. Scripps Company.
