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NORTH PORT, Fla. (WFLA) – The indictment of Brian Laundrie on credit card fraud charges references a short window of time that the FBI said occurred after the death of his fiancé Gabby Petito.
Multiple witnesses confirm Petito was seen alive in the Wyoming restaurant Merry Piglets on Aug. 27, about 500 miles away from where the the 22-year old blogger and Laundrie were recorded on an Aug. 12 police body cam video.
“Yes, we can confirm Gabby and Brian were in Merry Piglets,” the restaurant owner said in a social media post. “We have already notified the FBI and they are aware.”
The owner has not responded to requests for more details.
Laundrie and Petito were also spotted at the restaurant on Aug. 27 by New Orleans Instagram influencer Nina Celie Angelo, who said she saw the couple fighting at the restaurant.
“They like left abruptly, and [Petito] was standing on the sidewalk crying and [Laundrie] walked back in and was, like, screaming at the hostess and then walked back out,” Angelo told Fox News.
Angelo has not responded to requests for more details about what she saw.
Petito’s mother Nichole Schmidt told North Port Police the last text message she received from her daughter was also on Aug. 27.
Schmidt said the text, referenced in a North Port police search warrant, asked Schmidt about Petito’s grandfather.
“Can you help Stan?” the text said. “I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls.”
The text was considered “odd” by Schmidt who told investigators she “was concerned something was wrong” because her daughter never referred to her grandfather by his first name.
Also on Aug. 27, Petito’s van was captured in a video recorded by Spring Hill blogger Red, White & Bethune in an area that was about an hour away from the restaurant.
Three days later, on the 30th, Laundrie allegedly began the “unauthorized” use of a debt card. According to the FBI, the crime happened “following the death of Gabrielle Petito.”
The indictment alleges Laundrie illegally spent more than $1,000 from two accounts during a three-day period that ended Sept. 1, the day the Petito’s white van arrived back in Florida without her.
The search of Carlton Reserve for six out of the last seven days makes it obvious Laundrie was a flight risk, but now it is spelled out in another federal document.
Wyoming prosecutors filed a motion for a detention hearing, stating the Laundrie case involves a “serious risk the defendant will flee” and “a serious risk of obstruction of justice.”
Defense attorney Bryant Camareno said the federal filings will allow investigators to turn up the heat on Laundrie.
“Now it’s nationwide and the marshals are going to be looking for him,” Camareno said. “Before it was just a local thing. Now he could be anywhere in the country, perhaps even in the world and they can look for him through that warrant.”
