TAMPA (WFLA) – Wednesday marks exactly one month since Gabby Petito’s fiancé Brian Laundrie reportedly left his parents home to go hiking. However, the attention focused on the Laundrie family is still white-hot.
8 On Your Side has been digging into police records to see the impact of the frenzy surrounding this case on the investigation.
Laundrie’s parents officially reported him missing on Friday, Sept. 17 – more than two weeks after police say he returned home to North Port alone from a cross-country trip he had been on with his fiancée Gabby Petito.
He still remains the sole person of interest in the disappearance of his now-deceased fiancé, Gabby Petito.
Court documents obtained by WFLA show Laundrie was indicted for the “use of unauthorized access devices” following Petito’s death. According to the documents, Laundrie used a Capital One Bank debit card and a personal identification number for two Capital One Bank accounts “knowingly and with intent to defraud” between Aug. 30 and Sept. 1 in Wyoming and elsewhere. Using the accounts, he obtained “things of value aggregating to $1,000 or more.”
While authorities have not released evidence linking Brian to Gabby’s death, as the manhunt continues, many are angry at Brian and his parents.
New records show the fury of this case extends 40 miles away to the home of Brian’s sister, Cassie Laundrie.
Records obtained by 8 On Your Side show, Manatee County Sheriff’s deputies have dropped by the home numerous times in a span of two weeks.
The first call for help came two days after Brian was reported missing.
According to the calls for service log, on Sept. 19, Cassie’s husband James reported he was getting “messages from random people.”
The messages included threats about “killing his family and kidnapping his kids.”
Following the threats, deputies periodically checked in on the family. On Oct. 1, there was a call about “suspicious circumstances.”
Officials investigating and dismissing a possible Brian Laundrie sighting. Then, there’s the disturbance from the protestors.
“We’re not supposed to talk with anybody and you’re making my children cry,” said Cassie Laundrie.
Cassie Laundrie even took questions from a small group of protesters outside her home and clarified some of the timelines around her brother’s disappearance and the death of Gabby Petito.
Former FBI agent Dr. Bryanna Fox says each time there’s a false sighting, a trespasser or a threat, precious resources are pulled away from solving this case.
“Anytime that there’s a death threat made against somebody, law enforcement takes it extremely seriously,” said Dr. Fox.
“It is illegal, it is irresponsible, it is extremely harmful and on top of it, it’s going to just make finding the person whose responsible for Gabby Petito’s murder that much more difficult.”
