The investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Gabby Petito , the 22-year-old from Long Island (New York) who vanished into thin air during a road trip with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, who is a year older, continues in the United States.
With an important novelty: the young man - resident in Florida - has also lost his tracks, after the investigators have officially summoned him to record his version of events.
The police are therefore now looking for not one, but two missing persons. According to reports from relatives of the boy, who lives in North Port, Florida, the 23-year-old took a backpack and went on a hike to a reserve. But there has been no news of him since Tuesday.
"All of Gabby's family want the world to know that Brian isn't missing, he's hiding. Gabby is missing," Petito family lawyer Richard Stafford told CNN.
According to what has been reconstructed so far, during the summer the two young people left in a white van (currently seized by the police) to tour the States. A tour that the couple - especially Gabby - had reported on social media, with photos and videos. But since the end of August, when the two reached a wildlife park in Wyoming (Grand Teton National Park), the posts have stopped and the 22-year-old's mother has stopped hearing.
The young man instead returned on September 1 to his home in Florida, alone, hiring a lawyer and entrenching himself in silence. On 11 September, the official report of the disappearance by Gabby's mother arrived and the searches began, with the young woman's family having repeatedly complained of the lack of collaboration and the suspicious behavior of her boyfriend. The police, after starting the investigation to track down Gabby, also contacted the young man to question him.
But Laundrie was nowhere to be found before the interview with the investigators, who on Friday - the US media still reported - also proceeded to search his home in North Port.
The police of the city of Florida, in a search notice for a missing person, which asks for the contribution of citizens who have seen or know something, however, specifies that the young man, despite being connected to the case of Gabby Petito, is not wanted or investigated.
In short, the mystery continues.
(Unioneonline / lf)