A spokesman for the North Port Police department is admitting to making mistakes in handling the Brian Laundrie investigation, according to a new report.
Josh Taylor, who is the public information officer for the department, revealed to WINK that investigators began spying on Brian’s movements soon after his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, was reported missing.
Taylor said police had planted hidden cameras around the Laundries’ home in other to keep a close eye on Brian, who returned home alone on September 1st from a cross-country road trip with Gabby.
However, the investigators’ plan failed. Cops assigned to keep tabs on the 23-year-old apparently saw him leave his parents’ house in his grey Mustang on September 13. When the vehicle returned two days later, investigators mistook Brian’s mother for him.
“They’re kind of built similarly,” Taylor said.
Investigators told reporters during a press conference on September 16 that they knew where exactly Brian was because they were confident he was in his parents’ Florida home. However, Brian’s parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, reported him missing on September 17.
“That was certainly news to us that they had not seen him,” Taylor said. “We thought that we [had] seen Brian initially come back into that home on that Wednesday. But, we now know that that wasn’t true.”
Taylor alleges that Roberta was wearing a baseball hat at the time when she drove Brian’s car back.
“They had returned from the park with that Mustang,” Taylor says. “So, who does that? Right? Like, if you think your son’s missing since Tuesday, you’re going to bring his car back to the home? So it didn’t make sense that anyone would do that if he wasn’t there. So the individual getting out with a baseball cap we thought was Brian.”
The investigators’ mistakes have resulted in a massive search across a 25,000-acre nature preserve filled with wild animals. “No case is perfect,” Taylor says.
Brian’s remains were found last week in Florida’s Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park were Laundrie’s. His notebook and backpack were also found next to his body.
Brian was never charged with Gabby’s death or disappearance.
Read also: Brian Laundrie to be cremated, no plans for funeral.
