Documents obtained by Fox News confirm tracking from Duane “Dog” Chapman, better known as “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” in the hunt for 23-year-old Brian Laundrie, who’s suspected of killing his fiancée Gabby Petito.
Chapman received a tip about the Laundrie family checking into a park about 75 miles north of the family’s home following the disappearance of Gabby, who was later found dead. Fox obtained documents showing Roberta Laundrie, Brian’s mother, did indeed check into the Florida park.
Fox News reported:
Duane “Dog” Chapman, also known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, announced Saturday he was entering the search for Laundrie, and tips quickly poured in. He told Fox News he learned Monday that Laundrie’s parents spent the night in Fort De Soto Park with their son twice in early September from Sept. 1 to 3 and Sept. 6 to 8.
The documents confirm Chapman’s suspicion that the Laundries went camping at the Fort De Soto Park outside St. Petersburg between his return from out West on Sept. 1 and the day Petito’s mother reported her missing, Sept. 11. They show the family checked in on Sept. 6 and out on Sept. 8 – but there’s no record on the document of them the week prior. … The documents show the checkout was actually recorded on Sept. 8 – three days before Petito officially became a missing person.
Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino initially said the claims from Chapman are false. “I will no longer give that dog credibility or dignify his false claims with the time of my reply,” said Bertolino.
However, Fox noted that the attorney later told local media that “the family camped out on Sept. 6 and 7 and that ‘they all left the park.’”
Chapman has publicly questioned why the Laundrie family went for a camping retreat while Petito, who lived with the family and was set to marry Brian, was missing.
Last week, a neighbor of the Laundrie family told Fox News Digital that the family was acting suspiciously “normal” while Petito was missing.
“I’m really upset now because … [the Laundries] should have absolutely come forward now,” Charlene Guthrie said. “I mean, I just … can’t believe they didn’t do something. I’m really angry now that they … let this go. And that everything was so natural and they remained so normal through the whole thing, you know, while they were here, till he went on the run.”
“He mowed the lawn,” the neighbor recalled. “Him and his mother went for a bicycle ride around the block. I mean, everything was just normal life once he came back. And I just can’t get over the fact that they — it seemed like nothing bothered him. How can you do that?”
Guthrie reportedly told Fox News Digital that Laundrie’s parents should have spoken up, and his disappearance in September looked “really, really bad for him.”
“I have children, and I know that you do what you can to protect your child, but, you know, that can go so far, and you gotta do the right thing eventually. You have to,” the neighbor asserted.
Earlier this month, while the search for Petito intensified, Laundrie went missing. The 23-year-old was named a “person of interest” in the case and his family home was raided by the FBI and reportedly declared a “crime scene.” An arrest warrant was issued for Laundrie on Sept. 23.