Reality TV star Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman said he received a tip that the Laundrie family spent time at the park in early September. He is currently in the park with boats, ground teams and K-9 units.
Brian Laundrie’s attorney confirmed that Brian and his parents camped in Fort De Soto days from September 6 to September 7, days after Laundrie returned home alone from his trip west with his fiancée Gabby Petito.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office told reporters that there is no official police investigation in Fort De Soto Park at this time.
Gabby Petito’s parents held a press conference in New York Tuesday afternoon, their first time speaking publicly since their daughter’s funeral took place on Sunday. The family expressed grief for their loss, but announced that they would “make some good from this awful tragedy” with the creation of the Gabby Petito Foundation.
The conference came nine days after Petito’s body was found in Wyoming and amid a continued manhunt for fiancé Brian Laundrie, who was named as a person of interest in the homicide investigation.
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Lyssa Chapman, the daughter of Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, tweeted that her father has “called in the K-9s.”
Chapman received his own tip about Laundrie’s whereabouts and has launched his own investigation at Fort De Soto Park in Florida.
Sean Whalen is offering $50,000 for information that leads to Laundrie.
“It makes [me] physically ill to imagine my daughter crying out and her life being extinguished and I’m not there to help, and I have no answers,” Whalen said in an Instagram post.
“I don’t need to know her or her family to put up some money all I need to know is if it’s my nightmare it’s likely another father’s nightmare,” he added.
Steven Bertolino told reporters Laundrie left the phone at home the day he went for a hike in the reserve. He would not provide a specific date for when the phone was purchased.
He also confirmed that the FBI now has the phone.
He said his team “launched an active and specific search” in a “key area” of the park based on intelligence they received. His team is utilizing boat crews, ground teams and search and rescue dogs.
Chapman said the park is a “perfect place for [Laundrie] to hide” because there are “not too many people out here.”
“The search is really on. The search has just begun,” he said.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that surveillance video from the Fort De Soto Park campground was turned over to the FBI.
Stephanie Savage from Houston told WFAA that she felt there needs to be a memorial at the Laundrie house.
“I was really dumbfounded how no one in the Tampa area had started one,” Savage said.
Her flowers were delivered Monday and more arrived the following day, local news on the scene reported. Soon, #FlowersForGabby was trending on Twitter.
A community service aid with the North Port Police Department said all flowers had to be moved to the public memorial at city hall. The aide also said the flowers would be thrown away Monday night, WFFA reported.
“The Twitter followers started contacting North Port Police and telling them they had no right to do this,” Savage said.
A police spokesperson said the aide misspoke.
In the case that there is a complaint on private property where people are placing items, police can step in accordance with the law, the spokesman said. But there were no complaints in this case.
Video footage from Spectrum News shows Chapman arriving at the campground about an hour ago to search for Brian Laundrie. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said there was no investigation at the park, despite reports of police activity earlier this morning.
Chapman’s daughter Lyssa Chapman tweeted Wednesday afternoon that her father is “on the hunt” for Laundrie. Minutes ago, she said her father is searching “on foot at a possible location.”
“What were you thinking?” the woman shouted. “You guys have blood on your hands, too.”
Protestors have frequently shown up at the Laundries house to demand they end their silence amid investigations into Gabby Petito’s disappearance and homicide. Brian Laundrie has been named a person of interest in her death, though police have not yet found him in their nationwide manhunt.
“Shame on you,” the woman shouted as the Laundries entered their house.
Lyssa Chapman, the daughter of Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, tweeted earlier this week that the team was looking for “experienced hiking/survivalists near the Appalachian Hiking trail in North Carolina.”
She also encouraged hunters to check their game cameras and asked people to share Laundrie’s photo with people living in the area who may not have television or internet.
There were multiple reports of Laundrie sightings in Watauga County, North Carolina.
“We were looking into these claims, but nothing has been verified,” the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office told WJZY.
Norma Jean Jalovec told PEOPLE there “was nothing extraordinary” about Laundrie when she picked him up. They talked about the hiking trails and the blogs he made with his fiancée, Petito.
However, she said he “got agitated” when she asked if he wanted her to pull up past the gate into the Spread Creek Disperes Camping Area on August 29 around 6:15 p.m.
They were nearing the location where Petito’s body would be discovered weeks later.
“He was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. This is fine,’” she recalls. “He said, ‘Just let me out here. You can let me out here.’”
Jalovec said Laundrie was “literally getting out of the passenger seat” as she pulled the car over.
She said Laundrie would have to walk several miles to his van from where she dropped him off and nightfall was approaching.
“I said, ‘Oh, you don’t want your fiancée to see you being dropped off out of an SUV. You want her to think you hiked all the way back,’” she said. “But now we all know, obviously there was a reason why he probably didn’t want me to go down that road.”
News Nation Now reporter Brian Entin said the only chopper activity over the park is a news helicopter.
He also shared images from WFLA’s Eagle 8 news chopper, showing no police activity in the park.
This comes after country records confirm Brian Laundrie and his family camped in Fort De Soto between September 6 and September 8.
Marci and Kenny Newsom told WBBH they snapped a selfie with Chris and Roberta Laundrie. The man walking in the background is suspected to be Brian Laundrie.
“They kept to themselves,” Marci Newsom told WBBH. “They were there and then they weren’t.”
They also said they have photos of the Laundrie’s red truck.
“Very strange,” Kenny Newsom told WBBH. “If someone I knew was missing, I wouldn’t be going camping.”
Robert Lowery, a 46-year-old father of two from Houston, went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming on August 19 and was last seen the next day in Bridger-Teton National Forest, where Petito’s body was found on September 19.
Remains matching Lowery’s description were found near the Black Canyon Trail at the base of Teton Pass on Tuesday, KPRC-TV reported.
The national attention from the Petito case led to tips about Lowery’s possible whereabouts, the Teton County Sheriff’s Office said.
“The widespread news coverage of the Gabby Petito search helped bring light to Lowery’s case, and resulted in at least two members of the public calling local authorities this past weekend with new information about his possible last seen point,” the Teton County search and rescue team said in a statement.
WTVT reporter Kim Kuizon said the activity outside the reserve had calmed down. She was told by officials that the search has been “scaled back” as the focus remains on areas of water.
Bertolino told WFLA the family camped at the park from September 6 to September 7 and all three left together.
This trip was a few days after Laundrie returned from his trip out west without Gabby Peito on September 1. Petito was reported missing on September 11.
Police have not yet confirmed if they will search this park.
READ MORE: “Brian Laundrie Was at Fort De Soto Campsite With Parents Before Going Missing”
Schmidt said during the family’s press conference Tuesday that they wanted to bring her home “as quickly as possible,” but they also wanted to make sure that they didn’t “impede” the investigation by bringing her home prematurely.
He added that the family knows that the body is safe “as long as she’s with them.”
Joe Petito, Gabby Petito’s father, addressed the room of people who attended the family’s press conference on Tuesday, saying that “it’s on all of you” to do so.
“And if you don’t do that for other people that are missing, that’s a shame because it’s not just Gabby that deserves that. So, look to yourselves on why that’s not being done,” he said.
He added that people traveled from far-away states to attend the funeral on Sunday, which took place in New York.
“We had people at the funeral that came from as far away as Texas, as Florida, as California, so people from all over the country have called and sent their well wishes,” Stafford said.
Speaking of the press, he said that “they don’t get enough credit for what it is that they do.” He also said that engagement with his daughter’s case on social media “has been amazing.”
“So, I’d just like to thank everyone for that. It is greatly appreciated. That was very helpful in bringing our daughter home,” he said.
The tattoos bear the inscription “Let It Be” in script, and are located on the inner part of the family’s arms.
He said that the family was seeking justice for Gabby Petito’s homicide, and asked Laundrie to turn himself in.
The organization is to be named the Gabby Petito Foundation, they said.
