(Reuters) -Crews searching a national park in Wyoming for missing Gabby Petito have found remains “consistent” with the 22-year-old woman but have not yet made a formal identification, the FBI said.
Petito has not been seen since her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, returned home from a months long cross-country trip without her on Sept. 1. Laundrie has been named a “person of interest” in the case.
“Earlier today human remains were discovered consistent with Gabrielle Petito,” FBI spokesman Charles Jones said. “Full forensic identification has not been completed to confirm 100% that we found Gabby, but her family has been notified of this discovery.”
Jones said the cause of death was yet to be determined.
Petito and Laundrie, 23, left New York in June on their road trip, heading west in a white van planning to visiting national parks along the way and documenting the trip on social media.
Petito posted her last photo on Aug. 25. Her family believes she was headed to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming when they last heard from her.
Laundrie, who lived with Petito in North Port, roughly 70 miles south of St. Petersburg on Florida’s west coast, has refused to speak with investigators.
His family told police on Friday that they had not seen him in three days. Florida police and FBI agents spent the weekend combing a nearby forest area for him.
Petito was last seen leaving a hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.
(Reporting by Maria Caspani and Dan Whitcomb; Additional reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Comments