NORTH PORT (WSNN) – All eyes are on this missing person case involving a North Port resident. Gabby Petito is still missing. After she and her fiancé, Brain Laundrie, went on a road trip together, one returned, the other didn’t. Petito’s family just wants answers.
“There is nothing else that matters to me now,” Gabby Petito’s dad, Joe Petito said. “This, this girl right here. This is what matters. Anything else becomes secondary to this.”
“We are pleading with people out there to give us information, point us in the direction that we need to be, and help us find Gabby,” North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said as he choked up. “Gabby and her family deserve that.”
Joe Petito’s 22-year old daughter is missing after embarking on a journey with Laundrie to the west. They were traveling in Gabby’s 2012 White Ford Transit Van.
“I don’t if it has an evidence value to it or not,” Garrison said. “Obviously this was a van used by the both of them, which personal belongings and stuff are in there. Whether it has something to do with the case, we don’t know.
Even though Laundrie returned to his home in North Port on September 1st without her, she was claimed ‘missing’ on September 11th. The North Port Police says he is a ‘person of interest,’ but this is not a criminal investigation.
“Right now, this is a missing person case,” Garrison said. “And our focus is to find Gabby, my focus isn’t to bring Brian in right now, it is to find Gabby. Brian is exercising his constitutional rights and I have to respect that.”
The words, ‘Where is she’ was placed on a stop sign right outside Brian Laundrie’s neighborhood. It’s no longer there because the City of North Port removed it for safety reasons. The question still lingers, “Where is Gabby?”
“We share the frustration with the world right now,” Garrison said. Two people went on a trip, one person returned. And that person that returned isn’t providing any information.”
Gabby’s last post on Instagram was in Utah on August 25th. Gabby’s mom last received a text from her on August 30th saying she was heading to Yosemite National Park in California.
“We have no physical search teams on the ground, like doing grid search right now,” Garrison said. “We have resources and law enforcement partners out on the field following tips and leads, but as far as a grid search right now, we’re still trying to narrow down geographic areas.”
Brian Laundrie and his attorney are remaining quiet, but the search continues.
In today’s presser with the North Port Police Department, Chief Todd Garrison did not reveal where Brian Laundrie is, but they’re keeping tabs on him. If you or anyone has any information you can call the anonymous tip line at 1-800-CALL FBI.