Investigators have confirmed that a body has been discovered in the Grand Teton National Park where they have been searching for Gabby Petito. The coroner says they were called to recover a body.
They have not confirmed the identification of the body.
The FBI’s Denver field office announced on Twitter that authorities are holding a news conference regarding her disappearance at 4 p.m. MT in Grand Teton National Park.
#UPDATE: #FBIDenver, @NatlParkService & our law enforcement partners will provide an update in the investigation into Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito's disappearance at 4:00 PM MDT at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Grand Teton National Park. @GrandTetonNPS pic.twitter.com/hmTxBfxrYo
— FBI Denver (@FBIDenver) September 19, 2021
The bizarre disappearance of Gabby Petito has also taken another troubling twist. Police in North Port have been searching for her fiancé and the named person of interest in her case for close to 24 hours.
The FBI and local police agencies are on a desperate search to find her after she vanished while traveling out west in a van with her fiance, Brian Laundrie.
Petito’s family said they last heard from her on Aug. 30 via text.
A couple of days later on Sept. 1, Laundrie returned to their home in North Port alone.
Police said Laundrie would not make himself available to answer questions about Petito and retained a lawyer.
“We have obviously been trying to reach the family to get answers in this case since Saturday,” said Josh Taylor of the North Port Police Department.
Now Laundrie, the person of interest in Petito’s disappearance, is missing in North Port.
“Brian wasn’t willing to talk and that was abundantly clear,” Taylor said. “We were attempting, attempting, attempting, so we were putting our resources on trying to find Gabby. We knew we would deal with Brian eventually, but this is certainly a twist.”
On Friday, investigators were called to the Laundrie family home and were told Brian left Tuesday with a backpack to Carlton Reserve, which is about 25,000 acres.
Detectives said they are not sure why the Laundrie family waited so long to report Brian missing considering the circumstances.
Police have expressed in the last week their frustration with the lack of cooperation from the Laundries and Brian’s unwillingness to talk about his fiancé's disappearance.