Florida police search for fiance of missing woman Gabby Petito | Florida

Mystery surrounding the whereabouts of 22-year-old Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito deepened late on Friday, after police in Florida said they were working with the FBI to locate 23-year-old Brian Laundrie, Petito’s fiance who is described as “a person of interest” in her disappearance.

Petito and Laundrie had been on a “van life” trip across the south-western US, living in their vehicle. Petito’s family reported her missing last week, after Laundrie returned to Florida alone.

Police in North Port said Laundrie’s family told officers they had not seen him since Tuesday, but had not told authorities he was missing for three days. The conversation on Friday evening, police said, was the first time they had spoken to Laundrie’s family in detail, and came at the family’s request. An attorney for the family called FBI investigators and said they wanted to talk, police said.

In a separate statement, police said Laundrie was a person of interest but was not wanted for any crime. The investigation was now a “multiple missing persons” case, they said.

In a statement late on Friday, Richard B Stafford, an attorney for the Petito family, said: “All of Gabby’s family want the world to know that Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing.”

On Thursday, police in Utah released video showing 22-year-old Petito and Laundrie after an argument in the tourist town of Moab. Authorities and Petito’s family then appealed to Laundrie’s family to cooperate with investigators.

The body-cam footage, dated 12 August, shows an officer pulling over the van in which Laundrie and Petito were travelling after it was seen speeding and hit a curb near the entrance to Arches national park. Petito is visibly upset.

“We’ve just been fighting this morning,” she tells an officer. “Some personal issues.”

She adds: “Some days, I have really bad [obsessive compulsive disorder], and I was just cleaning and straightening up and I was apologising to him, saying that I’m so mean because sometimes I have OCD and get frustrated.”

Laundrie says the couple got into a minor scuffle that began when he climbed into the van with dirty feet. He says he does not want to pursue a domestic violence charge against Petito, who officers deem to have been the aggressor.

“I’m not going to pursue anything because she is my fiancee and I love her,” he says. “It was just a squabble. Sorry it had to get so public.”

Moab police separated the couple for the night, Laundrie checking into a motel and Petito remaining with the van.

A month later, Petito’s family reported her missing. She is now the subject of a nationwide search. Before his family reported him missing, Laundrie had not cooperated with investigators.

The case has attracted intense attention, in part due to Petito’s large following on Instagram. Her last post was dated 25 August.

Investigators became frustrated by Laundrie’s refusal to meet. “Two people left on a trip and one person returned!” the North Port police chief, Todd Garrison, tweeted on Wednesday.

The couple were childhood sweethearts on Long Island then moved to Florida in 2019 to live with Laundrie’s parents in North…