Was Brian Laundrie spotted in Ohio?
According to The Daily Jeffersonian, two maintenance workers at the Quality Inn motel off of Southgate Parkway in Cambridge, Ohio, said they saw Laundrie on Saturday morning. Both workers reportedly told police that they felt confident they spotted the 23-year-old fugitive walking past them.
Cambridge police, along with the FBI and the Central Ohio Drug Enforcement Task Force agents responded to the scene but didn’t locate Laundrie.
“We checked several rooms of interest after ruling out other rooms throughout our investigation,” Cambridge Police Detective Dustin Gerdau told the outlet.
A police report noted that “it was determined that if Laundrie was at the motel, he was no longer there.”
The sighting comes days after a hiker said he saw Laundrie asking for directions to California. Hiker Dennis Davis said he spoke to Laundrie at around 12:35 a.m. last Saturday, near the Tennessee/North Carolina border.
Davis said Laundrie was in the driver’s side of a white pickup truck, wearing a black cloth over his head and acting skittish.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m not from around here. Where are you trying to go?’” Davis told hosts Jillian Mele and Todd Piro on “Fox & Friends First.”
“And then he said, ‘My girlfriend and I got into a fight, but she called me and told me that she loved me — and I’ve got to get to California to see her.’”
Laundrie is wanted on a felony warrant following the death of his girlfriend, 22-year-old Gabby Petito. Laundrie and Petito embarked on their cross-country trip in July, but by September 1, Laundrie returned to his parents’ North Port, Florida, home with Petito’s van, sans Petito.
Last month, authorities found Gabby’s deceased body in a remote area at the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. Officials confirmed that the manner of death was a homicide but the cause of death is still pending.
Authorities issued the federal warrant for Laundrie for allegedly using a Capitol One Bank debit card without permission after Gabby passed away. Laundrie is said to have used the card between August 30 and September 1, “knowingly and with intent to defraud.”
Laundrie’s parents have insisted they have no clue where he is. They claimed he left their residence with a backpack on and headed to the Carlton Reserve on September 14. They reported him missing three days later.
Despite numerous tips and possible sightings, Laundrie remains elusive.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Moab PD]