Brian Laundrie Manhunt Fail: Biggest Blunder Triggered Case to Go Downhill, Police Admits
Brian Laundrie's mother Roberta Laundrie was mistaken for him, admitted NPPD Chief Todd Garrison, who made the announcement on Sept. 16. While that alone sounds irresponsible and laughable already by many on social media, they now made it worse by saying that all of its efforts have gone downhill from them. So could this be the police's biggest blunder on the case?
It was revealed on Monday by NPPD spokesperson Josh Taylor that detectives charged with keeping an eye on the Laundries' Florida home through a surveillance system they set up, observed Brian drive away in his gray Mustang on Monday, September 13.
On Wednesday, Sept. 15, they thought they saw him return in the same automobile, but according to Taylor, "his mom who was wearing a baseball cap" was in that vehicle.
He told Wink News that the two were "built identically." When Garrison talked to reporters on that Thursday, he was certain the 23-year-old fugitive was in his house. The following day, everything changed.
"That was absolutely news to us when the family reported him [missing] on Friday," Taylor said. "On that Wednesday, we originally believed we had seen Brian return to that house. But as time has passed, it has become clear that this was not the case," he added.
According to Brian's parents, Chris and Roberta, they hadn't seen their son since Tuesday, when Brian went on his own trek in the neighboring Carlton Reserve and never came back to pick them up. Later, the date was moved to Monday by the host family.
It was on Wednesday that they returned Brian's automobile to their house after they had visited the nature preserve.
"They had returned from the park with that Mustang. So who does that? Right? Like, if you think your son's missing since Tuesday, you're going to bring his car back to the home," Taylor said. "So it didn't make sense that anyone would do that if he wasn't there. So the individual getting out with a baseball cap we thought was Brian."
According to him, there are no ideal or perfect cases.
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At one point in time, Taylor went after Chris and Roberta's attorney Steven Bertolino and called BS on the lawyer's claims that the FBI was aware of Brian's missing status "from day one."
It's possible, given the NPPD's strong collaboration with the FBI, there was no need for Bertolino to maintain contact with law enforcement after that.
Regarding Bertolino's assertion, Taylor has claimed in the past that the NPPD's actions, statements, or reporting "were in no way representative of the NPPD having information that Brian Laundrie was missing on that Monday the 13th.
"Please keep in mind that NPPD was an assisting agency until Tuesday night September 14th," he insisted. "I'm confident that if that were true, the information would have been relayed."
On Sept. 17, officials informed Bertolino and the Laundrie parents that they had gotten a tip that Brian was in Tampa, Florida. Bertolino claimed he recognized there was a misunderstanding after that.
"They wanted to meet with us on Friday. I was shocked and said, 'That's good. You found him in Tampa,' and they said, 'What do you mean? I thought he's at the house,'" Bertolino recalled. "I said, 'No, I told you the other day he never came home.' And that's how it played out."
On October 20, Chris and Roberta decided to join the hunt for Brian's skeleton remains in Carlton Reserve's Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, where they also found two of his personal possessions.
An first autopsy confirmed his identity, but the Sarasota County medical examiner was unable to determine a cause of death or manner of death.
"I was told that the manner and cause of death were not determined and the remains were sent to an anthropologist for further evaluation," Bertolino said Monday.
When Chris and Roberta were told that a medical examiner had utilized dental records to definitively identify his son's remains, Chris says he and Roberta haven't heard from the NPPD or FBI.
