NORTH PORT, Fla. (ABC4) – Cassie Laundrie told ABC News in mid-September that she had not spoken with her brother, Brian, since he returned to Florida without his girlfriend, Gabby Petito.
During the interview, just days before Petito’s body was found in Wyoming, Cassie said she and her family wanted Petito to “be found safe.” After Petito’s body was found, Cassie shared these photos of postcards she said Petito had sent her sons while on the road trip.
In the first interview, she said she had not spoken with her brother, but wished she could.
“I wish I could talk to him,” Cassie explained. “I’ve cooperated in every way that I can. I wish I had information or I would give more.”
Yet new information from the Laundrie family attorney says differently.
NewsNation reporter Brian Entin was able to exclusively confirm Cassie was at the Fort De Soto campground at the same time the rest of the family in early September.
“To my knowledge, Cassie went for a day,” Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino confirmed to Entin. When Bertolino was asked whether Cassie Laundrie was at the campground at the same time as her brother, he responded, “idk” meaning “I don’t know.”
As NewsNation reports, Bertolino later sent a follow-up text to Entin saying:
“Cassie saw her brother Brian on September 01 when he stopped by her home and again on September 6 at Fort De Soto Park. Law enforcement agencies are well aware of these dates. Any prior communication by Cassie that does not reflect these dates is simply a difference of relating an answer to a question misinterpreted by Cassie or poorly posed by the inquirer.”
ABC4 affiliate WFLA has confirmed Laundrie’s family spent Sept. 6 through Sept. 8 at Fort De Soto Park. Public records of registered campers show Laundrie’s mother, Roberta Laundrie reserved a campsite and had checked into “Site 001-Waterfront.” The family’s attorney, Bertolino, confirmed the family spent time camping at the park and all left the park together.
Another ABC4 affiliate, ABC7, spoke with a Fort Myers couple who camped next to the Laundrie family on Sept. 6. The couple says they reviewed photos from the trip and found a truck and camper similar to those parked in front of the Laundrie home. ABC7 spoke to that couple. You can see their interview, as well as a possible photo of Laundrie the couple captured, here.
In mid-September, Laundrie’s parents reported him missing to the police on Sept. 17. Since then, authorities have been searching the Carlton Reserve in Florida, a 25,000-acre nature preserve where Laundrie is said to frequent. Duane Chapman, better known by the name of his TV show, “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” says he believes Laundrie may be in a different nature area, Fort De Soto, roughly 65 miles away from the Carlton Reserve.
