The remains found in the search of Brian Laundrie have been identified as his. Photo / Supplied
The remains found in the search of Brian Laundrie have been identified as his. Photo / Supplied
After more than a month of searching, the FBI says Gabby Petito's fiancé, Brian Laundrie, has been found dead.
The agency confirmed the human remains found on October 20 at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida belonged to Laundrie.
The identification comes one day after FBI agents in Tamparevealed a backpack and notebook belonging to 23-year-old Laundrie were discovered in the same area as the human remains.
On Wednesday local time, police personnel along with Laundrie's parents Roberta and Chris., scoured a swampy region of Carlton Reserve which had been covered in water just weeks prior.
Supporters of Gabby Petito hold up photos of Gabby after a news conference in North Port, after items believed to belong to Brian Laundrie and human remains were found. Photo / AP
During the search, a backpack, notebook, dry bag and "partial remains" were discovered given the water had receded. The items were identified as belonging to the 23-year-old, however the remains needed to be examined by the coroner.
FBI officials have now determined that the remains belong to Laundrie.
Laundrie's lawyer Steven Bertolino made the bombshell revelation that while police had made the grim discovery of the remains and the backpack, it was Laundrie's father who found the white dry bag also containing certain possessions.
North Port police officers block the entrance to the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. Photo / AP
The search for Brian Laundrie had entered its fifth week, after he was reported missing by his parents on September 17.
Laundrie was wanted by the FBI as a "person of interest" in the case of Gabby Petito, who was found dead near a campground in Wyoming.
Petito and Laundrie were on a cross-country road trip together when she allegedly stopped communication with her parents, Nichole Schmidt and Joe Petito, in late August.
Schmidt became concerned, given she had been talking to her daughter via text or on the phone daily since she departed for the road trip in mid-July.
Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. Items believed to belong to Brian Laundrie and potential human remains were found in a Florida wilderness park during a search. Photo / AP
After days of no communication, Schmidt and Petito reported their 22-year-old daughter missing on September 11. The pair were soon made aware that their daughter's fiance, Laundrie, had been home in Florida — without Petito — since September 1.
Following an extensive ground, air and water search in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, Petito's remains were discovered on September 19.
Lead coroner in the case of Gabby Petito's death ruled the cause as strangulation, and the manner a homicide.
Chris and Roberta Laundrie were 'heartbroken' when told remains were found. Photo / Supplied
Following the discovery of the remains, Bertolino said the Laundries were "heartbroken" at the discovery of the remains.
Bertolino said the findings were discovered "in an area where they had initially advised law enforcement that Brian may be."
The remains found in the search of Brian Laundrie have been identified as his. Photo / Supplied
As of Wednesday, the park was closed to the public, having reopened only Tuesday following a weeks-long search for the fugitive.
Chris and Roberta Laundrie said Brian left his family's North Port, Florida, home on September 13 to hike in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, located alongside the Carlton Reserve. The Laundries' lawyer had initially identified the date of Brian's disappearance as being September 14 before changing the timeline weeks later.
