(Photo : Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images)
NORTH PORT, FL - SEPTEMBER 20: FBI agents collect evidence from the home of Brian Laundrie, who is a person of interest after his fiancé Gabby Petito went missing on September 20, 2021 in North Port, Florida. A body has been found by authorities in Wyoming that fits the description of Petito, who went missing while on a cross country trip with Laundrie.
Brian Laundrie's parents may face legal consequences after investigators have discovered the body of their 23-year-old son at a nearby park, according to experts.
Mark Geragos, a famed criminal defense lawyer, said he believes the Laundrie family could face legal liabilities if they assisted their son while he was on the run.
Geragos said that based on currently available evidence and information, the only exposure, potential liability, would come either after the issuance of the federal warrant or if Laundrie's parents assisted their son while he was considered a fugitive, Fox News reported.
Legal Consequences
Should investigators decide to pursue legal action against Laundrie's family, they can only accuse Chris and Robert Laundrie, the deceased fugitive's parents, of the crimes or actions he committed after the U.S. District Court of Wyoming issued a federal warrant for his arrest.
Prior to the discovery of his body on Thursday, Oct. 21, Brian was facing charges for allegedly using the credit card of his 22-year-old fiancee Gabby Petito to make purchases worth more than $1,000 between Aug. 30 and Sept. 1.
Petito's body was discovered near an underdeveloped camping site along the border of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sept. 19. An autopsy report stated her cause of death as homicide by manual strangulation. The report also said Petito was likely killed at least three to four weeks before the discovery of her body, according to the Associated Press.
Other experts have also questioned the timeline of events that occured on Wednesday last week, the day in which authorities discovered Brian's body in an area said to be previously submerged underwater.
During a search at the Myakkahatchee nature reserve last week, Chris-who, along with Roberta, joined investigators in the search-was the first to spot a dry bag belonging to his son. According to the account of their family lawyer Steven Bertolino, Chris, who took a path away from investigators, found the bag and did not want to leave it. This led him to pick up the dry bag and give it to investigators.
Mystery of Brian's Death
"He did meet up shortly with law enforcement, they looked at the contents of the bag. At that time, law enforcement officers showed him a picture on the phone of a backpack that law enforcement had located also nearby and also some distance off the trail," Bertolino told CNN.
While Bertolino insisted that a news camera crew and reporter were within view of Chris at the time of his discovery, former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole noted that it was unusual that family members would discover the evidence and give it to investigators during the search.
It is still unclear how Brian died. An initial autopsy of his skeletal remains came back inconclusive. Authorities have since sent his body to an anthropologist to determine the time and manner of his death.
Laundrie was last seen alive by his parents on Sept. 13 before he took off from their North Port, Florida home to go on a hike at nearby Carlton Reserve.
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