Dog the Bounty Hunter Finds Fresh Campsite as He Closes In on Brain Laundrie
Discovers makeshift site deep in woods at Shell Island in search for Gabby Petito killer
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Dog the Bounty Hunter has discovered a freshly used makeshift campsite as he closes in on fugitive Brian Laundrie in the hunt for murdered Gabby Petito's killer.
Dog — real name Duane Chapman, 68 — discovered a fresh campsite on Florida's Shell Island during the search for Laundrie.
While searching the area, Dog and his team recovered a can of Monster Energy Ultra Gold.
The can appeared to have been freshly drunk at a makeshift campsite deep in the woods at Shell Island along the coastline, Fox News reported.
"We’re here at the island,” Chapman said on Twitter Wednesday.
"This would be and could be the perfect spot for him to hide."
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"Not too many people out here but there’s a lot of environmental things that we’re going to fight,” the reality star added.
“So here we go.
"The search now is really on.
"The search has just begun."
FRESH BITE
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 30, 2021
SEE IT: What Dog the Bounty Hunter just found in hunt for Brian Laundrie as K-9 team island-hops in pursuithttps://t.co/keVNUzVqSK pic.twitter.com/Gm4zbqkOXB
A source close to Chapman told The New York Post this week that the celebrity manhunter was on Florida’s Marco Island and setting up a home base in the Sunshine State from which to launch his search for Laundrie.
Brian Laundrie hunt: Fox News Digital follows Dog the Bounty Hunter the moment he comes across a campsite on Shell Islandhttps://t.co/keVNUzVqSK pic.twitter.com/nCovosLO5t
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 29, 2021
On Wednesday, he was at Fort De Soto Park — some 75 miles from Laundrie’s home — where Laundrie and his parents camped out on Sept. 6, five days after he returned alone from the couple’s cross-country trip in her van.
Petito’s body was found at the Bridgers-Teton National Forest in Wyoming on Sept. 19.
Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino has confirmed that Laundrie and his parents, Chris and Roberta, were at the campground on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7.
He disputed Chapman’s claims that the Laundries were at the Fort De Soto Park until Sept. 8, but that the parents left the campground without him.
On Sept. 17, Laundrie’s parents reported him missing, three days after he allegedly told them he was going for a hike at the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota and then disappeared.
Laundrie has not been charged in Petito’s death but is the only person of interest in the case, which was ruled a homicide. He has been named on an arrest warrant issued last week on federal fraud charges for allegedly using someone else’s bank card.
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Despite Bertolino’s statement, campers at Fort De Soto told the Sun they worried that Laundrie may be in the area.
“It’s scary but realistic,” Amanda Smith, who has been staying at the campsite since Sunday, told the news outlet about Laundrie’s possible presence.
“We actually were just looking at some of the mangroves out there and it’s very thick.
“You’d have to be skilled which apparently he is in the outdoors but you could for sure hide in them, and this is a good location in terms of being close to things but also being able to kind of get away at the same time,” she added.
When asked by the Sun about law enforcement “activity” at Fort De Soto Park, a North Port police spokesperson said the agency “can’t give any of that information out over the phone.”
