MCPD
- A camper told The San Francisco Chronicle that she saw Gabby Petito's fiancé driving their van alone near Grand Teton National Park.
- Jessica Schultz said she saw Brian Laundrie near the Spread Creek camping area on August 26.
- A lawyer for Petito's family confirmed to Insider that a body found near the border of the park has been identified as Petito.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
A camper who was in Wyoming in late August said she saw Brian Laundrie driving Gabby Petito's van alone near Grand Teton National Park, two days after Petito's mother has said she last spoke to her.
Laundrie, who is Petito's fiancé, was named a person of interest in her missing persons case after he returned from a cross-country road trip without her at the beginning of the month. A lawyer for Petito's family confirmed to Insider on Tuesday that a body the FBI found near the border of Grand Teton National Park has been identified as Petito.
While the case has been upgraded to a criminal investigation, Laundrie, who himself has been missing since September 14, has not been charged with a crime.
Van life camper Jessica Schultz told The San Francisco Chronicle that she saw Laundrie in the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area near the park on August 26. She told the newspaper that she was driving behind Laundrie while he was in the couple's white van alone, before he parked the van on the side of the road.
"I'm pretty sure he got out of the van to like look around or something," Schultz told The Chronicle. "There's definitely nobody in that passenger seat; like he definitely doesn't have a girl in there."
Schultz saw the van in the same spot the next morning, according to the report. She said she found it strange that the van was still there, because it was not in a designated parking place and there were no tents or hammocks in the area.
Google Maps
Petito's mother has claimed she last spoke to Gabby on August 24 through Facetime, two days before Schultz recalled spotting the van.
Schultz told the FBI Denver office about where she saw Laundrie in an interview with detectives on Sunday, according to the report. Schultz told the newspaper that an FBI agent told her they had spoken with "hundreds of people" but "you guys are the ones that really tipped us off to the right place."
The FBI's Denver field office referred Insider to its Twitter account in response to a request for comment.
"The #FBI search at the Laundrie residence in North Port has concluded. No further details since this is an ongoing investigation," the last post on the account reads.