Handout
- The fiancé of Gabby Petito who went missing on a cross-country road trip won't speak to authorities, police told Insider.
- "His family declined to make him available and they gave us the information for his attorney," a police spokesman said.
- Petito, 22, was reported missing by her family on Sept. 11.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
The fiancé of the New York woman who has gone missing on a cross-country road trip has hired a lawyer and his family won't let him speak to investigators, a police spokesman told Insider on Tuesday.
Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old "van life" YouTuber, and her beau, Brian Laundrie, set out on their journey in a white converted camper van from New York on July 2, her family has said.
The pair had visited national parks across the US, including in Colorado and Utah, before Petito was reported missing by her family on Sept. 11.
Petito's last known location is believed to be in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
She was last seen checking out of a hotel with Laundrie on August 24.
Ultimately, Laundrie returned to his parent's home in North Port, Florida where he and Petito had been living, along with the van the couple was traveling in, police said.
Investigators with the Sunshine State's North Port Police Department seized the 2012 Ford Transit van with a Florida license plate Saturday night into early Sunday, North Port Police Department spokesman Josh Taylor said.
"We showed up. We see the vehicle. We take the vehicle," Taylor told Insider. "We make an attempt to talk with Brian and his family declined to make him available and they gave us the information for his attorney."
Though police don't know if a crime has been committed, investigators still want to speak with Laundrie.
"Right now we don't have a crime. We have a concern of a crime," Taylor said.
Taylor explained that the van the couple went on their cross-country trip with "could be a key piece of evidence" in the case.
"It's her van," Taylor of Petito. "She's not here. He is. So I think it was important for us to take that vehicle and to preserve potential evidence."
The police department is working with the FBI on the matter, the spokesman said.
The van will "be processed accordingly as far as fingerprinting and other types of forensic processes," said Taylor.
Taylor noted that New York's Suffolk County Police Department is leading the investigation into Petito's disappearance. Suffolk County police told Insider they have no new information to share about the case as of Tuesday morning.
The family attorney for Laundrie did not immediately return a request for comment by Insider Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Petito's family is urging the public to help find the young woman.
"We don't eat. We don't sleep. We're just actively looking for her," Petito's mother, Nicole Schmidt, told reporters Monday.
Schmidt said that she last FaceTimed with Petito in late August.