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Investigators add cadaver dog to ongoing search for Brian Laundrie in Florida's vast Carlton Reserve

Brian Laundrie in the desert with a cop behind him
  • A cadaver dog will join investigators in their ongoing search for Brian Laundrie.

  • Authorities are scouring Florida's Carlton Reserve in search of Gabby Petito's missing fiancé.

  • Survival experts told Insider it's unlikely Laundrie would be alive if he's been in the reserve for a month.

As the monthlong search for Brian Laundrie continues, investigators have requested a cadaver dog to join the ongoing hunt for Gabby Petito's missing fiancé.

Authorities are conducting an exhaustive search of Florida's 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve where Laundrie's family said he told them he was going to hike on the day he disappeared. The 23-year-old remains a person of interest in the murder of Petito.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office, located about an hour and a half from the reserve, told NBC affiliate New York 4 that investigators requested a human remains detection dog. A spokeswoman for the office told the outlet that the request for the dog was made by both the FBI and the local North Port police department.

This was not the first time the Pasco County Sheriff's Office has assisted in the Laundrie investigation, New York 4 reported.

Authorities will be joined by K9 Diesel, a three-year-old Labrador Retriever certified in human remains detection, according to The Daily Mail.

Thursday marked a flurry of activity in the search, with NBC affiliate WFLA reporting that several law-enforcement vehicles were seen at the Venice end of the reserve, an entrance where the station's crews had not previously seen police presence.

Last week, Laundrie's father joined the search in person, assisting authorities at the reserve.

Laundrie's parents initially told authorities they had last seen him on September 14, but changed their story via their lawyer last week, saying it had actually been on September 13.

His parents reported him missing on September 17 - days after Petito, a 22-year-old travel vlogger, was reported missing by her family on September 11 after Laundrie returned to his parents' home in North Port, Florida, alone on September 1 from the couple's cross-country road trip.

Petito's body was found in Grand Teton National Park two days later. Her death was ruled a homicide and on Tuesday, a Wyoming coroner said Petito's cause of death was strangulation.

Laundrie is wanted for questioning in relation to a grand jury indictment revolving around his activities following Petito's death, the FBI announced last month. On September 22, a Wyoming court issued a federal arrest warrant for Laundrie, alleging that he defrauded and used an unauthorized debit card.

Survival experts told Insider's Connor Perrett that it's unlikely Laundrie would still be alive if he's been hiding in the Carlton Reserve for the past month. Instead, they believe he's either had help, is blending in somewhere other than the reserve, or is dead.

Laundrie's family, through their lawyer, has insisted they don't know where he is and said any "speculation" that they assisted in his disappearance "is just wrong."

"Chris and Roberta Laundrie do not know where Brian is," the family's lawyer, Steven Bertolino told Insider late last month. "They are concerned about Brian and hope the FBI can locate him."

There have been several other reported Laundrie sightings in recent weeks everywhere from North Carolina to Alabama, but none have produced anything concrete.

Read the original article on Insider