Brian Laundrie flew home to Florida during cross-country road trip with Gabby Petito to ’empty and close’ storage unit: lawyer

• Brian Laundrie flew alone to Florida from Utah during his cross-country road trip with Gabby Petito.

• Laundrie went there to “obtain some items” and “empty and close” a storage unit, an attorney said.

• Laundrie returned to Salt Lake City on August 23 to “rejoin” Petito, his fiancée, the attorney said.

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Brian Laundrie flew alone to Florida from Utah during his cross-country road trip with his fiancée, Gabby Petito, to “obtain some items” and “empty and close” a storage unit, a lawyer for the Laundrie family said on Tuesday.

Laundrie flew to Tampa from Salt Lake City on August 17 and returned to Salt Lake City on August 23 to “rejoin” Petito on the couple’s “van life” road trip, the attorney, Steven Bertolino, told Insider.

“To my knowledge Brian and Gabby paid for the flights as they were sharing expenses,” Bertolino said.

Laundrie went to Florida “to obtain some items and empty and close the storage unit to save money as they contemplated extending the road trip,” Bertolino said.

When asked where the storage unit was, Bertolino told Insider he had “no idea.”

Authorities have indicated they believe Petito, 22, was killed in late August. Her body was discovered at a remote campsite in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest on September 19, eight days after her mother reported her missing to the police in New York.

Petito’s death has been ruled a homicide.

Laundrie, 23, returned to North Port, Florida, where he lived with Petito and his parents, on September 1 without Petito and with the van the couple had been traveling in, authorities have said.

He’s been named a person of interest in Petito’s disappearance and death.

Laundrie’s family reported him missing to authorities on September 17. The FBI is leading a manhunt for Laundrie.

He was indicted on a charge of bank fraud on September 23. The single-count indictment alleged that Laundrie “knowingly and with intent to defraud” used one or more “unauthorized access devices,” including a Capital One debit card, from August 30 to September 1 following Petito’s death.

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