Brian Laundrie’s parents are not selling their Florida home after a ‘for sale’ sign appeared on their front lawn was said to be a ‘hoax’ by their attorney.
Chris, 62, and Roberta Laundrie, 55, seem to be staying in North Port following the disclosure that their son Brian, the sole suspect in the disappearance and murder of his fiancé Gabby Petito, had died by suicide.
The family’s attorney Steven Bertolino confirmed the sign was misleading to The Sun on Thursday, saying ‘It’s untrue. The sign is a hoax.’
‘It was either photoshop or someone put the sign, took the picture, and then took the sign down,’ he said.
‘We don’t know nor do we care,’ he added.
The home had become a hub for reporters and others seeking answers about Laundrie’s whereabouts. Protestors often lined the street outside their home, many claiming the parents had a role in helping their son evade the police.
The yellow suburban home is also the last place Laundrie was seen when he returned home alone in early September from a road trip he had taken with Petito to visit national parks.
The faux listing came days after the family’s attorney said the 23-year-old fugitive had been killed by a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Partial skeletal remains had been found in Mykkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on October 20 were later identified as Laundrie’s through dental records. His remains were sent to a forensic anthropologist for analysis where it was later determined he died by suicide.
The gun was taken from the parent’s home, Bertolino said. Neither the attorney nor the FBI had previously mentioned the involvement of a firearm.
Bertolino had told the Daily Mail at the time that they kept the fact that one of the family’s guns was missing a secret to avoid public panic.
‘We didn’t want the public going into a frenzy on that. I don’t think that they considered him dangerous to anybody he met on the street,’ Bertolino said.
A gun was hanging in his bedroom in photos taken by a real estate website before he vanished, according to the Daily Mail.
The home is estimated to be worth around $297,000.
The Laundrie family home previously became a point of speculation by Internet sleuths, many believing Laundrie was hiding in his parent’s backyard, underneath a flowerbed.
As the manhunt for Laundrie hit the three-week mark, drones flying over the parent’s home caught footage of Chris and Roberta Laundrie working on one of the flowerbeds in their backyard. Many believed they saw a ‘hand’ poking out of the garden, though the theory was later debunked.
Laundrie and Petito met on Long Island where they grew up. His parents moved to Florida in 2017 and the couple joined in 2019 and lived there until their deaths.
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