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Is this another clue?
By Alice Kelly — Written on Oct 26, 2021
Police appear to be trying to find final answers in Gabby Petito’s homicide and the subsequent disappearance and death of her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie.
But ordinary citizens are still coming up with potential clues on their own, even as law enforcement focuses elsewhere.
A fisherman in Florida recently discovered a weighted down gun that some are theorizing could be linked to Laundrie.
The gun was found in Fort De Soto Park.
Laundrie visited a camping area in the park with his family about a week after he returned home from his cross-country roadtrip without Petito.
The Laundries were at the campground from September 6 to September 7 — by which time it is believed that Petito had already been killed, though her body was not discovered in Wyoming for another two weeks.
The gun was found attached to a brick.
Christopher Sacco, the fisherman who uncovered the black revolver, says he was fishing near a playground in the park when he made the discovery.
The weapon was tied to a brick using red and white twine.
“To actually catch something like that, like a gun tied to a brick, somebody didn’t want that gun to be found,” he said.
Sacco called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office to report the discovery of the gun. The Sheriff’s Office confirmed deputies responded to a call at Fort De Soto at 11:46 a.m. Saturday.
There have been previous searches for Brian Laundrie in Fort De Soto.
Dog The Bounty Hunter focused his hunt for Laundrie in the Florida park after alleging that his parents had left the site without him.
While we know now that Dog was likely wrong in this pursuit, as Laundrie’s remains were found many miles away in the Carlton Reserve, the park remains one of the last places Laundrie visited before his death.
Clues that may connect him to the death of his girlfriend may well be in the park.
That said, it is unclear if a gun is relevant to Petito’s case at all.
Her cause of death was ruled to have been by manual strangulation and, despite rumors that there were bullet holes near where her body was found, there has never been official information about the use of a gun.
Online sleuths think the gun in Fort De Soto belonged to Brian Laundrie.
Those following the case certainly seem convinced that the gun is worth investigating.
Several people insisted that the gun should be checked for fingerprints and expressed concerns that it may be linked to the shooting of Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner in Utah.
“Could be the gun used on those two ladies in Utah or someone killed Brian Laundrie too?” one Twitter user wrote.
Meanwhile, others pointed out that a gun has nothing to do with Petito’s case and the gun could have been submerged since well before Laundrie and his family went to the park.
Alice Kelly is a senior news and entertainment editor for YourTango. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, her work covers all things social justice, pop culture, and human interest. Keep up with her Twitter for more.