Brian Laundrie Look Alike Confronted By Authorities In NC
We told you recently about possible sightings of Brian Laundie in NC on the Appalachian Trail. It seems authorities are taking these sightings seriously. U.S. Marshals actually took action and stormed in on a man who resembles Brian Laundrie in NC on the Appalachian Trail. Over the weekend U.S. Marshals busted into a cabin Severin Beckwith was staying in, with guns drawn, and detained Beckwith for a short time before releasing him.
Beckwith was staying with his partner in a cabin in Graham County North Carolina while hiking the Appalachian Trail. The couple was traveling from Georgia to Virginia. They heard a knock at the door of their cabin just seconds before U.S. Marshals burst into his room. “Next thing I see is a bunch of guys with riot shields with ‘U.S. Marshals’ written on them,” Beckwith told the New Yorker. “Handguns pointed at my face.”
The U.S. Marshals were responding to tips that were called into the Graham County Sherrif’s office regarding possible sightings of Laundrie. Beckwith does resemble Laundrie but does not have the hand tattoos that Laundrie bosts. Based on that and fingerprinting as well as Beckham’s ID they were able to determine he in fact in not the wanted fugitive. The Marshals provided the following statement to VICE regarding the incident:
“In this instance, the Graham County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) in North Carolina had received a tip that the fugitive Brian Laundrie had been sighted in their jurisdiction,” the Marshals said. “GCSO asked the USMS task force to support them in making contact with the subject. The USMS was not the lead investigative agency in this matter and was acting in support of the GCSO.”
The initial call came from an employee at a marina the couple had been at that morning. Other sightings have been reported in the Appalachians from Boone, NC, Haywood County, among other locations. Brian Laundrie is a person of interest in the homicide of his fiance Gabby Petito and is wanted by the FBI on federal fraud charges for using Petito’s credit card after her death. The story of Petitio’s disappearance and ultimately her homicide has captivated the country and the world due to the peculiar circumstances.
The search for Brian Laundrie has mainly been focused on the Carlton Reserve, the location near his North Port, FL home his parents said he went hiking at and didn’t return. The Laundrie parents have drawn much criticism for failing to speak with the Petito family while Gabby was missing and the lack of a public plea to help them find their son. Many people speculate they aided their son in escaping and that the Carlton Reserve story was a diversion for authorities. That being said the FBI and North Port police have continued to search the reserve for weeks now and it seems it remains the center of the manhunt. On Friday, officials in tactical gear were seen entering the reserve with rifles only to exit not long after. A representative with the North Port Police told multiple media outlets it was for routine “training and searching”.
Source VICE
Gallery: The Search For Brian Laundrie
