Brian Laundrie Case: Gun Found Where Dog The Bounty Hunter Was Searching

Does anyone else feel like this case should have been exceedingly simple? And yet somehow, be it through poor judgment, lack of cooperation with law enforcement, or mismanagement of resources, the knot seems even more complicated than when we first started trying to untie it.

We’re speaking of course about the case of Brian Laundrie, the sole person of interest in the murder of his fiancée, Gabby Petito. When she was reported missing, he and his family, with whom she lived, refused to help in any way with the search. Considering Brian was the last person to see her alive, on the cross-country road trip they were documenting on YouTube and Instagram, the whole thing seemed pretty cut-and-dry back then.

But here we are, nearly two months later… both Gabby and Brian are dead, and we’re still getting complications.

The latest wrinkle? A piece of evidence we wouldn’t have thought had any place in the story — a gun.

According to The Independent, about a week ago a man fishing just off the coast of Fort De Soto Park pulled a gun wrapped in a plastic bag from the water. WFLA‘s Josh Benson confirmed police have taken the handgun into custody as evidence.

Well, if Fort De Soto sounds familiar it might be because that’s where the evidence led Dog The Bounty Hunter back when he was on the case. After Brian disappeared, despite the suspicions of his involvement, his parents said he had gone to the nearby Carlton Reserve. Dog, however, followed his own trail to Fort De Soto — about an hour north from where police were focusing their search.

Ultimately Brian was found in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, near the Carlton Reserve, just hours after his parents joined the search. But it’s still not clear how he died or how long he was there — so it’s possible he moved from place to place and really was in Fort De Soto as Dog thought — it wouldn’t be the first thing the reality star actually got right on the case.

But as you’ll recall, Gabby was strangled, so what does a gun have to do with anything? Is it involved in how Brian died? While certain police officials have decided the 23-year-old fugitive died by suicide, that has not been ruled — and we imagine a coroner could have seen a bullet hole right away even on skeletal remains.

In all likelihood this is probably a puzzle piece of another of the many cases which popped up amid the extra attention placed on the Gabby’s. Thus far there have been a half dozen other bodies discovered and two outstanding missing persons cases solved as a result. Who knows, maybe this latest piece of evidence will end up being the literal smoking gun in a completely unrelated crime. It would certainly be an upside to this case getting so complicated.

[Image via Brian Laundrie/Instagram/FOX13/YouTube.]