A TikTok user, exploring the area of Florida’s Carlton Reserve where Brian Laundrie’s remains were found, discovered a water bottle that seemingly matches the one seen in the late Gabby Petito’s YouTube video.
In a video posted by Olivia Vitale, reshared yesterday on a backup account, she was walking through the reserve when she spotted a reusable plastic water bottle.
“There’s a water bottle right here,” she can be heard yelling to her mother. “It says Seattle, Washington.”
@chroniclesofoliviabackup##justiceforgabbypetito♬ original sound – Olivia
“Tik Tok user Olivia Vitale says she found a water bottle yesterday in the Carlton Reserve matching the bottle seen in Gabby Petito’s videos,” Brian Entin, a correspondent for NewsNation Now who has been following the case, shared on Twitter. “This is the moment she says she located the bottle – close to the area Laundrie’s remains were found.”
In a follow-up video, police appear to look at the water bottle and leave it behind.
According to Entin, Vitale brought the water bottle to North Port Police Department and filed a police report, which is consistent with other TikTok videos Vitale has shared.
“Police confirmed to me this morning they have the bottle – and it appears to match the bottle seen in Gabby’s videos,” Entin tweeted, adding a screenshot of Petito’s YouTube video in which a similar bottle appears beside her in the van she and her fiancé Laundrie were traveling in during their cross-country trip.
The discovery of the water bottle comes just five days after human remains were found, along with a backpack and notebook. On October 21, the remains were revealed to be Laundrie’s and he was confirmed dead.
In July, Laundrie and his fiancée started their “van life” throughout the American West stopping at national parks and documenting their journey on social media. However, on September 1, the 23-year-old returned to his parents’ home in North Port, Florida — where he and Petito also lived — alone with the van.
On September 11, Petito’s parents reported their daughter missing. The missing 22-year-old’s remains were found eight days later near Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, where she was last seen alive. Prior to finding the Long Island Native’s remains, Laundrie went missing on September 13. His parents did not report Laundrie missing until September 17 — two days after he was named a person of interest in his fiancee’s disappearance.
On September 21, Petito was confirmed dead and her manner of death was ruled as a homicide. An arrest warrant was issued for Laundrie by the U.S. District Court of Wyoming on September 23, for unauthorized use of a debit card. On October 12, the Teton County Coroner’s Office announced Petito’s cause of death as strangulation after revealing her autopsy results.
After an extensive manhunt, Laundrie’s parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, went to the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park to join the search on October 20.
“The FBI and NPPD were informed last night of Brian’s parents’ intentions and they met Chris and Roberta there this morning,” the Laundrie family attorney Steve Bertolino told In Touch in a statement. “After a brief search off a trail that Brian frequented some articles belonging to Brian were found.”
Laundrie’s autopsy is inconclusive and the cause of death is still unknown; the remains were sent to an anthropologist for further evaluation.