Dog the Bounty Hunter claims to have a lead on Brian Laundrie search
Dog the Bounty Hunter believes a Florida campsite could be the key to finding the fugitive boyfriend of slain Long Island native Gabby Petito.
Duane “Dog” Chapman told Fox News he received a tip that Brian Laundrie and his parents camped together at Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County in early September.
Chapman claims the family took two trips to Fort De Soto, from Sept. 1-3 and Sept. 6-8.
But on the Laundrie’s second trip, three people came into the park and only two left, he said.
“They were registered, went through the gate,” he said. “They’re on camera. They were here.”
The revelation comes as TMZ said Chapman and his new wife Francis Frane apparently found a “fresh” campsite in the woods of Florida.
Dog tipped off authorities to the find and believes there’s unspecified evidence linking Laundrie’s parents to the site, TMZ said.
Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta, denied any knowledge of or involvement in Brian’s disappearance in a statement through their lawyer on Monday.
“The speculation by the public and some in the press that the parents assisted Brian in leaving the family home or in avoiding arrest on a warrant that was issued after Brian had already been missing for several days is just wrong,” attorney Steven Bertolino said in a statement.
Dog joined the hunt for Laundrie on Saturday and was seen by reporters banging on the door of Laundrie’s parents home in North Port, Florida. The parents didn’t answer the door.
The bounty hunter told The Post that day that he planned to catch Laundrie by his 24th birthday, Nov. 18. He said many early tips he received on his 833-TELLDOG hotline pointed to Laundrie being somewhere along the Appalachian trail, where he was known to spend time camping.
“That is the most leads coming right now that say that,” Dog told The Post.
As of Monday, he’d received more than 1,000 leads on the hotline, he said during an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.”
“I would say within 48 hours we probably will have a location where we start the tracking at,” Dog said in the interview.
Laundrie, 23, hasn’t been accused of Petito’s death but he’s a wanted man for allegedly using someone else’s bank card in Wyoming in late August – around the time Petito, 22, lost communication with her family. The accusation doesn’t say whether the card was Petito’s.
The young couple had embarked on an ill-fated cross-country trip, but Laundrie arrived back home in Florida Sept. 1 without his girlfriend. When Petito’s family reported her missing on Sept. 11, Laundrie and his family refused to speak to police.
He went on the run shortly after, sparking a massive search when his parents reported him missing days later.
