Dog The Bounty Hunter has shared a video of himself continuing to search for Brian Laundrie by wading through waist-deep swamp water in Florida.
In his most recent post on Instagram, shared on Sunday morning, Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman, shared a clip of him and his team wading through a swamp, as followers praised his commitment to finding Laundrie.
In the video, Chapman can be seen holding onto a boat before venturing into the swamp with waist-deep waters along with four other men.
‘The search has continued throughout the weekend on the islands off the west coast of Florida,’ Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman captioned a clip of him and his team wading through a Florida swamp searching for Laudnrie
Dog The Bounty Hunters vowed to find Laundrie and help bring justice to Gabby Petito’s death. He said he could empathize with Petito’s family pain because he lost a daughter of similar age to Petito’s
‘The search has continued throughout the weekend on the islands off the west coast of Florida,’ he captioned the video.
The former reality TV star joined the search for Laundrie last weekend, more than a week after law enforcement started their own manhunt for Laundrie, whose parents said was last seen on September 14.
Police was made aware that Laundrie whereabouts were unknown on September 17, and two days later Petito’s body was found near Grand Teton National Park.
Chapman has vowed to help bring justice to Petito’s death and find Laundrie. He said he could empathize with Petito’s family because he also lost one of his daughters when she was a similar age to Petito’s.
He said that he is receiving sighting tips like ‘crazy,’ with around 2,000 people calling the hotline he set up for tips on Laundrie on a daily basis.
Chapman’s daughter, Lisa Chapman, said that she is in charge of the logistics of the search online and is actively receiving and thoroughly following leads.
Chapman said he is receiving sighting tips like ‘crazy,’ with around 2,000 people calling the hotline he set up for tips on Laundrie on a daily basis
Chapman joined the search for Brian Laundrie last weekend. He said today that he is searching on islands off Florida’s West Coast
‘Update: Dads is physically following up on leads today, and I am digitally following up on leads. Keep the info coming !! Persistence is key to getting #justiceforgabbypetito & #BrainLaundrie behind bars,’ she tweeted.
Social media has been a pivotal tool in the investigation into Petito’s disappearance and the finding of her body, as it becomes evident that it will also be fundamental in the search for Laundrie.
Chapman’s social media updates come a day after Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, also took social media to demand Laundrie turn himself in.
‘Mama bear is getting angry!’ Schmidt posted on Twitter using her account for the first time. ‘Turn yourself in! @josephpetito agrees.#justiceforgabby #americasdaughter.’
Within the first two hours, the tweet gathered 7.4K likes and 1.1K retweets.
She then retweeted a photo of Gabby and her stepmother, Tara Petito, shared by Joseph Petito, Gabby’s father, and a photo of Gabby as a child shared by Jim Schmidt, Gabby’s stepfather.
Gabby Petito’s family revealed last week that they got new tattoos in her honor, including one she had on her forearm saying ‘Let it be’
Laundrie’s parents called 911 on Chapman last week, after he showed up knocking on their door and asking for information about their son’s whereabouts.
Chapman has said that it is ‘a shame,’ the Laundries are not cooperating to find their son.
‘The police said we were welcome to knock on the door so we did,’ he told FOX. ‘I wanted to tell the Laundries that our goal is to find Brian and bring him in alive.’
Chapman has focused his attention on the coastline and creeks surrounding Fort De Soto Park. The TV reality star used boats and K9 units top search the area last Wednesday.
Chapman believes it is probable that Laundrie is hiding somewhere in the 1,136 acre Fort De Soto Park area — which is made up of five interconnected islands.
During Wednesday’s search, the team did not find solid evidence suggesting that Laundrie is in the woods on Egmont Key
A map shows the Fort de Soto Park campsite’s location, the Laundrie family home and the Carlton Reserve where authorities have focused their search and Laundrie’s parents say he was headed
‘This would be and could be a perfect spot for him to hide, not too many people out here, but there’s a lot of environmental things that we’re gonna fight,’ he said in a video posted to Twitter.
Both police and Chapman are fighting against time to find Laundrie, as chances to collect evidence in order to build a case against him decrease by the hour.
Meanwhile, the investigation was thrown a curveball by an alleged sighting in North Carolina on Saturday.
A hiker in the Appalachian Trail said ‘there is no doubt in [his] mind’ that he had a nighttime encounter with Brian Laundrie on Saturday morning after Lisa Chapman sent him an audio recording of Laundrie’s voice and he recognized the voice as that of the man who asked him for help.
Dennis Davis said he encountered Petito’s boyfriend on a deserted road close to the trail close to the Tennessee border – 700 miles away from where the 23-year-old was last seen near his home in North Port, Florida.
Dennis Davis, pictured, says he say Brian Laundrie on a deserted trail along the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina on Saturday
A hiker near the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina claims he had a nighttime encounter with Brian Laundrie on Saturday morning, weeks after the fugitive boyfriend of slain Gabby Petito was last seen in Florida
Gabrielle Petito, 22, from her Instagram page, is seen with boyfriend Brian Laundrie, now the sole person of interest in her murder
Davis, 53, who is an engineer from Florida, says he spoke to a man who waved down his car on Waterville Road, near the Appalachian Trail and close to the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.
He says the man pulled up alongside Davis and made a bizarre request for help as he asked for directions in order to drive west to California using only back roads.
Davis, a dad-of-four, suggested he simply take Interstate 40 which runs east to west across the country from North Carolina all the way to California.
‘There is no doubt in my mind I spoke to Brian Laundrie — none whatsoever,’ Davis told the New York Post.
‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’s daughter sent me an audio file of Brian’s voice and the voice was the same I heard.’
Davis was hiking the Appalachian Trail himself and noted the man he believed to be Laundrie acted nervously.
‘He said ‘Man, I’m lost.’ I said ‘What are you trying to find?’ and he said ‘Me and my girlfriend got in a fight but she called me, told me she loves me, and I have to get to California to see her.”
‘I said ‘Well, I-40 is right there and you could take it west to California’ and he said, ‘I’m just going to take this road into California’.
‘He was worried and not making sense,’ Davis added.
He did not immediately recognize him as Laundrie but is certain it was him.
Despite lighting being poor because of the night, he believes there was enough lighting from the car’s headlights to make a positive identification.
Davis told Laundrie his best way to head to California would be to take Interstate 40 which runs for more than 2,500 miles from North Carolina
Brian Laundrie, 23, who was reported missing last week, remains a person of interest in the disappearance and death of fiancée Gabby Petito
Petito and Laundrie had been travelling on a cross-country trip together since July 2, when they left New York. Petito was reported missing on September 11
The man he believed to be Laundrie was driving a light-colored pickup and was wearing a bandana on his head.
It wasn’t until later, with Davis having looked up photos of the man on his cellphone that he realized whom he had just spoken with.
Davis claims to have made several calls to the FBI and to 911 in the hours after the encounter but frustratingly nobody has yet called him back.
‘Law enforcement is probably getting millions of leads on this guy, but I am not some goofball out there doing drugs in the middle of the night, I am a highly educated professional. ‘And I know that was the guy. There is no doubt about it.
‘We have this lead but no one’s doing anything, not even a phone call.
‘Obviously, as a father with a daughter, I want to do whatever I can to help the family find closure and get this guy off the streets,’ Davis said.
Laundrie’s whereabouts are unknown since September 14, when his parents said he left the family home in North Port, Florida. The Laundries said that their son was heading to a nearby nature reserve and only had his backpack.
Petito and Laundrie went on a cross-country trip in their van in August, but Petito never returned home.
The pair drew national attention after Petito was reported missing on September 11, ten days after Laundrie returned to Florida on their van without Petito and refused to answer her parents about what had happened to her.
Petito’s body was found in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest and her death was declared a homicide.