Brian Laundrie extremely likely to face more charges says Florida prosecutor David Aronberg if caught alive while speculating the wanted man’s parents may also face arrest.
Additional criminal charges against wanted man, Brian Laundrie are ‘extremely likely’ in the death of Gabby Petito — if he’s found alive, a Florida prosecutor said over the weekend.
‘That’s coming,’ said David Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, adding that Laundrie’s decision to flee will also hurt his case if he’s ever caught and charged.
‘At trial, his flight can come back to haunt him because the prosecutors can point to that,’ Aronberg said during an interview with News Nation Now.
‘In fact, it’s even in some jury instructions that says that if you flee, that is consciousness of guilt and juries hate it when you flee,’ he said.
Laundrie, 23, has been on the run since his parents said he left their North Port home and went for a hike on Sept. 14, only to never return. With Laundrie still at large, and the search for him ongoing, prosecutors are probably just waiting for him to be captured, Aronberg posited.
More serious criminal against Brian Laundrie are extremely likely — if he’s found alive. My latest on @NewsNationNow: pic.twitter.com/io8kYhSCeY #GabbyPetito
— Dave Aronberg (@aronberg) October 2, 2021
Fugitive faces additional charges if caught alive
Asked if Laundrie would face additional, more serious charges, Aaronberg said, ‘I think it’s coming,’ saying such a scenario was ‘extremely likely.’
Gabby’s fiancee refused to cooperate with police after returning home from the couple’s ill-fated cross-country trip without Petito, a 22-year-old Long Island, NY, native, on Sept. 1.
Petito’s body was found at a Wyoming campground on Sept. 19, with a coroner declaring her death a homicide — although the cause has not been released.
The FBI has led a massive manhunt for Laundrie and raided the Laundrie home last month, returning at least twice more for evidence.
Although Laundrie has not been charged in her death, he is the subject of a federal fraud warrant out of Wyoming for allegedly using someone else’s bank card to pocket at least $1,000 in cash and merchandise.
The feds have not revealed if it was Petito’s card.
According to Aronberg, Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta, could face charges if it turns out they helped their son flee or cover up a crime.
Wanted man parents face real risk of being arrested
‘The parents of Brian Laundrie, they have done everything possible to incriminate themselves in the court of public opinion,’ the prosecutors said. ‘But in the court of the law, that is different.
‘Under the law, to be charged as an accessory after the fact, you need to know that Brian committed a crime and then you have to do something to prevent his punishment or his arrest,’ he said.
‘So, for example, if they sanitized the van, that’ll get them hooked for a crime,’ he added. ‘If they hid evidence, if they bought him a plane ticket to get out of town because they knew he was involved in a crime, then you would see prosecutors getting ready to file charges right away. But we don’t have that evidence yet.’
Aronberg said he suspects the state has not developed enough evidence against the parents to bring forth criminal charges.
