Geraldo Rivera says Brian Laundrie, the boyfriend of dead 'van life' woman Gabby Petito, should 'sink himself in the Florida swamp' as police continue to search for the missing 23-year-old following the discovery of his girlfriend's body.
The Fox News 'roaming correspondent at large' made the remarks while talking to a TMZ reporter in New York City on Wednesday.
'I think Brian Laundrie should kill himself,' the 78-year-old said. 'Have the dignity to spare us his absolute bull****.'
Laundrie, 23, has been missing for more than a week after fleeing his parents' home in North Port, Florida, before 22-year-old Petito's body was found in a Wyoming campsite.
Investigators have been searching for him in the alligator-infested Carlton Reserve, a vast nature reserve about five miles from the home he shared with his parents and Petito.
Laundrie remains a 'person of interest' in Petito's death, which was ruled a homicide by a coroner on Tuesday, but has not been charged with any crime.
He returned to the home without Petito on September 1 after a summer-long road trip that was rife with arguments, based on police footage and eyewitness accounts.
Petito's mom reported her missing on September 11.
Geraldo Rivera, 78, said Brian Laundrie, 23, should 'sink himself in the Florida swamp'
The 78-year-old Fox News correspondent made the remarks in New York City on Wednesday
Laundrie, 23 is missing after police declared him a person of interest in the death of his 22-year-old girlfriend Gabby Petito, whose body was found in a campsite in Wyoming on Sunday
Florida police deployed ATVs and drones to a snake and alligator-infested swampland as they resumed their search for Brian Laundrie on Tuesday
On Tuesday, more than 50 searchers from eight law enforcement agencies led by the FBI used amphibious vehicles, bloodhounds, K-9s and drones in an effort to track down Laundrie.
His family says they haven't seen him since September 14.
'I have directed all state agencies under my purview to continue to assist federal & local enforcement as they continue to search - we need justice for Gabby,' Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
A Utah park ranger says she warned Petito that her relationship with Brian Laundrie seemed 'toxic' after responding to a 'possible domestic assault' incident involving the couple back on August 12.
Melissa Hulls, the visitor and resource protection supervisor at Arches National Park in Moab, said she was 'imploring with [Petito] to reevaluate the relationship' but that the 22-year-old didn't understand 'how big a deal this was.'
Hulls said she had responded to a call stemming from an argument between Petito and Laundrie and arrived to find the couple pulled over by a police officer inside the park.
Cops in ATVs headed into the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Florida to search for Laundrie
Park ranger Melissa Hulls (pictured) branded Gabby Petito's relationship with Brian Laundrie 'toxic'. Gabby is pictured, right, on August 12 - the day she chatted with Hulls
Police bodycam footage was released last week of the encounter, showing a sobbing Petito telling officers they had 'been fighting all morning' before cops determined she was the 'primary aggressor.'
The initial 911 call, released Monday, has since revealed a witness first reported seeing the 'gentleman was slapping the girl.'
Rivera, who called on Laundrie to 'kill himself' on Wednesday, was a fixture of 1980s and 90s daytime TV and hosted his own news show on Fox News until 2014. He now appears on the channel sporadically as a correspondent.
He's known for his off-the-cuff remarks and flaring temper.
In May, he called right-wing commentator Dan Bongino a 'punk' and threw a wad of paper at the camera during a segment about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Fox News' Hannity.
'I'm sick of you, Bongino!' Rivera said. 'I'm sick of you. You're a punk.'
A forensic psychiatrist has spoken out to say that footage of the August 12 incident between Petito and Laundrie - 13 days before she was last heard from alive - raises 'red flags' and suggests she was 'scared' of her boyfriend.
Dr. Ziv Ezra Cohen, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University and staff member of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, told Fox News that Laundrie and Petito were 'both minimizing their argument' and said the footage suggested the couple may have been high and having 'a bad trip.'
Meanwhile, Laundrie is now missing with his parents telling cops Friday they had not seen him since last Tuesday. Photos of the couple's impounded Ford van have also been released by North Port Police in Florida as forensic examinations continue.
Geraldo Rivera, above in 2019, was a fixture of daytime TV in the 1980s and 90s. He called for Laundrie to 'kill himself' after evidence of Laundrie's behavior came has arisen
Laundrie is seen in police bodycam with scratches on his face which he tells an officer were caused when Petito 'was trying to get the keys from me' and 'hit me with her phone'
Hulls told Deseret News the conversation she had with Petito on the scene of the domestic incident has echoed with her ever since.
'I can still hear her voice. She wasn't just a face on the milk carton, she was real to me,' she said.
She said she can remember Petito sobbing in the back of the police cruiser. Cops had already arrived at the scene by the time Hulls got there.
She said that as a female ranger, she has been trained to chat with women during suspected domestic abuse call outs to try and get them to relax and open up.
'I was probably more candid with her than I should've been,' Hulls said.
She told Petito that her and Laundrie's relationship had the markings of a 'toxic' one.
'I was imploring with her to reevaluate the relationship, asking her if she was happy in the relationship with him, and basically saying this was an opportunity for her to find another path, to make a change in her life,' she added.
In the audio, obtained by DailyMail.com, the male caller tells a Grant County sheriff that a 'gentleman' in a white van with a Florida license plate had slapped a girl in the vehicle before driving away.
The man also mentions the incident had happened 'by Moonflower' - likely referring to the Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab, where Laundrie and Petito stayed the night of August 11 and where they reportedly were seen having an explosive fight.
'I'm right in the corner of Main Street by Moonflower and we are driving and I'd like to report a domestic dispute.
'Florida with a white van - Florida license plate, white van,' the man says before being interrupted by the officer, who asks him what he saw exactly.
'They just drove off. They're going towards Main Street.
'They made a right onto Main Street from Moonflower. We drove by him, a gentleman was slapping the girl,' the man continues.
North Port Police released images of the campervan the couple were traveling across the US in after it was seized as part of the investigation
The impounded van is covered in stickers from the different places visited by the couple during their cross-country trip
'He was
