The all-out search for Gabby Petito's fiancé in Florida's swampy, alligator-infested Carlton Reserve will be scaled back as the FBI takes over the hunt for Brian Laundrie, North Port Police spokesman Josh Taylor said Monday.
'The FBI is now leading the search. I'm told it will be scaled back and targeted based on intelligence. Hopefully, water will lower in areas hard to currently access,' he told Fox News.
The federal agency charged Laundrie with 'use of unauthorized access device' last Thursday, but said they will 'continue to investigate the facts and circumstances of Ms. Petito's homicide.'
An extensive search for Laundrie, 23, has been underway since his parents reported him missing on September 17 - two days after he was named a person of interest in the homicide of Petito, whose remains were found on September 19.
A hodgepodge group of 75 officers from more than 16 agencies joined the search last week, using drones, diver units, dogs and ATV vehicles to comb the 25,000-acre preserve since his parents reported that Laundrie might be there.
Over 100 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails are contained in the park, along with camping areas and rivers. Wildlife there includes alligators, bobcats, snakes and coyotes.
Josh Taylor, a spokesman for the North Port Police, said today that the all-out search for Gabby Petito's fiancé Brian Laundrie (pictured) in Florida's swampy, alligator-infested Carlton Reserve was to scale back
A fleet of 75 officers from over 16 agencies joined the search for Brian Laundrie last week
Whether the avid hiker would have been able to survive in the 25,000-acre swamp-like Carlton Reserve (pictured) for weeks has been the subject of much speculation
Drones, helicopters, diver units, dogs and ATV vehicles the 25,000-acre preserve meticulously since his parents suggested to authorities that Laundrie might be there on September 17
FBI agents paid another visit to the home of his parents to retrieve ‘personal items’ - for DNA matching - Laundrie’s mom Roberta, 55, was seen darting outside at 10am to leave an item in the screened porch of their North Port, Florida home
Florida cattle rancher Alan McEwen, who lives outside the Carlton Reserve, has spent 30 years exploring the area and said it's not somewhere humans can easily live. He has been assisting police in their search for Laundrie.
'There's no surviving out here, I don't know how to say it,' he told Fox News.
'I've been in the woods in and out all my life… I have learned a lot in my life, and one thing I know is no one is gonna survive out there for two weeks on foot.'
This week, TV personality Duane Lee Chapman, known as "Dog the Bounty Hunter,' joined the search for Laundrie, promising to find him before his 24th birthday on November 18. Seattle's Boohoof Law offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
The couple had spent weeks travelling across the country in a van and recording their adventures online before Petito, 22, vanished.
Gabby Petito disappeared while on a cross country road trip with Laundrie. Her remains were found on September 19
Florida cattle rancher Alan McEwen (pictured), who lives outside the Carlton Reserve (pictured), has spent 30 years exploring the area and said it's not somewhere humans can easily live
The couple had spent weeks travelling across the country in a van and recording their adventures online before Petito, 22, vanished
Laundrie's parents suggested he might have headed to the nature reserve, which he was known to visit and which is about 15 miles from his home.
Whether the avid hiker would have been able to survive in the 25,000-acre swamp-like reserve for weeks has been the subject of much speculation.
In the nearly two weeks since Laundrie is thought to have entered the reserve, heavy rainfall has flooded the area with waist-deep water.
'Unless he's got a butt like a duck and can float, he's not in there,' McEwen said.
The rancher noted the dangers posed by alligators, mosquitos and other animals in the reserve, which is home to panthers, black bears, wild boar and lethal snakes.
The terrain is also treacherous, according to McEwen, who said the thick brush makes it easy for even experienced outdoorsmen to accidentally step into a ditch or off a ledge.
However, McEwen believes it's unlikely Laundrie would have died in the reserve, saying his body would have been found by now.
'Anything dead you find in the woods, you're gonna look up, you're gonna see buzzards flying like crazy,' he said.
'No buzzards, no body is my
