No Funeral Service for Brian Laundrie After His Remains Are Cremated, Family Lawyer Says

By Joshua Summers First Posted: Oct 25, 2021 12:18 AM EDT

Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino on Sunday said no funeral service has been planned for Brian Laundrie after his remains are cremated.

Bertolino told People that Laundrie's remains would "be cremated and there will be no funeral service."

On Wednesday, after a month-long manhunt for their son, the elder Laundries, Christopher and Roberta, directed the North Port police and FBI agents to the area where human remains and "some articles" belonging to Laundrie were found.

According to investigators, it appears that Laundrie's body had been decomposing in a swampy area of the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida for several weeks. And before the discovery on Wednesday, the remains had been underwater.

The FBI said the skeletal remains were confirmed to be Laundrie after a review of dental records.

Brian Laundrie's Autopsy Completed

On Friday, Bertolino said an autopsy on Brian Laundrie's remains has been completed without providing answers regarding the cause or manner of his death.

Bertolino noted that the remains of Gabby Petito's fiance would be sent to a forensic anthropologist for further examination.

However, he said he's not sure why an anthropologist is being involved in determining Laundrie's death. Online studies noted that experts are brought into cases when bodies are far along in the decomposition to determine how a person died, whether accidental, suicide, homicide, or natural.

Forensic anthropologist Dr. Heather Walsh-Haney earlier told WPBF News that forensic anthropologists are being called for help when the environment has ravaged or removed the soft tissue.

Brian Laundrie's Possession Could Provide Answers to Gabby Petito Case

Several items recovered by the authorities could also provide answers to Gabby Petito's mysterious death. It can be recalled that aside from the remains, authorities also found a backpack and a notebook on Wednesday.

A source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN that the notebook was "possibly salvageable." Experts also believe that the item could offer more insight into Petito's case.

FBI Deputy Director and CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe told CNN that the notebook would likely be taken to an FBI lab, where experts can examine the article.

McCabe said experts who spent their careers doing things like "drying out paper evidence," recovering "the writing and the ink marks," fingerprints, and other relevant pieces of evidence would likely be called to look at the notebook.

McCabe noted that the item could potentially include information such as Laundrie's motives, his feelings about his fiancee, and other writings he made about events in Wyoming,

An external hard drive they found in Petito's white van and videos of the couple collected by authorities could also provide more information during their trip and perhaps Laundrie's journey back to Florida.

Experts said finding the couple's missing phones could also offer a lot of information that could help in putting together pieces of the puzzle in the couple's journey.

Gabby Petito disappeared on a cross-country road trip with Brian Laundrie. The couple was traveling to Oregon when the YouTuber stopped communicating with her family in Wyoming in late August.

Laundrie was named a person of interest by North Port police after returning home on September 1 or 10 days before Gabby Petito was reported missing by her family.

Petito's body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Campground near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19.

A Teton County, Wyoming coroner said she was strangled to death by a "human being," and the manner of death was homicide.

The FBI has issued a federal arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie but over debit card fraud.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: How did Brian Laundrie Die? USF Forensic Anthropologist Explains What's Next - From FOX 13 Tampa Bay