Brian Laundrie Case: Family Lawyer Says Police Mistakes Cause a Lot of False Allegations Against Laundrie's Parents

The attorney for the family of Brian Laundrie on Tuesday said mistakes made by the Florida police in their probe into the whereabouts and death of Gabby Petito's fiance had caused a lot of false allegations against his clients.

Steven Bertolino was responding to reports from North Port Police that investigators confused Laundrie's mom with her son while they were monitoring the family's home after Petito was reported missing, ABC7 reported.

Attorney Says Brian Laundrie and Mom Not 'Built' the Same

North Port Police spokesperson Josh Taylor earlier told WINK News that the surveillance operation has been flawed. At one point, Taylor noted that investigators believed that Brian Laundrie had left the house in his Ford Mustang.

This has led them to believe that they knew Laundrie's whereabouts in the weeks following Petito's disappearance and death. But Taylor said they now believe the person who left the home was Laundrie's mom, Roberta Laundrie.

The North Port police said the officers responsible for watching out for Laundrie claimed they mistakenly got the two mixed up since Gabby Petito's fiance looks very much like his mom.

"They're kind of built similarly," said Taylor. According to the police, they had watched Laundrie leave in his Mustang on September 13, and they thought he returned on September 15.

"But we now know that that wasn't true... No case is perfect," Taylor noted.

Reacting to this report, Bertolino told ABC7 that "everyone makes mistakes," but "Brian and Roberta are not 'built' the same."

"Moreover, it was (North Port police) that put the ticket on the Mustang at the park (Carlton Reserve), and if they saw Brian leave on Monday in the Mustang, which is news to me, then they should have been watching the Mustang and the park starting on Monday and they would have known it was Chris (Brian's dad) and Roberta that retrieved the Mustang from the park," the lawyer noted.

Bertolino then said, "none of this may have made a difference with respect to Brian's life but it certainly would have prevented all of the false accusations leveled by so many against Chris and Roberta with respect to 'hiding' Brian or otherwise financing an 'escape'."

Bertolino further noted that he concurred with Taylor that Laundrie may have already been dead when the police realized they "lost track" of him.

"However, you can't blame the family because the police did not know enough to follow someone they were obviously surveilling," the lawyer added.

Results of Anthropological Examinations on Brian Laundrie's Remains Expected in November

Bertolino told Fox News that the results of a forensic anthropologist's examination of Brian Laundrie's skeletal remains are expected in November.

The lawyer said he believed the forensic anthropologist's examination would conclude in two to three weeks. Forensic anthropologists analyze human remains, conduct DNA tests and look for signs of weapon evidence to help determine how an individual died, whether accidental, suicide, homicide, or natural.

Laundrie's remains were discovered in a swampy area of the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on October 20. Bertolino earlier said the initial autopsy of Laundrie's remains did not uncover a cause or manner of his death.

He noted that the autopsy by the Sarasota County medical examiner did not produce concrete results on Laundrie's death, so the skeletal remains of Gabby Petito's fiance were sent to a forensic anthropologist for further examination.

The medical examiner said the remains found at the park were confirmed to belong to Laundrie based on "comparison to known dental records."

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

Gabby 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.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Brian Laundrie's 'Bones' Found in Previously Underwater Area of Florida Preserve: FBI - From FOX 13 Tampa Bay