# Van lifer goes missing on cross country trip with fiancee **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604 "2021-09-13T13:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 63
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1244 "2021-10-24T02:16:54Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@JaneDoe42](#): > > > > Who’s voices count in the court of public opinion if not those of the general public? > > The issue, of course, is that “the court of public opinion” is not an actual court; it’s nothing but a morass of differing public opinions, hearsay, and amateur detectives. > > The “court of public opinion” is also where some people decide to take justice into their own hands, particularly if they believe that the Laundries are being allowed to “get away with it” by the authorities. It’s a certainty that the parents will be hounded by people who are convinced of their “guilt,” possibly for years, and some of whom will undoubtedly make threats of violence against them (some of which may be credible threats). I would think the court of the Laundries own minds will be the most troubling “court” to them. Late at night, when they’re trying to fall asleep. The idea that maybe if they had been forthcoming with the police immediately or had dealt with him differently, maybe their son would still be alive. To me, that would be much tougher than ignoring a bunch of yahoos who will soon turn their attention to next pretty blond woman to disappear. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2021, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1245 "2021-10-24T03:30:59Z")
The moment that Laundrie realized he was going to face consequences he left the house and killed himself. I’m not sure anything they did would have changed that. We also have zero idea what they knew, it’s entirely possibly they know no more about the circumstances of Gabby’s death that we do. If that’s the case, there’s not really anything they could have done differently that would have altered Brian’s ability to kill himself. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2021, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1246 "2021-10-24T03:36:44Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > > > I don’t think he would’ve kept his items in a dry bag which would preserve the evidence after he was gone. > > Did he? Keep his items in a “dry bag”? It’s been mentioned in press coverage that his notebook was not in the dry bag, so it would have to be handled with care so as not to damage it any further than it already is ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2021, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1247 "2021-10-24T03:39:22Z")
I have a few stuff sacks that are dry bags, but I don’t use them for that purpose so if it were me, I might not remember. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1248 "2021-10-24T15:19:41Z")
> [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > I’m not so convinced it was a suicide. If he had indeed decided to off himself, why drive out to the swamp and do it there? Why not off himself in his bedroom? Out of consideration for his parents, probably. He may have even been trying to leave no trace of his body to spare their feelings. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1249 "2021-10-25T05:05:11Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > > > I’m not so convinced it was a suicide. If he had indeed decided to off himself, why drive out to the swamp and do it there? Why not off himself in his bedroom?   > > Out of consideration for his parents, probably. He may have even been trying to leave no trace of his body to spare their feelings.   I think it’s also been mentioned that he went out hiking in that swamp on previous times. Maybe he felt some kind of “connection” to the place, and wanted that to be the place where he would die. He may have chosen “suicide by alligator” (or water moccasin), or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1250 "2021-10-25T05:14:51Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Maybe he felt some kind of “connection” to the place, and wanted that to be the place where he would die I know I’ve got my secret spot picked out. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1251 "2021-10-27T00:19:15Z")
Looks like we’re getting a possible explanation for how Laundrie managed to evade surveillance and/or how local police may have injected confusion into the timeline over when he disappeared. > **[Investigators confused Brian Laundrie's mother for him while watching their...](https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/26/us/brian-laundrie-police-errors)** > > Investigators in Florida confused Brian Laundrie's mother with her son while they were monitoring the family's home in the days after Laundrie's fiancée, Gabby Petito, was reported missing, a police spokesperson said. Top flight police work, that’s all there is to it. Fella’s probably a Lieutenant by now… ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1252 "2021-10-27T11:56:12Z")
Well, if she hadn’t had the fake beard on, none of this would have happened. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1253 "2021-10-27T15:15:40Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > If they’re saying the body is skeletal that doesn’t sound like natural decomposition. Given a relatively hot, wet environment with scavengers having full access to the corpse being reduced to a skeleton or nearly so can actually happen pretty fast. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1254 "2021-10-28T00:03:51Z")
So, wait…I may have lost the thread here. Brian drives his car to the nature preserve and leaves it. Then his mom/parents pick it up? And they later report him missing? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1255 "2021-10-28T00:20:48Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > So, wait…I may have lost the thread here. Brian drives his car to the nature preserve and leaves it. Then his mom/parents pick it up? And they later report him missing? - That’s it (unless there is yet another change in the parents’ memories). As of now: September 13: date the parents say Brian drove away, saying he was going to the nature preserve. (Originally they’d said “September 14.”) September 15: Laundrie parents tell investigators they drove to the preserve on this day, saw Brian’s Mustang parked there, but left it where it was. They report that it had a note from police (saying ‘please remove this vehicle’) on the windshield. September 16: Laundrie parents tell investigators they drove back to the preserve and this time one of them drove the Mustang back to their house. September 17: date on which the Laundrie parents reported Brian to be missing. If they believed their son to be suicidal, all this is difficult to understand. People have come up with explanations, but I have to admit I haven’t heard one that sounds convincing. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1256 "2021-10-28T00:37:27Z")
I’m really hung up on the part where they brought his vehicle back and didn’t report him missing immediately (but did report it). I can’t make any kind of sense of it–not an innocent explanation, nor a guilty one. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1257 "2021-10-28T00:49:14Z")
Confusion. Not sure what to do/how to handle the situation. Seems to cover the whole affair from the parents’ perspective, as far as I’m concerned. Requires neither collusion nor stupidity, just a very novel situation. I mean, if I can allow that a trained police officer might mistake the mom for her son, I think I can charitably grant the parents might act imperfectly too. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1258 "2021-10-28T03:12:36Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > If they believed their son to be suicidal, all this is difficult to understand. People have come up with explanations, but I have to admit I haven’t heard one that sounds convincing. Agreed. This has never made sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1259 "2021-10-28T03:26:06Z")
So they drove off with the car, leaving Brian stranded in the swamp? This begs the question: What were they thinking at the time? Is this place within walking distance of where they lived? If Brian had come back to the parking lot and found his wheels not there, could he have walked home, or walked to someplace reasonable? Did he have a mobile phone with him (or did his parents believe/assume that he did)? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1260 "2021-10-28T03:40:10Z")
Perhaps they figured “either we take it home, or it gets towed, hopefully he’ll call us, worst case he’ll walk/hitch-hike/run.” ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1261 "2021-10-28T13:13:58Z")
Yeah, if you look on google maps the location it was purportedly left is like right at the entrance (but not at a parking space or anything) to a public park, off on the side of the road. In most places if police leave a warning note on a car like that, they do intend to tow it the next time they get around to that area, so moving the car back to their house probably didn’t seem optional. ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1262 "2021-10-29T18:15:12Z")
But how did the parents know it got ticketed? Would they have received a notice of that? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/1263 "2021-10-29T18:16:27Z")
I believe they went to the park looking for him, since that is where he had indicated he was going. They saw the car abandoned there with a police notice affixed to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604.md?page=62) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604.md?page=64)