Think about it this way. They have mobilized the FBI, the NPS, state authorities and spent thousands of dollars and man hours searching for him. Do you really think that when they find him holed up in a Motel 6 off of I-95 in rural Georgia, the conversation will go like this:
Cop: Mr. Laundrie, we have been looking everywhere for you!
Laundrie: Yes, and as my parents told you, I have nothing to say. Speak with my attorney.
Cop: Ah, very well, then. Just checking. Have a great day!
??
Me, too. Did you know you can get C.E.U.s for watching? 
I think you’re right about holding a witness. ISTR that they don’t have to Mirandize or provide a lawyer for a witness.
If he didn’t want to be found the best thing to do is say “I’m going camping in the swamp.” and promptly head to New York City. Was his car located near the swamp? Granted, moving about without leaving some sort of trail is almost impossible but with enough cash, its do-able
The key is not what label the police put on the person. The test is one of custody. Is that person in police custody? If they are, then Miranda applies. If they are not in custody, then Miranda does not apply…whether designated as witness or as suspect or person of interest or toggle grommet.
ETA: In custody and being interrogated. It takes both.
The wife and I were talking about this last night. It would be very difficult in this modern world to stay off the radar even if paying in cash. If he shows up at a McDonalds, how many people will have their cell phones pointed at him?
Nobody. Just another tall guy wearing a N95 mask.
A facile and feasible reason – knowing only what was known on Sept 1 when he returned to his parents’ home – could have been that Petito died not by Laundrie’s hand (suicide, murdered by another, or else disappeared). Laundrie panicked and instead of promptly informing authorities, he drove straight back to Florida.
Now then. The events of the past two weeks or so would seem to throw much doubt on such a scenario as posited above.
Excellent point. That is very beneficial to people on the run.
See, that makes absolutely zero sense to me. We all perceive things differently, but if you told me that your fiancée committed suicide and you just hung a U turn, left her body in a field and drove 3,000 miles because you panicked, I’m not believing that for a second and nobody I know would believe that. At no time during the trek did you calm down and call someone?
Something that crossed my mind:
What would the police do – from an investigative standpoint – if Laundrie is apprehended and then (somehow) is able to NEVER make a statement to investigators? It turns out he has a superhuman ability to stay mum. Can his account be somehow compelled (through above-board legal means), and if so, at what step?
I know – that’s why I invoked panic. “Panic” is probably too mild of a term for it, actually. Maybe “psychotic break” fits better?
Highly improbable things, eventually, do happen and have happened.
EDIT: Also, recall my “what was known on Sept 1” condition. Her body was not located until nearly three weeks afterward.
Can’t be compelled. He has an absolute right under the Fifth Amendment to remain silent. At that point, they have to assemble evidence that he murdered her from other sources. Contrary to television shows, circumstantial evidence is very powerful evidence. His flight is evidence. The domestic battery video probably comes in. Many juries would convict based on what we have now.
I haven’t seen it verified but it’s been said that the vehicle belonged to Petito. If that were true I would have had him arrested for grand theft auto and looked into having him held without bail pending an investigation of the disappearance of Petito. Let him panic in jail.
You don’t have to Mirandize or provide a lawyer for a witness, but you can’t hold a witness either. The second they aren’t free to go, they aren’t a witness anymore.
But he had her consent to drive the vehicle. There is no evidence he stole it unless you assume he murdered her, but then you just charge him with that.
I lost track of what happened with the Material Witness law(s), but this thing is pretty much Federal right now, no ?
ETA: Though ISTR that they did have to be given Miranda …
What makes you think he had her consent to drive the vehicle without her?
entirely plausible that, after a fight and separation, he went back to apologize - couldn’t find her and after searching (or maybe in a huff) - took the van back home assuming she would be there (by some other means).
They lived together, shared possessions. I live with my gf and drive her car all the time whenever it’s the more convenient vehicle. If stopped by police, her name and address is on the owner’s card, my name and address is on my driver’s license. Same address.
Implied consent.
If you had a fight with someone would you let them leave you stranded and drive your car thousands of miles.
No rational person would do this.
I really think that the whole hiding in the swamp thing is a misdirection. Maybe by his parents or possibly by the authorities to some extent while they look elsewhere.
He could not have packed enough food and water with him to live more than a couple days. Having someone else supply him with the essentials would only lead the cops to him. He is not the survivalist sort. The parents were told to take whatever vehicle he parked at the swamp area back home. This car thing making it look like he is in the swamp is another misdirection.
The other option is that he killed himself in the swamp, that probably makes it easier to find him, cadaver dogs would be used. And if his parents really thought that he killed himself they would, I think, be more cooperative with the investigation.
I continue to think that he was never at home with his parents, or if so not for very long. Never in the swamp, either dead or alive.
I am probably wrong but we will see.