Yes, there is now, but not for murder. Rather, for illegally using (presumably Gabby’s) credit/debit card. Details are scant but that much has been made public.
So basically making it illegal if the parents are harboring a fugitive rather than before where it was legal for them to say, “We’re not going to help you.”?
It’s still legal for the parents to say to investigators “We’re not going to help you”. It’s not legal for them to harbor Brian, of course – but that’s a different thing.
I’ve not yet arrived to the point where it’s obvious that his parents are complicit in his disappearance. I don’t think enough is yet publicly known about who knew what and when. I also can conceive of plausible scenarios where Brian arriving at his parents’ home without Gabby could have been explained away to sympathetic ears, buying him the 10 days until the Petito family filed the missing persons report.
I know YMMV based on state law and we may need a lawyer dog to answer this, but I thought if you knew where someone was that has an arrest warrant out for them and the police ask you directly where they were that you had to tell them otherwise it’s accessory.
My current opinion, based on what is publicly known, is that it’s virtually impossible for the Laundrie’s to have any clue whatsoever about Brian’s current whereabouts. That would require some communications at one point or another that would have been trivial for investigators to intercept (or else relatively trivial to uncover if we posit some kind of pre 9/11 escape-plan set-up). For Brian to remain hidden this long, I don’t think communication with his parents can have taken place.
They went on a camping trip with their son knowing he showed up alone with his fiance’s vehicle minus his fiance. Regardless of what the law says they’re on my list of people who get coal for Christmas.
While I was never willing to give him the benefit of the doubt about Gabby’s disappearance, I will (for now) wait until we know more about his parents’ potential culpability. There are a million plausible stories he could have told them about where Gabby was that might not sound suspicious at all until her parents raised the alarm.
Not in any jurisdiction I’m familiar with. Plus, as mentioned upthread, Florida has an exception to the accessory after the fact law for immediate family.
You’re never required to answer questions from the police, except that in some jurisdictions you have to provide answers to basic identification questions like your name, address, date of birth, etc.
I could have shown up at my parents house any time without my wife and said “she’s visiting some friends in Maine” and they never would have had any reason to doubt it. Even if that was a change in plans, and I showed up with her car. “Okay, we’ll see her next week” is about what I’d expect.
Gabby Petito’s parents called Brian Laundrie’s parents repeatedly before calling the police. That sort of story would likely start to fall apart if the suspect can’t answer “so why do your fiancee’s parents keep calling?”.
“She met this guy at the campsite and she said she was going to hang out with him instead because she needed a break from me. She told me to take the van home since driving makes her anxious. She was mad at me and said if I wanted any chance of getting her back, I’d leave her alone and maybe she’d call when she was heading back to Florida. I can’t stand it and I’m afraid I’ll get drunk and call her, so I’m going out for a long hike and I’m leaving the phone here so I don’t get tempted.”
More or less this. Many reasonable explanations available before the 9/11 missing persons report was filed. IMHO It also wouldn’t have been hard to ward his parents off from attempting to call Gabby.
Gabby Petito’s missing boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, apparently shared cryptic and foreboding images and messages on Pinterest – including one last month that read: “Don’t try to find me. I have finally escaped my ‘master’s’ wicked clutches,” according to a report.
I can’t bring myself to watch the videos, so I don’t have a context for this. Just thought I’d share.
Gabby Petito stopped contacting her parents on August 27th. I don’t know how long it took for her parents to get worried. In theory they could have called before September 1st, but I doubt it, since the news reports didn’t mention that.