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Police are searching for the boyfriend of a woman who went missing while the couple were on a road trip across the US.

Officers in Florida say they are working with the FBI to find 23-year-old Brian Laundrie, regarded as a person of interest in the disappearance of his girlfriend, Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito.

Mr Laundrie is understood to have returned home to Florida in early September alone, after the pair left in July on a cross-country trek in a converted van to visit national parks in the American West.

Police bodycam footage showed Gabrielle 'Gabby' Petito getting quite emotional while speaking to officers.
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Police bodycam footage showed Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito getting quite emotional while speaking to officers

Late last week, police in Utah released bodycam footage, captured on 12 August before Ms Petito’s disappearance, that showed her crying and an officer talking to Mr Laundrie after the pair were pulled over.

Officers decided to separate the couple, giving Ms Petito the van and putting Mr Laundrie into a hotel room for the night.

While they were travelling, much of their journey was documented on social media accounts, but the online content abruptly stopped and Ms Petito was last in contact with her family in late August.

Mr Laundrie later came back to Florida in the van, and Ms Petito was reported missing by her family 10 days later on Saturday 11 September.

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Now, Mr Laundrie’s family have told officers they haven’t seen him since Tuesday.

Police said the first time they had been able to speak to the Laundrie family in detail about the case was on Friday evening, and that the meeting came at the family’s request.

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Police bodycam of missing Florida woman

A lawyer for the family called FBI investigators and said they wanted to talk about Mr Laundrie’s disappearance, police added.

North Port police said in a statement on Friday: “It is important to note that while Brian is a person of interest in Gabby’s disappearance, he is not wanted for a crime.”

It added that the investigation is now a “multiple missing person” case.

Mr Laundrie’s lawyer, Steven Bertolino, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday night.

He had previously said that “intimate partners are often the first person law enforcement focuses their attention on”, and that he had advised Mr Laundrie not to speak.

Lawyer’s for the Petito family released a statement saying: “Brian is not missing.”

“All of Gabby’s family want the world to know that Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing,” the statement from the law office of Richard B Stafford said.

Gabrielle 'Gabby' Petito's white transit van has been seized by police. Pic: North Port Police
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Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito’s white transit van has been seized by police. Pic: North Port Police

Earlier in the week, Ms Petito’s family pleaded for the Laundrie family to tell them where their son last saw her. Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie were childhood sweethearts who met while growing up in Long Island, New York.

His parents later moved to Florida.

In the body cam video released by Moab Police Department in Utah, Mr Laundrie said the couple got into a minor scuffle that began when he climbed into the van with dirty feet.

She told officers she slapped and scratched Mr Laundrie, saying: “I was trying to get him to stop telling me to calm down.”

He said he didn’t want to pursue a domestic violence charge against Ms Petito, who officers decided was the aggressor, and Mr Laundrie added: “It was just a squabble. Sorry it had to get so public.”

Gabrielle Petito, 22, who was reported missing on September 11, 2021 after traveling with her boyfriend around the country in a van and never returned home, is shown in this undated handout photo. North Port/Florida Police/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.
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Ms Petito was reported missing on 11 September

The police’s conversation with the family on Friday came shortly after North Port police chief Todd Garrison expressed frustration that Brian Laundrie was not helping.

The police chief had earlier tweeted: “Two people left on a trip and one person returned!”

Meanwhile, a sheriff in Utah said on Friday that detectives had determined there was no connection between Ms Petito’s disappearance on the trip and a still-unsolved fatal shooting of two women at a campsite near Moab – the same tourist town where police intervened in the fight between Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie.

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Trump pick Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration to be US attorney general

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Trump pick Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration to be US attorney general

Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next US attorney general.

Mr Gaetz, a controversial pick to be the country’s top legal official, said his selection was “unfairly becoming a distraction” to the transition of Mr Trump’s administration into the White House.

The Florida Republican had faced significant scrutiny over a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl.

He said in a post on the X social media platform: “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s DOJ (Department of Justice) must be in place and ready on Day 1.

“I remain fully committed to seeing that Donald Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honoured that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”

Mr Trump said in a post on his own social media site, Truth Social, that Mr Gaetz had a “wonderful future”.

“I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General,” he wrote.

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“He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect.”

Mr Gaetz previously faced a nearly three-year Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl, which ended in February 2023 without him facing any criminal charges.

He has always denied the allegations.

He has also been under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over wider allegations including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts.

The inquiry was dropped on Wednesday 13 November when Mr Gaetz left Congress – the only forum where the committee has jurisdiction.

The Senate ethics committee is deadlocked on whether their report can be released.

Mr Gaetz’s withdrawal is a blow to Mr Trump’s push to install steadfast loyalists in his incoming administration and the first sign that he could face resistance from members of his own party.

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Dad who called 911 for help during break-in killed by Las Vegas police officer

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Dad who called 911 for help during break-in killed by Las Vegas police officer

A 43-year-old man was shot dead by police after calling 911 to report intruders had entered his home in Las Vegas.

Brandon Durham was at home with his 15-year-old daughter when he called the emergency line to report armed intruders were trying to break into his property on 12 November.

Bodycam footage shows Mr Durham struggling with a person over a knife in the moments before he was shot and killed at the scene.

“The loss of life in any type of incident like this is always tragic, and it’s something we take very seriously,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said on Thursday.

The force is investigating the incident.

Mr Durham called 911 to report multiple people were outside shooting at his residence in Las Vegas’ Sunset Park neighbourhood, where he had been staying with his 15-year-old daughter, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reports.

It was one of multiple emergency calls reporting a shooting in the area.

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Mr Durham then said someone had managed to get into his home through the front and back doors of the property and he was locking himself in the bathroom, according to a police statement from 14 November, two days after the incident.

Officers reported to the scene at approximately 12:40am and could hear screaming from inside the residence.

One of the officers, Alexander Bookman, kicked open the front door and once inside, saw Mr Durham and another individual, later identified as 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux, struggling over a knife in a doorway.

Mr Bookman ordered them to drop the knife and about two seconds later, the officer fired the gun and Mr Durham appeared to be struck, the bodycam footage shows.

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Both Mr Durham and Mr Boudreaux fell to the ground and the officer fired another five shots. Roughly three seconds are believed to have gone by between the first and last shot, NBC reports.

Attempts were made to save the 43-year-old but he died at the scene.

Ms Boudreaux was taken into custody and is facing charges of home invasion with a deadly weapon; assault with a deadly weapon domestic violence; willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons resulting in death; and child abuse, neglect or endangerment.

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Homeless man charged in plot to bomb New York Stock Exchange

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Homeless man charged in plot to bomb New York Stock Exchange

A homeless man has been arrested and charged over a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange.

The 30-year-old man from Florida, Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce, having unveiled some of his plans to undercover agents, according to the FBI.

They began investigating Yener in February based on a tip that he was holding “bomb-making schematics” in a storage unit.

Bomb-making sketches, many watches with timers, electronic circuit boards and other electronics that could be used for building explosive devices were found, the FBI said.

It also said he told undercover FBI agents that he wanted to detonate the bomb the week before Thanksgiving and that the stock exchange in lower Manhattan would be a popular site to target, and that doing so “will wake people up”.

An agent also allegedly recorded him saying: “I feel like Bin Laden.”

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He described how he hoped the bomb would “reboot” the US government, explaining that it would be “like a small nuke went off,” killing everyone inside the building, according to court documents.

The documents also claim he had rewired two-way radios so that they could work as remote triggers for an explosive device and planned to wear a disguise when planting the explosives.

Yener, who had also searched online for things related to bomb-making since 2017, was sacked from his job at a restaurant in Florida last year after his former supervisor said he threatened to “go Parkland shooter in this place”, the FBI added.

He had his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon and will be detained while he awaits a trial.

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