No sign of Brian Laundrie as his father joins the search, family attorney says

Brian Laundrie's father helped police search a Florida wildlife reserve for his 23-year-old son, a "person of interest" in the homicide of the son's former fiancee Gabrielle Petito, but he remained missing Thursday, the Laundrie family attorney said.

"Today Chris Laundrie accompanied members of law enforcement into the Reserve to show them trails and places Chris and Brian have hiked and which Brian was known to frequent," said family attorney Steven Bertolino, of East Islip. "There were no discoveries but the effort was helpful to all."

Brian Laundrie, who went missing about three weeks ago, is wanted on a federal arrest warrant for alleged credit card fraud. Bertolino said Brian Laundrie's parents provided information about their son's hiking habits when he first disappeared. The FBI, which is leading the investigation, has declined to comment on the search.

"It seems the water in the Preserve is receding and certain areas are more accessible to search," Bertolino added. "The entire Laundrie family is grateful for the hard work of the dedicated members of law enforcement that have been searching the Preserve for Brian over the last few weeks. Hopefully Brian will be located soon."

The assistance from Christopher Laundrie to locate his son came as law enforcement continued search efforts at the nearly 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Florida. North Port, Florida, police have said Laundrie's parents reported their son missing on Sept. 17, which was four days after they said they last saw him.

Bertolino said Chris Laundire searched the reserve for Brian Laundrie on the night of Sept. 13 when his son didn't return home from a hike there. The following day, Bertolino said, both of Brian Laundrie's parents spent four to five hours hiking through the reserve in an attempt to locate their son.

"The day that Brian went to the park, he did not come home," said Bertolino. "Chris Laundrie went to the park to look for him. It was dark, it was late, it was wet outside. Chris and Roberta went back the next day and they hiked four or five hours in the park looking for Brian."

Petito, 22, and Laundrie, both graduates of Bayport-Blue Point High School, left in July on the road trip in Petito’s white van, with a final destination of Portland, Oregon.

Laundrie, who had returned home without Petito from the cross-country trip on Sept. 1, refused to speak to police after Petito was reported missing.

While on the trip, Laundrie and Petito got into an Aug. 12 physical altercation in Utah, which was investigated by police and captured on body camera video. Five days later, Laundrie flew back to Florida to empty a storage unit the couple shared, before heading back to Utah on a plane several days later to "rejoin" Petito.

Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, addressed the police body camera footage of a crying Petito in an interview Wednesday on the "Dr. Phil" show.

"Even though that police video was hard to watch, I think it was a blessing to see that she’s a real human being and she was in pain," said Schmidt. "And I’m glad that she lived a really good life. And she died doing what she loved to do. She was out there in nature camping … She lived her dream. And I’m glad she got to do that."

Petito's family reported her missing after she stopped answering calls and texts from them in late August.

Petito’s body was found Sept. 19 in a national forest in Wyoming. Her death was ruled a homicide.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.