Advertisement

Dog the Bounty Hunter joins search for Brian Laundrie: 'I will find him'

Dog the Bounty Hunter joins search for Brian Laundrie: 'I will find him'

Reality star Duane Chapman — best known as Dog the Bounty Hunter — says he has joined the search for Gabby Petito's fiancé, Brian Laundrie. Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie last week after the 22-year-old Petito's remains were discovered in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest on Sept. 19; a coroner has since ruled her death a homicide. Laundrie has not been seen since Sept. 14, when he left his parents' Florida home after telling them he planned to visit a local nature reserve to meditate. The Laundries reported their son missing three days later.

Now Chapman, whose work as a bounty hunter found him TV fame, is on the case, telling the Daily Mail, "I will find him." The publication reports that the 68-year-old visited the North Port, Fla., home of Christopher and Roberta Laundrie on Saturday in pursuit of the couple's fugitive son.

Duane
Duane "Dog" Chapman is searching for Brian Laundrie. (Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images)

"I need to speak to the father," the newlywed Chapman told the Daily Mail" as he banged on the Laundrie's door. "I need to ask him where his son is. Is he in there?"

Though his knocks reportedly went unanswered, Chapman sounded confident that he would find Laundrie, who returned from a cross-country road trip with Petito on Sept. 1, though there has been no trace of his fiancée since late August. Petito's family reported her missing on Sept. 11, about a week before her remains were found.

"I'm chasing several leads," Chapman said of Laundrie's whereabouts. "We've got a lot of leads. I can't tell you more but we are getting leads every 10 minutes."

Indeed, he's reportedly set up a dedicated phone line — 833-TELL-DOG — for information about Laundrie. Chapman shared that he's given himself six weeks to find the 23-year-old, whose disappearance has prompted a search of Sarasota County's Carlton Reserve.

Chapman's representative told the Daily Mail that the former bail bondsman is "volunteering" his services and plans to cooperate with law enforcement.

"Dog and Francie have experienced extreme loss themselves," the rep said of Chapman and his new wife, Francie Frane, who joined him on his trip to the Laundrie home. "Their hearts go out to Gabby's family and want to help bring justice for her death."