Some eagle-eyed “internet sleuths” believe they have found Brian Laundrie – in of all places, a “secret bunker” beneath his mother’s flower garden.
As absurd as the notion sounds, it has not stopped video that allegedly shows Brian’s hand sticking out of a flower bed that his mother was apparently tending from going viral.
The would “investigators” are all contending that the drone video, which is being shared widely on social media, shows the 23-year-old fugitive’s parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, gardening in their yard. The footage appears to show a woman resembling Roberta tending to a flowerbed as her husband stands nearby. It wasn’t immediately clear when the drone footage was shot.
Social media users are sharing versions of the footage online as they wildly claim it shows a hand reaching out of the flowerbed as Roberta leans over.
Some are claiming Laundrie could be hiding in a bunker under the flowerbed as law enforcement continues the painstakingly long search for Gabby Petito’s missing boyfriend.
One TikTok user, charlienovasite, posted a video featuring zoomed-in portions of the drone footage, saying: “There is definitely someone there. You cannot change my mind.”
Another sleuth, mamabear_xo, said alongside their TikTok video that “Brian is under the garden bed. Watch him hand his mother something.”
After it emerged that Chris Laundrie had gone to the vast Florida reserve to help crews search for his son, TikTok user kmiller480 wrote the FBI should be checking their yard.
“Chris Laundrie agrees to assist in the search for his son, Brian. Meanwhile, Mrs. Laundrie is busy as ever in the garden. Has the FBI checked the garden?” they wrote alongside the video.
Many, however, were quick to dismiss the conspiracy theory, saying it was just a weed and pointing to how the FBI had already searched the Laundrie home.
“I can’t believe people actually think Brian Laundrie is in a bunker under their flower bed. Realistically, who would coincidentally have an underground bunker in their backyard already OR be able to build one by the time they realized Gabby was missing,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another tweeted, “Stop with this ridiculous story about Brian Laundrie hiding in a stupid flower bed in the parents’ backyard. It’s not remotely funny.”
Laundrie has been missing since Sept. 14, according to his parents, and has been the subject of a massive manhunt in Florida ever since.
He is being sought for questioning in Petito’s disappearance and death after her body was discovered in Wyoming on Sept. 19 — nearly three weeks after Laundrie returned to the couple’s Florida home without her following a road trip.