A Florida engineer is determined to talk to Brian Laundrie on a deserted road near the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina on Saturday morning.
Dennis Davis’ alleged encounter with the girlfriend of the slain Long Island native Gabby Petito comes as police receive tips that Laundrie may cross the trail, the world’s longest trail.
“There’s no doubt I talked to Brian Laundrie – no one at all,” said Davis, 53.
“However, the Bounty Hunter’s daughter sent me an audio file with Brian’s voice, and the voice was the same I heard.”
A lost and amazed man reportedly waved down Davis on Waterville Road, where the Appalachian Trail runs near the border with North Carolina and Tennessee.
The Appalachians are believed to be an area known to Laundrie, who was previously reported to have lived there “alone for several months.”
The man, believed to be Laundrie, pulled up his car with Davis to ask for directions to California using only back roads and denied Davis’ proposal to take nearby Interstate 40.
Davis, a father of four who is currently hiking the Appalachian Trail, said the Laundrie-look-alike behaved filthy and wandered about being in a fight with his girlfriend.
Davis said he believes that if the man was Laundrie, he was “removed” from being on the run and the situation with Petito.
“He said ‘man, I’m lost.’ I said ‘what are you trying to find?’ and he said ‘me and my girlfriend got into fights but she called me, told me she loves me and i have to come to california to see her.’
“I said ‘well, I-40’s right there and you can take it west to California,’ and he said, ‘I’m just taking this road into California.’
“He was worried and didn’t make sense.”
Davis did not immediately recognize the man as the refugee until he withdrew and posted pictures of the outlaw on his phone.
The man Davis saw, was driving a white or light pick-up truck that looked like a Ford F-150 and was wearing a dark bandana on his head.
Davis is frustrated by three calls to the FBI, and 911 calls in both North Carolina and Tennessee have not been returned by law enforcement.
Despite the road being dark, Davis said the headlights from both inactive cars were sufficient to see the man up close.
“Of course, as a father with a daughter, I will do everything I can to help the family find closure and get this guy off the streets,” he said.
“Law enforcement is probably getting millions of leads for this guy, but I’m not a fool out there doing drugs in the middle of the night, I’m a highly educated professional.
“And I know it was the guy. There is no doubt about it.
“We have this track, but no one is doing anything, not even a phone call.”
Laundrie returned to Florida from a cross-country trip without her boyfriend and travel companion Gabby Petito, 22, on Sept. 1.
Petito was officially reported missing on September 11 and was later found dead in Wyoming.
Laundrie remains the only person of interest in the case. He disappeared on September 14, according to his parents, who only reported it to police three days later.
There is an active arrest warrant on his arrest for fraud for having used someone’s bank card around the time Petito disappeared.
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