Asked why information about the missing gun was not publicly shared, Bertolino told CNN he and law enforcement agreed “it was best for that information to not be public.”
“Imagine, with the frenzied atmosphere at the time, if the public thought Brian had a gun,” Bertolino said. “I cannot speak to why (law enforcement) did not reveal the info but we spoke about it at the time and I believe they felt as I did.”
CNN has reached out to the FBI for comment. North Port Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Laundrie vanished from his parents’ home in North Port just days after Petito had been reported missing. The couple had been traveling across the country over the summer in a converted van before Laundrie returned home without Petito on September 1.
Laundrie vanished days after Petito was reported missing, sparking a multistate investigation and capturing the attention of social media sleuths. Petito’s remains were found in Wyoming on September 19, and her death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation.
While the Florida District Twelve medical examiner’s office confirmed Laundrie had died of suicide, the office said it would not make the autopsy report public “until the law enforcement investigation is complete,” the office said in a release.