- Police said they are investigating a cellphone image of a man who looks like missing Brian Laundrie.
- Laundrie, the boyfriend of the missing 22-year-old Gabby Petito, has not been seen since Tuesday.
- Police said they couldn't confirm whether the man is Laundrie but that he looks a "heck" of a lot like him.
A cellphone photo of a man walking around North Port, Florida on Friday looks a "heck" of a lot like missing Gabby Petito's boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, a spokesperson for the North Port Police Department, told the New York Post.
Laundrie, named a person of interest in the case, has also been missing since Tuesday, his attorney said.
The picture was taken by 18-year-old passerby Zachary Randazzo, who was driving around Targee Ave in North Port on Friday, which is two blocks away from the family home.
It was taken at around 5 pm, an hour and a half before investigators showed up at the family home after Laundrie's attorney reported him missing.
Josh Taylor, a spokesman for the North Port Police Department, told the Post that they were aware of the picture but cannot yet confirm it is Laundrie.
Taylor also noted that the man in the image appears to have tattoos on his left arm, which Laundrie does not.
"Other than that, sure as heck looks like him," he added, according to the Post.
-Taylor Bostwick (@_taylorbostwick) September 17, 2021
The man in the photo is wearing a brown T-shirt, sunglasses, and sweatpants. He also appears to be wearing headphones and is looking down.
Randazzo told the Post that the man he saw "looks just like [Laundrie's] clone."
"We're not 100 percent sure, but it looks so close I don't know how it couldn't be him," he added.
A 20-minute Facebook Live taken outside Brian Laundrie's home on Friday also captures neighbors speaking about how some people have reportedly spotted a young man coming through the woods behind the house.
On Friday, Petito's family said they believe Laundrie is not missing but "hiding," Insider reported.
"All of Gabby's family want the world to know that Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing," the short statement provided by their attorney said.
Dozens of law enforcement officers, along with drones and bloodhounds, are searching the Florida reserve for Laundrie, according to the Daily Mail. His family says they believe he entered the area earlier this week, said police.