Well, now we have a better idea why police weren’t looking at Brian Laundrie for the murder of a newlywed couple found dead shortly after he and Gabby Petito rolled through town.
For those who don’t know, newlyweds Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner (above) were found dead of multiple gunshot wounds at a campsite just outside Moab, Utah on August 18. Not only was Moab the town where Gabby and Brian were stopped by police on that infamous domestic dispute call, the Moonflower Community Co-Op where Kylen worked was the spot where Gabby and Brian had their fight. That was on August 12, less than a week before the killing. And we knew Gabby and Brian stayed in a town a few days…
OK, it was always more of a bizarre coincidence that Brian and Gabby’s ill-fated road trip happened to intersect with another shocking murder. But of course plenty of sleuths, internet and professional, don’t buy the concept of coincidences — and immediately start looking for links.
Related: New Mystery Over Strange Autopsy Detail — Brian Wasn’t Left-Handed
But right around the time the FBI put their cards on the table, revealing the evidence they had that Brian was for sure responsible for his fiancée’s death, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office dropped their own press release making it clear the investigation in the double murder was ongoing — but that Laundrie was NOT a person of interest. The announcement mentioned exculpatory “electronic transmission evidence” — presumably their phones showed they weren’t in the area at the time of the killings. But there’s something else: the cops were already looking for someone.
The potential suspect, according to new documents obtained by The Sun, had been pulled over by police just a day after the murders. According to the police report, the interaction with the man was “so unnerving that the veteran law enforcement officer decided not to write the speeding ticket as he did not want to take his eyes off of him.”
Whoa. Remember, the sole thing we’ve consistently had to go on in this case is that the guy whom Kylen and Crystal told friends had been hanging around their campsite was “creepy.” (Often cited as another link to Brian as witnesses used the same word to describe him.) Kylen even reportedly told friends at the Tavern bar, the last place they were seen, that if they turned up dead it was because of this “creepy man.” It sounds like this guy definitely fits that bill if he was so scary, the cops didn’t dare give him a speeding ticket!
Chills!
According to a search warrant, newly unsealed on Tuesday, the police tracked down the man and spoke to him where he worked — the Moonflower co-op market! The same place Kylen worked!
He told police he was new and had never actually worked with the deceased — but police later found out he had been hanging around there long before he got a job and almost certainly had interacted with her. He was said to have been inappropriate with staff, giving one cashier a rose.
When the man — who was 27, just a bit older than 23-year-old Brian — couldn’t account for his whereabouts at the estimated time of the murders, police found the place he would “normally sleep at” and recovered two blankets and a jacket with what looked like blood on them.
That location where he slept? Kylen and Crystal would have had to pass it to get to their campsite. Whoa.
Related: Missing Girl’s Family Speaks Out As $250,000 Reward Offered
There were two other search warrants unsealed, a search for one of the couple’s missing phones, and a request for surveillance footage from the Tavern.
The warrants were sealed initially, per the Grand County attorney’s office, because their release to the public potentially posed a “serious impediment to the investigation.” It’s unclear why the warrants have been unsealed now — unfortunately it could mean because nothing came of them. The “creepy man” has apparently not been arrested or his name would have been made public record.
Hate to think of a guy who could scare market cashiers and traffic cops alike still being out there. What do YOU think of this new evidence??
[Image via Kylen Schulte/Facebook/FOX13/YouTube.]
