FBI at Brian Laundrie’s North Port home to ‘collect personal items for K9s to track his scent’ as search heats up

FBI agents arrived at Brian Laundrie's North Port home on Thursday to "collect personal items for K9s to track his scent" as the search for Gabby Petito's fiancé intensifies.

The news comes as the is said to be investigating reports of .

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"The FBI is at the Laundrie home today to collect some personal items belonging to Brian that will assist the canines in their search for Brian. There is nothing more to this," Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino said about the FBI's visit on Thursday.

reportedly purchased a phone at the AT&T store on September 14 with an "older woman."

That's the last day , say they saw their son when he went off for a hike.

Agents are said to be looking into security footage taken at a store near his parent's home in North Port, .

In a statement to The Sun, the store said: "We're not confirming or denying anything, and we're not making any statements, thank you and have a great day."

Bertolino said: "To my knowledge, they did purchase a new phone, and it's the same phone that Brian left home and which the FBI is in possession of."

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Authorities had already seized Laundrie's cell phone, but mystery surrounds 's mobile.

The 23-year-old has continued to evade federal authorities since he was .

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Laundrie's parents previously said they fear their son may hurt himself after 

.

The claim follows a string of alleged screengrabs shared by internet sleuths that appear to show FBI associates - namely 's daughter Lyssa Chapman - engaging in conversation about the theory that has since done the rounds online.

However, it has not been suggested by any official source that Mrs Laundrie is using to communicate with her son.

"We do not confirm or deny contact with any individual or entity in order to preserve their privacy, as such, we do not confirm or deny the receipt of any tip," the FBI said, 

"We have no additional comment, they added.

Since Laundrie's disappearance, sleuths have closely monitored his social media pages, claiming the 23-year-old is active online, having unfollowed several people on .

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One theory pointing to his supposed possession of a burner phone came as 

They insisted they had proof that  called 'Selfconsomption' shortly after .

Online sleuths then allege that the playlist's name had changed to 'Nomatic Statik' - the name of the travel  channel that Laundrie and Gabby created.

Another  to evade police after claims circulated on  that he went live on Instagram for a matter of seconds on September 13.

A clip circulating on Twitter appears to show a body of water and the side of a green vessel before abruptly cutting out.

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Viewers of the clip are attempting to claim that Laundrie "accidentally" went live on Instagram before realizing and hastily cutting off the feed.

So far, alleged sightings of  have been reported , , Venice Park, and Baker, Florida.