Brian Laundrie cops set up secret camera in neighbor’s trash can to spy on home BEFORE he took off for hike and vanished

COPS set up a secret camera in a neighbor's trash can to keep watch on Brian Laundrie's parents' home BEFORE he took off for a hike and vanished, The Sun can reveal.

It was stashed in the can outside a house across from the Laundrie home in North Port, Florida, and the wire ran to the back of the house and through the AC unit, said a neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous.

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The camera - one of several secretly installed by police, it emerged on Friday - was set up as early as September 11, but "definitely" by September 12, the neighbor said.

Laundrie, whose remains were found on Wednesday, had been on the run since allegedly telling his parents he was leaving for a hike on September 13 - two days after Gabby Petito was reported missing by her mother in New York.

"That's why this is so frustrating,'" the neighbor said.

"There was a camera in the front (of the Laundrie home) and one in the back, so how did this happen? Was he already gone?"

The neighbor believes North Port police monitored the live video feed 24/7 because there was one time when they parked their car at a different part of the driveway, which obstructed officers' view of the Laundries' home.

"Within 10 minutes, an undercover cop asked us to move the car," the neighbor said.

The Sun has left a message with North Port police for comment.

A North Port police spokesman told NewsNationNow's Brian Entin on Friday: "We missed him going out there."

BRIAN'S REMAINS FOUND

Brian's father was nearby when officers found his son's skull and skeletal remains next to Brian's belongings that included a white plastic bag and a black object in the insect-infested swap of the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park near the Carlton Reserve in Florida.

Read our Brian Laundrie live blog for the latest news and updates...

The gruesome discovery led authorities to confirm the remains were Brian Thursday evening.

Brian’s cause of death is not yet known, and it may not be determined for some time.

“Chris and Roberta Laundrie have been informed that the remains found in the reserve are indeed Brian’s,” the Laundrie family lawyer, Steven Bertolino, said.

Brian's death ended the weeks-long, 16-agency manhunt after his girlfriend Gabby Petito disappeared during their coast-to-coast road trip.

On September 19, Petito's body was found in a Wyoming park. Her cause of death was strangulation.

During Thursday's press conference yesterday the discovery of human remains, the FBI characterized the death of Gabby as “murder” for the first time.

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“As you’re aware, the FBI and the North Port Police Department and our state and local law enforcement partners have been searching the area of the Carlton Reserve for Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the murder of Gabby Petito,” FBI Tampa Division Special Agent in Charge Michael McPherson told reporters.

Brian was officially a "person of interest" in Petito's murder, but he was wanted by law enforcement for stealing and using her credit cards.

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