A woman who claimed to be a childhood friend of Gabby Petito told a fellow protester on Saturday that she was demanding justice outside the home of Brian Laundrie’s sister because she’d always known “something was off” with her friend’s boyfriend.

The woman, who identified herself as Whitney Conaway and was pushing a baby carriage, said she lived in Port Charlotte, where Ms Petito used to visit her. In the video, filmed and tweeted by ubiquitous protester Jonathan Riches, she said: “I can know you for ten minutes ... [and] I’ll know what you’re like. I knew he was toxic.”

Ms Petito, who was found dead in Wyoming last month, had been on a cross-country van trip with Mr Laundrie, the childhood sweetheart she grew up with on Long Island.

He is wanted as a person of interest in her death, which was ruled a homicide after Ms Petito’s remains were discovered last month in Wyoming. But he vanished as well more than two weeks ago, with his parents telling police on 17 September they hadn’t seen him for several days.

Everyone from authorities to Dog the Bounty Hunter and his team of former military have joined the hunt for Mr Laundrie.

How long has Brian Laundrie now been missing?

Brian Laundrie, 23, returned home alone to Florida on 1 September from the coast-to-coast trip he’d been taking with his girlfriend, Gabby Petito. He was driving her van but there was no sign of the 22-year-old woman, also originally from Long Island.

Ms Petito was reported missing by her family but Mr Laundrie refused to cooperate with police. His parents told police on 17 September that he, too, was missing and they hadn’t seen him for several days after he left for a wilderness trip.

Ms Petito’s remains were discovered in Wyoming last month and the cause of death was ruled a homicide.

There’s a warrant out for the arrest of Mr Laundrie and authorities continue to comb the backwoods and swamps of Florida where he’s believed to remain. The case has sparked widespread social media, interest, however, and sighting tips have come in from far and wide, with a flurry of calls reporting Mr Laundrie could be on the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina.

Protesters gather outside home of Brian Laundrie’s sister, supporters deliver food

A handful of protesters on Saturday stood in the street outside of the Florida home of missing Brian Laundrie’s sister, Cassie, who has come under recent fire for her comments regarding the investigation. Protesters have been gathering for weeks at the home of Mr Laundrie’s parents, as well.

The civilians, including Jonathan Riches - who famously appeared in a MAGA hat with a microphone outside the home of the missing man’s parents and has been there every day for two weeks - demanded justice for Gabby Petito.

Mr Riches tweeted a photo of pizza and donuts allegedly delivered on Saturday by their supporters as authorities continued to search for the missing boyfriend.

His sister, Cassie, has given conflicting accounts about when she last saw him and Mr Laundrie’s parents have been harassed for their perceived lack of openness.

The attention from the public into the disappearance and death of Gabby Petito helped surge the search efforts that led to the discovery of the body of Bob Lowery, a man from Texas, who like Ms Petito was found in Wyoming.

Ms Petito was found in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming – the same forest where the 46-year-old Mr Lowery was last seen on 20 August.

Teton County Search and Rescue said on 28 September: “Teton County Search & Rescue conducted a search for Robert ‘Bob’ Lowery at the base of Teton Pass, Wyo., on Tuesday, Sept. 28. After four hours of searching on foot, a team with a search dog located a body fitting Lowery’s description on a steep, timbered slope. Lowery, a 46-year-old man from Houston, hadn’t been seen since August 20.”

They added: “The widespread news coverage of the Gabby Petito search helped bring light to Lowery’s case, and resulted in at least two members of the public calling local authorities this past weekend with new information about his possible last seen point.”

The tragic disappearance and death of Gabby Petito was strange enough on its own; a fiance who refused to speak with police arrived home in Florida after a road trip without the woman he claimed to love. Days after she was reported missing, Brian Laundrie disappeared himself, sparking a nationwide manhunt and a public thirsty for answers.

Duane Chapman, better known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, is a former reality TV star and bail enforcement agent, otherwise called a “bounty hunter”.

Mr Chapman joined the search for Mr Laundrie in late September, claiming he had more than 1,000 leads and vowing “I will find him”.

The internet exploded at the revelation that the TV persona was on the case. But who is Mr Chapman, and why is his inclusion in the manhunt for Mr Laundrie such a tantalising addition to the already captivating story?

Read more:

Duane Chapman, the blond-mulleted focus of a series of American television shows who more famously refers to himself as “Dog the Bounty Hunter”, has recently embarked on a new hunt. No, it’s not for Trump’s tax returns (which could possibly be useful), or for the Holy Grail. What Chapman is searching for has a first and last name: Brian Laundrie.

Laundrie, a Florida man who has been missing for weeks and who is wanted in connection with the death of Gabby Petito, has piqued the interest of a nation on the edge of their seats. Last week, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Laundrie, just days after the body of his fiancée was found in Wyoming. Despite a rigorous search of the surroundings where Petito’s body emerged, Laundrie has remained missing. Whether he is responsible for Petito’s death — and, in fact, whether or not he is even alive — remains an unsolved mystery.

Read more:

Postal worker Kierra Coles, 26, disappeared three years ago in her home neighbourhood when she was expecting her first child.

Ms Coles was three months pregnant when she disappeared on 2 October 2018 on the south side of Chicago. Her car was found in front of her apartment, including her phone and lunch.

According to the Chicago Police Department, Ms Coles’ case is “a high-risk missing person investigation with potential foul play suspected”.

Her mother, Karen Phillips, says she has not been given any information about the case when she has reached out to law enforcement.

“I could never reach nobody. They’re gone to lunch, they’ll call me back, they’re out of the office. It’s always something,” she told ABC News. “They don’t even reach out and say, ‘Well, Ms Phillips, we’re still going through this’ ... or, ‘We don’t have any new leads.’ Just say something.”

The police department told ABC that they urge “anybody with knowledge of her last whereabouts ... to contact the Chicago Police Department”.

“We are seeking any and all information in an attempt to locate her and we won’t stop until we do,” they added.

Ms Phillips says the situation is “unbearable”.

“I went from seeing my child every day – if not seeing her, at least talking to her every day – to not seeing her in three years,” she told ABC. “I try to stay strong for the other kids, I try to not really break down in front of them. But we talk about her all the time, we got pictures everywhere. We just really want her home.”

Some communities on Reddit, known as subreddits, have started celebrating Brian Laundrie and making him out to be a martyr who has been mistreated by the media.

One post said Brian Laundrie had been “unfairly maligned,” while another claimed without evidence that Gabby Petito was a “white supremacist,” Insider reported.

“We are closely reviewing communities related to the Gabby Petito case, including the subreddits in question,” a spokesperson told the outlet. “We are enforcing our sitewide policies across the platform and will continue to action the communities, content, and users that violate these policies.”

“Isn’t he a victim of violence too?” one commenter wrote on a subreddit named after Brian Laundrie, seemingly referring to a police video in which he told officers that Ms Petito had hit him when she was getting into their van.