Det. Ted Williams: 'Brian Laundrie Likely Died By His Own Hand, Gunshot Wound'

Brian Laundrie’s cause of death may have finally been discovered.

Some Florida law enforcement officials believe Laundrie took his own life.

Last Friday, Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman said, “by all accounts [he] probably committed suicide” in the Florida nature reserve near his family’s home.

He added that his remains were found “right out there where we thought he was."

According to a report by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Sheriff Hoffman along with North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison spoke at a panel on Friday, October 29.

Garrison and the local police department have been criticized for mistaking Brian for his mother, Roberta Laundrie, right when the investigation reached a fever pitch.

The Police Chief went on to defend the major slip-up.

"Now, we know that, by the time we became the lead agency, Brian had already left the house and presumably had already been deceased out in the Carlton Reserve," he said.

Brian was reported missing by his parents on September 17, just days after Gabby Petito’s family filed a “Missing Persons Report” for their daughter on September 11.

As followers of this case know, the former couple were on a cross-country National Parks road trip / tour before things turned deadly.

Sheriff Hoffman also noted that Brian “went out there and by all accounts probably committed suicide” right where he and his team thought he was.

“There was four feet of water out there at the time,” Hoffman added.

While Brian’s actual cause and manner of death have yet to be determined and released, a former homicide detective from Washington D.C. believes the 23-year-old took his life.

Detective Ted Williams suggests Laundrie died by his own hand, probably from a gunshot wound.

The Laundrie’s family attorney, Steven Bertolino, said the remains found on the Carlton Reserve have been sent to a forensic anthropologist for testing.

The partial human remains found by cadaver dogs on October 20 were discovered along with a notebook and backpack belonging to Brian.

On October 21, dental records Brian was deceased.

Brian was the only person of interest in the disappearance and unfortunate death of Petito.