(CNN) Over three weeks, local and federal officials combed the 25,000-acre nature reserve, Brian Landry 22 year old fiancee Gabby Pettit.
Landry returned to the couple’s home in Northport, Fla., in Petito’s van on September 1 from a cross-country road trip the couple began earlier in the summer, police said. Petit’s body was later found Located in Teton County, Wyoming.
Landry has not been accused of any wrongdoing in Petito’s murder. Landry’s parents told police that Landry left home to hike nearby on September 13, a day earlier than she had originally told investigators. Carlton Reserve.
Since Landry’s parents first called police on September 17, dozens of agencies, including the FBI, the Northport Police Department, the Florida Wildlife Commission, several sheriff’s offices and the K9 search and rescue team police officers are searching the reserve.
“The Carlton Reserve is a vast and sometimes unforgiving place. Many areas are currently submerged in (waist) depth,” Northport Police said on Facebook. director last month. “This is a dangerous task for search parties roaming crocodile- and snake-infested swamps and flooded hiking and biking trails.”
CNN asked survival experts if Landry might have been alive if he had been in the reserve since mid-September. Here’s what they said:
it depends on his inventory and experience
In an interview with ABC aired last week, Landry’s sister, Kathy Landry, said she had previously traveled the Appalachian Trail for up to five days. She said her brother was “a mediocre survivalist”.
Robert Urban, founder and lead instructor of the Urban Survival Academy, believes it’s highly unlikely that anyone without professional training in survival tactics could survive this long in the reserve. said there is.
“The climate in Florida is very harsh,” Urban told CNN. “I’m a professional with a lot of experience, and I’m not very good at surviving more than three weeks. Inexperienced people don’t have the luck to survive in that kind of climate.”
The list of challenges a laundry can face is by no means short. He told CNN that there are wild animals that could hurt him, including water moccasins, pigs, bears and alligators.There was also panther sightings in reserve in the past. If Landry was in the reserves for such a long period of time, the fear of escaping from the authorities and the fear of survival would likely keep him from operating in his best mind, which could hinder his ability to survive. There is, added several experts.
“When you’re tired, you’re less defensive and less alert than you should be,” Urban said.
Jason Marsteiner, founder and president of Survival College, says that when he sends his program’s trainees out into the wilderness, they struggle for just a week or so after completing a 50-day course. said deaf.
“Twenty-five days in that area is very demanding. There’s also jungle and mountain training, which I wouldn’t want to do,” he said. “He’s not sleeping well. If he doesn’t sleep, he’ll gradually go insane, so he’s going to make bad decisions, bad choices, which he discovers, gets hurt, or hurts.” I think I’m going to lose my life.”
he will need shelter, water and food
It is unknown what Landry took with him when he left.his parents I told the police that I left home with my backpack. Experts say a large part of whether he would have survived if he was in the reserve would depend on how prepared he was when he allegedly entered the reserve, and on shelter, water and food. He says that it depends on how much you have prepared the three basics.
“If you have a way to filter your water, disinfect it, protect yourself from the weather, etc., you’ll be able to survive for a period of time,” survival experts say. Dave Canterbury He told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday. “If he had a way of gathering food and processing it, he could have survived even longer.”
But Landry will likely have to process and cook the food she collects, and if the water filtration system fails, she will have to find another way to disinfect the water, Canterbury said. added. In either case you will probably need to start a fire. But Northport Police spokesman Josh Taylor told CNN’s Randy Kay on Friday that authorities had found no physical evidence of Landry within the reserve. Police also disputed the discovery of a recently used campsite, according to information provided to CNN by a source close to the Landry family.
“If[Landry]doesn’t want to be found or seen, then it’s definitely not possible to start a fire, so I think it’s going to be very difficult for him to stay there for long periods of time.” Mr Canterbury said. But Landry added that the backpack may have contained enough to keep him alive until now.
Alan McEwen, a rancher and outdoorsman who lives near the reserve, said the area was like “mud”, with parts of the reserve reaching knee- and waist-deep water levels, and the wilderness. said the camp was very difficult.
“Just the palm trees there are enough to make you trip when you’re walking in them or when you trip,” McEwen told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Friday night. “Mosquitoes will take you away. If you’re outside for more than a day without mosquito spray, you and everyone else will be driven insane by insect attacks.”
“There is no way anyone can survive in those conditions,” he added. “None.”
Byron Kearns, founder of the Ichatad Outdoor Survival School, sees Landry’s most pressing need for water, and if he had a water filtration pump, it could hold gallons. deaf. But after three weeks, Landry needs to get food, and without training and the right tools, it becomes difficult to know what to eat and how to get it. There is a possibility.
“Does he know that bugs can also be a protein source in the wild?” Kearns said.
Drone footage shows Carlton Reserve in Venice, Florida, Oct. 8, 2021.
Experts think he is either dead or not there
Landry’s attorney Stephen Bertolino told CNN in response to questions that he “expects” Landry is still alive. Northport Police spokesman Taylor told CNN it was “certainly” possible that Landry was alive.
“I have nothing to suggest in any way,” Taylor said in an email.
Survival experts CNN spoke to seem to agree that Landry is no longer alive or in the reserve.
“(Authorities) have probably sent some of their best domestic agents to look for them, but they haven’t found any traces yet,” Marsteiner said. “25,000 acres sounds like a lot, but with so many people scouring the area, it really isn’t.”
Urban added that it was highly unlikely he was camping and continuing to evade the search team searching for him.
“No untrained person, just accustomed to walking the trails, would escape such a team of experts by hiding,” Urban said, noting that Landry is not in the reserve. Or they don’t live in the reserve, he added.
If Landry is in the reserve but no longer alive, the water, sand, and animal movement will make it harder to find him as the days go by, Urban added. However, there is also no indication that Mr. Landry has died.
“If something is dead, buzzards will fly all over the place,” McEwen told Cuomo on Friday. “I don’t see any buzzards flying anywhere, and there are no buzzards flying in any direction in this area.”