Brian Laundrie Update: Cops Speculate Fugitive Died Days After Gabby Petito Was Reported Missing, Deny 'False' DNA Reports

North Port Police has claimed there was a “very good possibility” fugitive Brian Laundrie, the prime person of interest in Gabby Petito's homicide case, was already dead two days after his fiancée was reported missing.

“Other than confusion, it likely changed nothing. There is a very good possibility that Brian was already deceased,” Josh Taylor, the spokesman for the force, said. “He still needed to be found. We just wanted people to better understand why we thought we knew Brian was in his home.”

Taylor gave additional information following revelations that a mix-up had taken place when their cops mistook Brian's mother, Roberta, for her son in the days after Gabby was reported missing. They argued the mother and son were “built” similarly, the Independent reported.

According to police, they saw the matriarch in a baseball cap driving her son's silver Mustang and believed she was Laundrie at the time.

Such a case of a mistaken identity prompted North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison to inform the media on Sept. 16 that the police knew where Laundrie was located.

Following the revelation of their mishap, police would then point blame on the Laundries over their refusal to cooperate with police investigations, which they said made it difficult for them to track Brian.

Taylor is now claiming Laundrie may be already dead at the time of the Garrison's press conference amid claims from the family's legal representative, Steven Bertolino, that the man left his home “very upset” on Sept. 13, the Daily Mail noted.

Bertolino, in a statement, would also hit back at the authorities over the confusion between Brian and his mother, who he said were not even "built" the same to begin with.

"Moreover, it was NPPD that put the ticket on the Mustang at the park and if they saw Brian leave on Monday in the Mustang, which is news to me, then they should have been watching the Mustang and the park starting on Monday," the statement read. "They would have known it was Chris and Roberta that retrieved the Mustang from the park."

The lawyer further noted that he agrees with the police's speculations that Brian may have already been deceased when the department realized that they "lost track" of him before calling out North Port authorities for putting the blame on Brian's family.

“This is a tragedy for two families and any mistakes made by anyone or any entity involved should be acknowledged and used to train or educate others so the mistakes are not repeated.”

On Tuesday, police junked claims that DNA from his remains found last week did not match Brian, noting an analysis of the bones is yet to be made. The recovered skeleton was previously confirmed to belong to Brian on Oct. 20 through matching dental records, according to KIRO 7.

Laundrie, 23, and Petito, 22, were traveling in the West and chronicling their adventures on social media before the woman disappeared and was later found dead in a Wyoming national forest.

The man would then also go missing days after returning home alone on the couple's trip on Sept. 1. His skeletal remains were recovered last week in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park area.

Laundrie was not a suspect in the death of Petito and was only previously sought by police over the unauthorized use of the woman's debit cards.