John Walsh criticizes Florida police investigation of Gabby Petito case: 'It's pretty damn sad'

Law enforcement has made several errors in the case of 22-year-old vlogger Gabby Petito, John Walsh, a victims’ advocate and host of the TV show "In Pursuit With John Walsh," told USA TODAY on Wednesday.

Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, 23, were on a cross-country van trip before Laundrie returned alone to their primary residence in Florida on Sept. 1. Petito's parents, who live on New York's Long Island, reported her missing 10 days later.

Federal authorities discovered Petito's body near a camping area Sunday in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest, and the Teton County coroner ruled Petito's death a homicide Tuesday.

Now Laundrie is missing. That should never have been allowed to happen, Walsh said.

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Family members say Laundrie left Sept. 14 to go hiking in a 25,000-acre wilderness area known as the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County. They filed a missing person report three days later, saying they had found his car at the reserve but did not find him.

Police in North Port, Florida, have been searching the reserve for Laundrie in recent days. Sarasota County's air search team and the Sheriff’s Underwater Recovery Force joined the effort Wednesday.

Walsh called the sweep a "red herring." He said he doesn't believe Laundrie ever went to the preserve and is now long gone.

"They spent all that revenue, looking for him now, a day late and a dollar short," Walsh said.

Walsh also said law enforcement should have and legally could have requested proof of life of Laundrie during the time he was allegedly at home in Florida.

"I understand the Fifth Amendment, I understand that Brian doesn't want to talk to the cops and his family doesn't want to talk to cops, as despicable as that is, but the cops could ask for proof of life," he said.

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Officers should have also stationed cars on the street on either side of the Laundrie home and arranged for an unmarked car to tail anyone leaving the home, Walsh said.

"All these mistakes were made on my son Adam’s case, and similar mistakes were made in this case," said Walsh, whose 6-year-old son, Adam, was abducted and killed in 1981. "It's pretty damn sad."

Police, however, didn't consider Laundrie to be a suspect: “It is important to note that while Brian is a person of interest in Gabby’s disappearance, he is not wanted for a crime,” North Port police said in a statement before her body was found in Wyoming last weekend.

Walsh, the former host of the TV show "America's Most Wanted," said his investigations have recovered 61 missing children and caught 1,420 fugitives in 45 countries. He believes the public can also help authorities locate Laundrie.

"The public trusts me. I don’t trace calls. I don’t tap calls," Walsh said.

Petito's remains were found close to an area identified by travel vloggers Jenn and Kyle Bethune. The vloggers said on Instagram they spotted Petito's white van in GoPro footage they recorded while camping in late August, and they shared the footage with the FBI before posting it online.

"The public is going to break this case, which they already have," Walsh said.

Walsh said he decided to begin investigating the case when he heard Laundrie was missing. While he's not involved in the official police investigation, Walsh was on the ground in Florida on Wednesday.

Walsh said the number of tips coming into his website and hotline are "double from what they normally are." The hotline is "ringing off the hook," he said. Tuesday night, hotline workers turned over 10 of those tips to the U.S. Marshals and FBI, Walsh said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: John Walsh: Gabby Petito investigation riddled with police 'mistakes'