WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — A Louisiana man believes he spoke with Brian Laundrie near Yellowstone National Park days before Gabby Petito’s disappearance, Fox News reported Wednesday. Hunter Mannies, who was traveling around the country in late August, described an "extremely uncomfortable" interaction with a man who looked like Laundrie and introduced himself as "Brian" at a local bar.
"It was an odd encounter," Mannies told Fox News, noting that he didn’t know who Laundrie was at the time.
Mannies was traveling with a friend through Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The pair stopped at a bar in West Yellowstone, Montana on Aug. 26, after visiting the Tetons.
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"There was a guy by himself at the end of the bar," Mannies said. "We really didn’t pay him much attention until he got kind of – he just seemed overly invested in our conversation and eventually ended up speaking up."
Mannies was discussing hunting with his friend when the conversation turned political.
"[Laundrie] abruptly jumped into it with a comment about ‘stupid Southerners’ and some expletives about Republicans," Mannies told Fox News.
Mannies and his friend have since contacted the FBI and filed a report.
Mannies isn’t the first person to report an encounter with Laundrie in the area surrounding Grand Teton National Park in the days before Petito's disappearance. Two women have separately come forward and each said they picked him up while he was hitchhiking through Grand Teton National Park.
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All three who encountered Laundrie in Wyoming described unusual behavior. The first woman to pick him up said he "freaked out" and asked to get out of the car.
Mannies said his interaction with the man who he believes was Laundrie on Aug. 26 made him and his friend nervous.
"He was making us all extremely uncomfortable."
