They should’ve immediately placed him under surveillance,” said Ed Gavin, an expert in missing person cases and former acting chief of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. “Immediately.”
They should’ve been all over him,” Gavin added. “The fact that they let him out of their sight, that’s a no-no. Time is of the essence with these investigations.”
“I think what I would do if I was running the investigation is ask for permission to [look at Schmidt’s phone] because you don’t want to alienate the family, you want to do it in as cooperative a way as possible,” former veteran FBI agent Oliver Farache said.
“You want to look at the phone, see if anything was deleted, see exactly what kind of conversation they were having and looking at the whole thing, not just the last few days,” Farache said. “And the history of the texts that mom exchanged and dad as well will give you a clue into the missing person’s mental state as well.”
One retired NYPD detective said keeping tabs on Laundrie was a no-brainer.
“You always have to try to build a case and if it means surveillance to see where he’s going or what he’s doing … then you do that,” the ex-cop said. “You don’t need a search warrant to surveil somebody.”
Handling of Gabby Petito case under scrutiny amid boyfriend hunt
