NORTH CAROLINA, USA — Editor's note: The video above is from Oct. 2.
A hiker is convinced he ran into Brian Laundrie while driving near the Appalachian Trail, according to multiple reports.
According to Fox News, Dennis Davis spoke to several news outlets about his encounter over the weekend. Davis told the outlets it didn't register that the driver he had spoken to was Laundrie until he saw images of the 23-year-old.
Davis allegedly ran into Laundrie on a deserted road near the trail in North Carolina, the New York Post reports. According to Davis, Laundrie waved him down to ask for directions to California without using any major roadways.
"He said, 'Man, I’m lost.' I said, 'What are you trying to find?' and he said, 'Me and my girlfriend got in a fight but she called me, told me she loves me, and I have to get to California to see her,'" Davis told the New York Post. "I said, 'Well, I-40 is right there and you could take it west to California' and he said, 'I’m just going to take this road into California.'"
Once he realized who the man could have been, Davis said he immediately called police in North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as the FBI.
In his call with North Carolina authorities, which was originally reported by Brian Entin of NewsNation Now, Davis said he believed the man was driving a white Ford F-150 pickup truck. He told the 911 operator he was "99.99 percent" sure that the man was Brian Laundrie.
The Haywood County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina said it had received several calls of Brian Laundrie sightings and each one has been investigated "to no avail."
Laundrie is a person of interest in the case of his 22-year-old fiancée Gabby Petito. The two embarked on a cross-country road trip over the summer. But, in September, only Laundrie returned back to his family home in North Port. On Sept. 11, Petito's family reported her missing.
Nearly a week after Petito's family reported her missing, Laundrie's parents told authorities he had not been seen in days.
Petito's body was later found by authorities in the Bridger-Teton National Forest on Sept. 19, and the FBI confirmed it was her on Sept. 21. Law enforcement says the coroner's office determined the initial manner of death is a homicide, however, a final autopsy will reveal the definite cause of death.
A federal arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie was issued on Sept. 23. According to a grand jury indictment, Laundrie used a debit card that didn't belong to him, making at least $1,000 in purchases. He did so on or about Aug. 30 through Sept. 1, the indictment says.