Brian Laundrie Doppelgänger Held At Gunpoint & Handcuffed On Appalachian Trail, New York Man Mistaken For Gabby Petito's Fugitive Fiancé
Oct. 18 2021, Published 2:19 p.m. ET
"Brian Laundrie" was held at gunpoint and handcuffed by United States Marshals along the Appalachian Trail in western North Carolina, except it wasn't actually Gabby Petito's fugitive fiancé.
Authorities did not take their chances when they were alerted that a man who strongly resembled the wanted 23-year-old had checked into the Lodge at Fontana Village Resort. That man was Severin Beckwith.
He and partner Anna Brettmann, a young couple from Ithaca, New York, had been hiking from Georgia to Virginia on the famous trail since late September.
They were in Fontana Dam when they decided to take a break from their trek. After all, they'd experienced lots of rain and little sleep in the days prior.
The couple used the phone of an employee at Fontana Village Resort & Marina to call a shuttle that took them to the lodge. They checked in, ate lunch and laid down to take a nap.
That nap was cut short by knocking that turned to pounding on their room door. They heard a muffled voice, but before they could unlock the door, it burst open.
"Next thing I see is a bunch of guys with riot shields with 'U.S. Marshals' written on them," Beckwith told The New Yorker. "Handguns pointed at my face."
He said that neither he nor Brettmann were properly dressed. While a marshal helped her get out of bed and out on some clothes, Beckwith was taken out to the hallway wearing only his underwear. Skinny, pale, bearded and bald, he told the outlet he had a feeling he had been mistaken for Brian Laundrie, and he "really hoped [he] was right."