Greetings, all. I'm new in these parts and apologize if I'm posting this in the wrong way -- or in the wrong place.
Please forgive me for piping up as a newcomer instead of just staying mum and lurking like a normal person, but I created an account expressly to make an impassioned plea for something I've found missing from much of the internet discussion and media coverage that considers Brian Laundrie's options as a fugitive.
Namely, historical precedent.
What do I mean? Pundits say that Laundrie's only option is to hide out in nature; that even there he can't survive for long; that as ‘normal’ people, neither he nor his parents can pull off a long-term-hiding scenario; that the post-9/11 world is too vigilant for Laundrie to leave the country successfully; etc.
Yet, such arguments make me think of:
Precedent #1: With less than 3 days of lead-time, Alex "Preppy Rapist" Kelly's parents managed to help him jump bail and escape from Connecticut to Europe for 7 years – all of them spent living in reasonable comfort with an assumed name and faked ID papers. Although Kelly earned income as a popular worker on the European ski resort circuit throughout the period, his parents also funneled him money -- through a system so well-constructed that neither U.S. LE nor Interpol could crack it.
But expert detective work eventually ended Kelly's 7 years on the lam, right? Nope. As you doubtless recall, LE hadn't a clue where Kelly was. He was caught only after his parents failed to destroy photos they'd recklessly made and retained after a holiday visit to Kelly overseas.
Precedent #2: Although I've sadly suspected since the outset of Brian's odyssey that his parents wittingly sent LE on a snipe hunt in Carlton Reserve -- and I feel much the same way about the De Soto Park 'lead' -- Eric "Abortion Clinic Bomber" Rudolph's 5-year fugitive sojourn in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains gives some credence to the viability of an Appalachian hideout for Brian, per his much-discussed love of the AT.
Indeed, Rudolph's case proves that it is not only possible to survive in the Southern U.S.'s mountain ranges, but to do so indefinitely -- especially if one has help. And that, to me, is the only stumbling block for Brian: while anti-abortion, anti-government sympathizers fed, hid, and otherwise helped Rudolph, folks ticked off about Brian's widely-publicized "stupid Southerners" quip in a Wyoming bar in August are unlikely to roll out the red carpet.
And, as you guys doubtless know better than most, sheer serendipity played an even larger role in LE's apprehension of Rudolph than Kelly. Although LE were uncertain of Rudolph's whereabouts, one of his main protectors died unexpectedly in his 5th year as a fugitive, forcing Rudolph to venture out of the mountains for provisions. He was caught rummaging through a dumpster for food.
Finally, the post-9/11 vigilance thing? When folks say there's no way that Laundrie could make it past screeners to board a plane or cruise ship, I consider that just recently, a group of UK high school girls -- none of them older than 17, IIRC -- managed to get the requisite papers and fly from England to the Middle East to join an extremist group, despite the UK's robust pre-flight screening and the girls’ lack of documented parental consent.
So if historical precedent augurs future possibilities, then Laundrie could be gone for a very, very long time – and just might be found in surprisingly distant surroundings when/if he is found. (Just MOO.)
[ETA: Fixed age reference.]
