US authorities have resumed their search of a Florida nature reserve for Brian Laundrie, who returned home this month from a road trip without his fiancée, Gabby Petito.

Investigators have now spent several days scouring the swampy 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve for any sign of the 23-year-old with the help of dogs, drones and, on Wednesday, a dive team from the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

Mr Laundrie's family told police he left home with his backpack September 14 and told them he was going to the reserve near their home.

READ MORE: Gabby Petito's missing boyfriend charged over debit card use as search continues

"We've deployed numerous resources, and we are trying to cover every acre in this preserve," North Port Police Commander Joe Fussell said in a video shared Wednesday by the department.

Ms Petito's remains were found on Sunday in an undeveloped camping area in Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming, and her death was ruled a homicide on Tuesday in preliminary findings.

She was reported missing by her family on September 11, after Mr Laundrie returned home to Florida without her on September 1.

Meantime, a small crowd gathered Wednesday night in Salt Lake City to mourn the 22-year-old, whose death has captured the attention of people nationwide.

The couple had been visiting national parks in the West in their van, chronicling their travels on social media with the hashtag #VanLife, before Ms Petito went missing.

And though she never lived in Utah, Ms Petito's love of nature and her time there – including an encounter with Moab police that was captured on bodycam – has connected her with the community.

"We won't forget about you. We won't let your light dim," vigil organiser Serena Chavez said before the group.

"We will remember other women or children who are missing," Ms Chavez continued, raising a broader problem highlighted by Petito's disappearance.

"Their families are devastated, and I can only imagine what Gabby's family is going through."

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Before she moved to Florida, Ms Petito had worked as a hostess at Smoke on the Water in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Coworkers there say she made everyone feel loved, according to CNN affiliate WWAY.

It was another community upon which the young woman made her mark.

"She's not just a name. She's not just a case. She was a person, and she was very special to a lot of people and many of us here," the restaurant's general manager, Lara Witschen, told WWAY.

"She was a good soul, a good spirit, and touched so many lives.

"That's what we want her to be remembered for."

A small memorial now also marks the spot in Wyoming where Ms Petito's remains were found this week.

Ms Petito's stepfather, Jim Schmidt, left a memorial at the site and sunflowers, "which were his daughter's favourite flower," family lawyer Rick Stafford told CNN.

Laundrie's neighbour last saw him weekend of September 10

A neighbour who lives directly across the street from the home Ms Petito shared with Mr Laundrie and her family told CNN the last time she saw Laundrie at the North Port, Florida, home was the weekend of September 10.

Karyn Aberts said she saw Mr Laundrie and his family "in the neighbourhood out in the front yard," saying it looked like "a normal … they were going for a walk kind of thing," and that she "never thought anything about it."

Ms Aberts told CNN outside her home that she'd watched Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie converting the van they eventually drove across the country. (Officials would later find that van, a white Ford, at the Laundrie home.)

"They seemed to be sitting and laughing in their car and then the van that they were working on," Ms Aberts said, noting the last time she saw Ms Petito was early in the summer, before the couple left on their road trip.

Asked if she ever saw anything odd between Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie that would have been a red flag, Ms Aberts said no.

Overall, Ms Aberts described the Laundrie family as "very nice people."

"We saw them take walks as a family," she told CNN. "We saw them ride their bikes as a family and things like that."

Witness says she saw a 'commotion' involving the couple

Ms Petito's story has become a national obsession for many, spurring digital detectives to comb through the couple's online trail to try to solve the case.

The story has also further highlighted the nearly 90,000 missing persons cases active at the end of 2020, according to the National Crime Information Center.

Few missing persons cases are met with as much urgency and national attention as Ms Petito's.

It also has spurred people to come forward with accounts of Ms Petito's last days.

Nina Angelo and her boyfriend, Matt England, saw a "commotion" last month as Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie were leaving The Merry Piglets Tex-Mex restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, she told CNN Wednesday.

Ms Petito was in tears and Mr Laundrie was visibly angry, going into and out of the restaurant several times, showing anger toward the staff around the hostess stand, Ms Angelo said.

The couple's waitress was also visibly shaken by the incident, said Ms Angelo, who told CNN she did not see any violence or physical altercation between Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie.

A manager at The Merry Piglets, who declined to give her name, did see "an incident" at the restaurant on August 27 and called the FBI on Wednesday, she told CNN.

The manager declined to describe what happened and said the restaurant did not have surveillance video of the incident.

Separately, Jessica Schultz saw Ms Laundrie parked in a white van on August 26 at Grand Teton National Park, and no one appeared to be with him, she told the San Francisco Chronicle.

And in a series of videos on TikTok, Miranda Baker said she and her boyfriend gave Mr Laundrie a ride on August 29 in Wyoming – and that he claimed he was camping by himself for multiple days while Petito was back at their van working on social media posts.

Ms Baker said they picked up Mr Laundrie while he was hitchhiking in Colter Bay, Wyoming, which is not far from where Petito's remains were found.

He offered to pay $200 for the ride before he even got in the car, she said.

911 call of a domestic dispute

Ms Petito's mother received an odd text on August 27 that became the last communication from her, police in Florida said in a recent search warrant affidavit.

Ms Petito also stopped posting to social media at that time.

Evidence from a 911 call about a "domestic dispute" involving Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie shows the couple's volatile relationship was not as aspirational as their sun-drenched lives on Instagram and YouTube suggested.

A man who saw the domestic dispute between Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie in Utah last month said, "They were talking aggressively at each other, and something seemed off."

In a handwritten sworn statement, the witness said it appeared the two were arguing over control of Ms Petito's phone.

"At one point she was punching him in the arm and/or face and trying to get into the van."

The witness's first name is Chris and last name was redacted in the document provided by Moab City Police to CNN.

The witness said he heard Ms Petito say, "Why do you have to be so mean?" although Chris added that he couldn't be sure if the comment was meant to be taken seriously.

Police later stopped the couple, and previously released police documents and body-camera video reveal what followed that day.

Moab city officials have since announced they will investigate the Moab City Police Department's handling of the dispute between Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie.

Although Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie are described in a police report as getting into a physical fight following an argument, "both the male and female reported they are in love and engaged to be married and desperately didn't wish to see anyone charged with a crime," Officer Eric Pratt wrote in the report.

At the suggestion of police, the couple separated for the night, the report said, which described Ms Petito as "confused and emotional."

A National Park Service ranger who also responded to the call spent about 90 minutes with Ms Petito and warned her that her relationship with Mr Laundrie had markings of a "toxic" one, the ranger told the Deseret News of Utah.

"I was imploring with her to reevaluate the relationship, asking her if she was happy in the relationship with him, and basically saying this was an opportunity for her to find another path, to make a change in her life," ranger Melissa Hulls told the Deseret News.

60 Minutes: the hunt for Gabby Petito's killer, Sunday after The Block on Channel 9 and 9Now.

Giancarlo Esposito, the charismatic yet terrifying star of Breaking Bad and Disney's The Mandalorian, has a unique aptitude for villains.

You'll soon meet him as the dictator of an island nation named Yara, not on the silver screen or any streaming service, but in the video game Far Cry 6.

Reporter Mark Santomartino sat down with him ahead of the game's October 7, 2021 release in Australia.

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Far Cry is famous for its bad guys. You're famous for playing bad guys. Having you cast as Anton Castillo is almost too perfect but how do you seeing it fitting on your resume?

"For me, it begins with a very well-told story and a different medium that I haven't really played," explains Giancarlo.

"I really loved the story that had a political element to it and it had a leader in Anton who was trying to save his little small island from commercialisation and other large countries that want to eat it up."

"So there was not only a political message but also an economic message as well."

I've got it on good authority that you didn't want to just do Gus Fring (Breaking Bad) all over again. Who is Anton Castillo? Obviously he's a dictator and a father but what does he want? Why is he so frightening?

"Well he resents someone who has an ideal for his country, a vision for his people."

"The country is very poor. He suffered growing up under the dictatorship of his father and then was pushed out so he regained power to really bring his vision about which was new architecture, new infrastructure, all of these things based on the fact that his country had natural resources that he could exploit."

"In doing so he has to of course – as most small countries or any country at all – has to try to figure out how to pay those workers who are going to get all those natural resources and have them be a resource for the country in doing that."

"Another thing I love was the fact that he's a father and he's trying to pass on a certain his legacy to his son who's not quite ready to receive them. So it's a story about lessons and about learning and also about mortality as well."

Speaking of mortality and lessons you actually hand your son a grenade in this so he's really not a typical father figure?

"A little bit of tough love. Toughen up kid!"

"This is a great story in that this relationship has empathy and Diego has empathy for the revolutionaries but Anton of course knows that that will be the end of the governing power."

"So to train his son to say yes, you can have compassion, but you must rule with an iron hand when I'm not around."

You're a father in real life and you're playing a father in this game. Did you bring anything or take anything away from that as being a dictator Dad? I assume you're not handing your own children grenades (laughs)?

"I have four girls. I'm not gonna hand them a grenade."

"I'm going to teach them in a way to strengthen their minds and their spirits because we're living in a world where things are topsy turvy and things are uncertain."

"That's part of what Anton's trying to teach Diego you know, you have to make a decision, a choice and that's sometimes difficult without the proper advice; parental advice.

"But I'm kind to my girls and I realise that I must listen to them because they have something to teach me as well."

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From the moment we sat down to chat it was obvious you're a sweet, charismatic guy. How do you feel about playing these really terrifying bad guys? You're famous for being the leader of drug cartels and chasing down baby Yoda for all sorts of nefarious reasons and now you are a genuine dictator. It just seems to get more extreme!

"It really does, you know."

"I'm of the mindset of the world of today…I do believe that people need to be told or taught."

"Because people have a certain amount of confusion, they want to be guided or lead. Thus the advent of our electronic society that we're always looking to for information from some other source, not from inside."

"This is a big part of what I believe is that you know, when you're able to take control of the chaos and dictate, direct, suggest, manipulate, people will do what you ask them to do.

Speaking of all that technology and bringing Anton to life, I've seen some of the behind the scenes videos of you in the motion capture suit. You voiced a video game character in 2014 for Payday 2 but the technology has come a long way since then.

"Yes it took some time and it was a different way of working.

"I love the theatre and that's why I cut my teeth in New York I've got 13 Broadway musicals and about 10 plays."

"Doing this particular project when you're in a tight leotard and in a volume room with many many cameras as well as a camera attached to a helmet on your head recording all of your facial movements and recording all of your joint movements, as well physicality a wide shot and something that's catching all of your emotion, you're really.having to work through all of that technology to create a connection with your fellow actor."

"When I first saw a version, a little piece of that, I was amazed by how real it looked."

"I know many actors are afraid of gaming and motion capture because they feel like they're going to put themselves out of a job."

"I felt like it was a learning experience."

"Dictators don't look at themselves as dictators, they look at themselves as somebody who is going to save their country."

"So when you were able to enter this game and be someone who is empowered to stand up and allow your voice to be heard and try to move Anton off his pedestal, I think you have a great game."

"You can take many different routes to get to his castle, to his his White House so to speak."

"You can take many different routes to join up with other revolutionaries. You really play a big part morally and and spiritually within the game and I think our audiences are really gonna love it.

Have you had a chance to play the game yet?

"I haven't played the game yet but I'm looking forward to it."

"I'm not a big gamer but I understand that this particular game has a very new and different way of looking at our world and I'm excited that it's displayed in this way and the people have a chance to enter it and have some fun but also learn something about the political economic and personal structure of what Anton is trying to do."

Yes you're trying to take down a dictatorial regime, but you can recruit angry roosters to help you do that so the game can't take itself too seriously?

"This is the truth (laughs)."

"It also plays into poorer countries and their people finding a way of making do with what they have."

"We live in a throwaway culture and in the culture and the world of Far Cry you use whatever you have to create the weapons you may need or the technology to protect yourself or advance your revolution.

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Speaking of using the weapons you have, during motion capture you brought in props like cigars and squishy balls to double as grenades?

"Well, you know, I felt as if Anton should have certain characteristics and be in a way on top and relaxed, so I thought a cigar would be a great thing to bring in and have him be someone who enjoys that because that's a resource of his country (tobacco)."

"For me to get into character when you don't have real set pieces or even a costume because that's going to be then put in and made by these wonderful artists at Ubisoft… something to hold on to this tangible is a great thing."

Finally, I have to ask and it's not about Far Cry. Is Moff Gideon guaranteed to be coming back in the Mandalorian season three?

"I teased that in a way that is constructive but I think we will without a doubt.

"We must see Moff again. There's too much we don't know about him or why he knows what he knows."

"We don't know why he wants this child (baby Yoda aka Grogu). Is it altruistic, is he wanting to take over and put the universe back together or does he want to be the ultimate dictator of that world that he inhabits?

"So yes! you're going to see more of Moff."

Far Cry 6 arrives October 7 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia, Amazon Luna and Microsoft Windows.

A "barn find" Subaru rally car could be the latest vehicle to fetch more than $1 million at auction when it goes under the gavel this weekend.

The 1994 Subaru Prodrive 555 Group A is a genuine world rally championship car that was driven by rally legend Colin McRae and teammate Carlos Sainz, and was retired from competition in 1996.

Since then, it has sat untouched and collecting dust. Today, after a rigorous check of the car's history, it could be worth an easy seven figures.

READ MORE: Police search gator-infested waters for Gabby Petito's fiance

"When we originally saw this car, it was a barn find with an estimated value of $15,000-$20,000," Lloyds Auctions chief operating officer Lee Hames said.

"Today it's had a wash and a check of its history, and it may well be worth more than $1 million.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own such a unique vehicle and we are honoured to pass it on to the new custodians."

This particular Subaru was the first car to wear he famous L555REP number plates, celebrating Repsol's sponsorship with Carlos Sainz and Subaru.

READ MORE: Why Victoria Police put a 'no fly zone' over Melbourne CBD

During the car's competition history, Sainz placed third in 1994 at Monte Carlo, where he started in eight position and drove the car through treacherous snow and ice.

It is still fitted with its original 2.0 litre turbocharged petrol engine and a six-speed manual gearbox.

Given the high estimated worth, all bidders interested in picking up a slice of rally history must be pre-registered to take part in the auction.