A hiker has spoken out after his resemblance to the missing Brian Laundrie led to him being woken up at gunpoint while on the Appalachian Trail.
Upstate New York man Severin Beckwith was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he and he partner, Anna Brettmann, decided to take a rest at the Lodge at Fontana Village Resort following their lunch.
In an interview with the New Yorker, the Ithaca native then recalled how he was woken up to a knocking sound, with muffled voices coming from behind the door.
However, before he was able to unlock it, the door flew open and Beckwith was met with "handguns pointed at his face".
"Next thing I see is a bunch of guys with riot shields with ‘US Marshals’ written on them," he told the publication.
As a marshal helped Brettmann get dressed, Beckwith was allegedly handcuffed and taken out into the hallway - still in his underwear.
As a white male with a shaved head and beard - as well as the fact he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, where tipsters have reportedly seen Laundrie - it is perhaps not a surprised that Beckwith was tracked down by federal marshals.
According to his family, Brian Laundrie has been missing since September 14. The 23-year-old is currently the only person of interest in the case regarding the murder of his girlfriend, 22-year-old travel blogger Gabby Petito.
Laundrie and Petito had been traveling across the country together in their converted van, when he returned to the Florida home they shared with his parents without her on September 1.
According to the autopsy results provided by Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue at a press conference, Gabby Petito's cause of death was strangulation, under the manner of "homicide".
Beckwith even told the New Yorker that one of the marshals checked the side of his head to find, as Beckwith said, "a notch in the upper part of my inner ear just like [Laundie]."
Beckwith revealed that he and his partner had used a credit card linked to a New York I.D. - which, considering Gabby Petito was from New York, he understands was enough of a motive to investigate further.
After officers saw that Beckwith did not have any of Laundrie's hand tattoos and were shown an I.D. with the hiker's name on, they concluded that he was not the man they were searching for.
He claims that the officers suggested that he shave his beard - something that he did but "regretted immediately".
The New Yorker reports that Beckwith believes an employee at the Fontana Lake marina was the one to alert the authorities about his whereabouts.
As compensation for their troubles, the lodge provided Beckwith and Brettmann with a free night's stay and a complimentary breakfast - which they say they took full advantage of as it was a buffet.
