Amid the frenzy of news coverage and public interest in the case of Brian Laundrie and subsequent search for her boyfriend, Gabby Petito, it can be easy to forget that Mr Laundrie has not been charged with any criminal activity other than fraudulent use of her credit card number.
Police have issued a warrant for Mr Petito's arrest on fraud charges, but when it comes to Ms Petito's death, Mr Laundrie is still considered as a person of interest. What exactly is a street term?
Person of interest means exactly what the phrase says an individual is a person that law enforcement is interested in speaking with about a crime.
Unlike terms like suspect or material witness, person of interest is not a defined legal phrase and is not recognised as an official designation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Instead, it serves as placeholder for someone police believe may have some connection to a crime, but are not prepared to investigate with the crime they are investigating.
The word is intentionally vague. It was written in the 1960s by police and other civil protection entities investigating Vietnam war protesters and other civil rights activists. By using the term person of interest, police could support investigating Americans without bringing legal charges against them, despite the term having no legal ground to stand on.
Since then, the phrase has been widely adopted by law enforcement agencies across the country to describe individuals who are still not charged with crimes, but who are nonetheless people police wish to speak with involving a crime.
The US Department of Justice has three words recognized by individuals seeking information in connection with a crime: subject, suspect, and target. The terms are different meanings and have legal definitions.
In 2002, Steven J Hatfill sued the US State Department for anthrax scare, which was accused of being behind the anthrax scare the year prior. In the media his reputation suffered. He was eventually cleared of all charges and his lawsuit against the Justice Department was settled out of court for $5.8 m in 2008.
Just that he is being sought by law enforcement so they can learn more about what happened to Ms Petito. What is the point of the police arresting Laundrie? ABC News' Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams theorized that the reason for not reporting more charges against Mr Laundrie is to prevent potential mistrials if he is ever found, charged and tried.
I think that law enforcement wants to gather all of the evidence so that they don't get accused in a trial later of making mistakes, he said.
However, some wondered if the fact that Mr Laundrie has not been charged with murder and the fact that Ms Petito is buried next to her family suggests that investigators are missing key information that they need if they were planning to charge Mr Laundrie with murder?
In any case, unless new evidence is discovered linking him directly to the death of Mr Laundrie, he will likely remain a person of interest if there is no real evidence linking him to Ms Petito's death. He cannot be charged in absentia, so until he is found or someone else is charged, there will be no murder trial to hold anyone accountable for Ms Petito's death.