Dr. Brent Blue, the Coroner in Teton County, Wyoming, gave a live press conference today to announce the final autopsy results on the body of 22-year old travel blogger and Instagram Influencer Gabby Petito.
Petito’s body was discovered near Grand Teton National Park on September 19, after she went missing on a cross-country trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. On September 1, Laundrie returned to his home in Florida without Petito, and disappeared soon after Petito’s parents reported her missing. The FBI now considers Laundrie a person of interest in Petito’s disappearance and death, and a warrant is out for his recovery and arrest.
Dr. Blue confirmed that the cause of Petito’s death is homicide, and that the manner of death was strangulation. Dr. Blue stated that according to Wyoming state statute, no other information concerning the autopsy, other than the cause and manner of death, is allowed to be released.
From ABC News:
A Wyoming coroner on Tuesday said Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old travel blogger whose remains were recovered in September in a national park, died by strangulation.
Petito’s boyfriend and cross-country traveling companion, Brian Laundrie, has been named by investigators as a person of interest in her death and is the subject of a massive nationwide search being directed by the FBI.
Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue told reporters Petito’s manner of death was homicide.
Her body was discovered on Sept. 19 in the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Jackson.
Blue’s announcement comes amidst a nationwide search the FBI is leading for Laundrie, who drew suspicion after returning to his parents’ North Port, Florida, home on Sept. 1 without Petito but driving her van, authorities said.
From a reporter’s question during the press conference on the actual time of death, Dr. Blue delivered this stunning news: Petito’s actual “time of death” was three to four weeks from the September 19 date on which her body was found. So by the end of August, Petito was already dead, and Laundrie more than likely knew this when he returned to Florida on September 1.
Coroner says they are estimating Gabby Petito died 3 to 4 weeks before the body was found.
— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) October 12, 2021
From another reporter’s question, Dr. Blue confirmed that Petito had been outside, in the wilderness, for those three to four weeks before her body was found. Dr. Blue further revealed that law enforcement had obtained DNA and other samples in their investigation.
Dr. Blue also stated that, at the time of her death, Petito was not pregnant.
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