Gabby Petito's Cause Of Death Was Strangulation: Coroner

TETON COUNTY, WY — Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue announced Tuesday that Gabby Petito's autopsy revealed the cause of death to be strangulation about three to four weeks before her body was found, though his comments were limited due to a Wyoming statute preventing the release of more specific details.

Blue, who made the announcement in a virtual news conference, would not say how the examiners came to arrive at their conclusion that Petito was strangled, how it was determined that she died three to four weeks before her body was found, and whether there were any older bruises on her body indicating domestic violence.

In a document filed Oct. 5 in district court in Teton County, Blue listed Petito's cause of death as "manual strangulation/throttling," Newsday reported.

He would not say whether Petito died at the location where her body was found or if her remains were dragged there from another area of the park.

The autopsy findings were part of “a detailed investigation” by a forensic pathologist, an anthropologist, and local law enforcement with “assistance” from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Blue said. Only the cause of death as strangulation and “the manner, homicide,” are publicly releasable under Wyoming law.

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The autopsy findings and photographs “and that sort of material” are not releaseable by state statute, Blue said.

Petito died roughly three to four weeks before her body was found near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, Blue said. He also would not comment on the state of her remains, including if the weather or animals had an impact on the autopsy results.

“All I can really comment about is that the body was outside in the wilderness for three to four weeks,” Blue said.

While the investigation was underway, Petito’s remains had not been released to her family.

Her remains have since been returned to the mortuary in Wyoming and representatives there are “dealing with the family at this time,” Blue said.

He would not say if his office believes Petito’s fiancé, Brian Laundrie, whom she had been traveling with before she disappeared, is responsible.

“We are only tasked with the determination of cause and manner of death, who committed the homicide is up to law enforcement,” he said.

DNA samples were taken from Petito’s remains and they were provided to law enforcement, according to Blue. The agency also sent materials to a forensic anthropologist for review, he said.

He could not say if the FBI could now issue a warrant to arrest Laundrie for homicide, and instead referred reporters to the agency.

When asked why the examination took so long for his office to complete, Blue said “the main reason was that we were very exact in our examination of the details by which our examination was done.”

“We were waiting for various specialists to come in and help us with this investigation,” he said. “We were waiting on toxicology to be returned. And it was just a matter of making sure we had everything right.”

The autopsy included a whole-body CAT scan, as well as an examination by forensic pathologists and a forensic anthropologist, as well as a toxicology evaluation.

“It pretty much covered all the bases,” Blue said.

Blue said he could not comment on the toxicology results.

The length of time “evolved” in the sense that Blue’s office received a report from the investigating and examining project pathologists, and then a report was done by anthropologists, and then there were “toxicology studies that were done, he said, adding, in addition to the report from the radiologic studies.

“So, all these came together and that's where it took time for us to complete this investigation,” he said.

The small coroner’s office located in western Wyoming has been cast into the national media spotlight on the case. When asked what it was like working on the case under such extreme scrutiny, Blue called it a “media circus.”

“Unfortunately, this is one of many deaths around the country of people who are involved in domestic violence,” he said. “And it's unfortunate that these other guests would not get as much coverage as this one.

“I'm assuming because the deceased was a blogger that this received more coverage than others, but there are a lot of both men and women who have lost their lives and aren’t covered with this kind of media attention,” he added.

Petito, the 22-year-old who captured the hearts of people around the world as her family and law enforcement officials frantically searched to find her, was found on Sept. 19.

Petito, a Long Island native, was part of the nation’s Van Life crew — people who had dreams of downsizing while living life on the road — but she stopped contact with her family sometime around Aug 25. Laundrie returned home to North Port, Fla., without her in her van that they had been traveling in on Sept. 1.

Leading up to the discovery, Laundrie refused to speak with police and was named a person of interest days after Petito was declared missing on Sept. 11. He was reported missing by his family two days before Petito’s body was found. He is now sought on a federal arrest warrant after reportedly using her bank card after her death.

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Laundrie has not yet been labeled a suspect in Petito’s death, but there is an active inter-state manhunt seeking to bring him in on the federal arrest warrant. His family attorney, Steven Bertolino of East Islip, previously said the Laundries would not comment on the case.

Bertolino on Tuesday issued a statement to Fox News stating that Petito’s death “at such a young age is a tragedy.”

"While Brian Laundrie is currently charged with the unauthorized use of a debit card belonging to Gabby, Brian is only considered a person of interest in relation to Gabby Petito’s demise,” he said. “At this time, Brian is still missing, and when he is located, we will address the pending fraud charge against him.”

The bounty case involving Laundrie has brought significant media attention from celebrity bounty hunters and John Walsh, as well as Duane “Dog, the bounty hunter,” Chapman, and mental health talk show hosts like Dr. Phil McGraw, not to mention celebrity sleuths like Nancy Grace.

In the days after Petito’s death, makeshift memorials sprang up in her hometown of Blue Point on Long Island as well as North Port, Utah, and Wyoming. Candle-lit vigils were held in her memory on Sept. 24 in Blue Point and Selden. Thousands are estimated to have attended her public memorial at the Moloney Funeral Home in Holbrook on Sept. 26.

Petito’s family has started the Gabby Petito Foundation to help other families with missing loved ones.

Tiffany Razzano contributed additional reporting to this story.