Gabby Petito was killed by strangulation, autopsy reveals

Gabby Petito died by strangulation, was the victim of domestic violence, and her body lay undiscovered in the remote Wyoming wilderness for up to four weeks after her murder, the coroner revealed Tuesday.    

Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue released the findings of the 22-year-old van-life vlogger’s autopsy in a press briefing Tuesday afternoon, as her fiance Brian Laundrie spent his fourth week on the run from law enforcement.

‘We find the cause of death to be strangulation and the manner is homicide,’ he said. 

Blue did not provide a specific date for when Petito was murdered, saying only that ‘the body was in the wilderness for three to four weeks’ and that an ‘approximate date’ would have to be placed on her death certificate. 

Petito’s body was discovered in a campsite close to the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19 – eight days after her family reported her missing and 22 days after the last reported sighting of her alive on August 27. 

The coroner said he could not determine whether Petito had been strangled by hand or if the killer had used something. 

He declined to provide any further details about bruising or injuries found on Petito’s body, the condition her body was found in or whether toxicology tests had found any drugs in her system – saying only the cause and manner of death is released in the state of Wyoming. 

Blue also refused to confirm whether Petito’s body was buried or left out in the open, or whether she was killed at the site her remains were found or if her body was dumped there after being murdered in another location.  

The coroner did confirm that Petito was not pregnant at the time of her death – after internet sleuths circulated that theory online in recent days.  

Blue said he could not comment on whether his findings pointed to Laundrie being the murderer – before slipping up and describing Petito as a victim of domestic violence. 

‘I cannot make any comment about any suspects as we are not involved in that part of the investigation,’ he said.

‘So who committed the homicide is really to be confirmed by law enforcement.’ 

However, he referred to the case as ‘domestic violence’, saying there are many domestic abuse incidents but that this had gained greater attention due to Petito being a blogger. 

‘It was quite the media circus and continues to be. Unfortunately, this is one of many deaths around the country of people who are involved in domestic violence,’ he said. 

‘It’s unfortunate that other deaths do not get as much coverage as this one.’

Steven Bertolino, the attorney for Laundrie and his parents, released a statement as soon as the autopsy was released calling her death a ‘tragedy’ and saying his client is only ‘a person of interest’ – rather than a suspect – in her death. 

‘Gabby Petito’s death at such a young age is a tragedy,’ Bertolino said. 

‘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. 

‘At this time Brian is still missing and when he is located we will address the pending fraud charge against him.’

The coroner previously ruled the manner of Petito’s death a homicide but the cause of her death was not disclosed, pending further autopsy results. 

In Wyoming, homicide includes varying degrees of murder and manslaughter and so the circumstances of her death were a mystery until now. 

While the autopsy was not able to determine an exact cause of death it matches the timeline based on the last sightings of the 22-year-old and her final conversations with her loved ones. 

The FBI has been focusing its investigation around the belief she was killed between August 27 and August 30.  

Petito last spoke to her mom Nichole Schmidt over the phone on August 25. 

The last reports of Petito being seen alive were on August 27 when witnesses said they saw the couple involved in a ‘commotion’ in a restaurant in Wyoming. 

That same day, Schmidt received an ‘odd’ text message from her daughter’s phone where she referred to her grandfather as ‘Stan’ – sending alarm bells that something was wrong.

On August 30, her mom received the last text message from Petito’s phone reading: ‘No service in Yosemite.’ Petito’s phone has never been found.  

Laundrie, 23, allegedly used Petito’s stolen bank card to spend around $1,000 between August 30 and September 1 and returned to his family’s home in North Port, Florida, on September 1. 

Laundrie is the sole person of interest in his fiancee’s disappearance and death but has not yet been charged in connection with it.

It is not clear if he is even still alive to potentially face charges. 

A warrant was issued for his arrest on September 23 over the stolen Capitol One Bank card. The attorney for Petito’s family said last week the card belonged to her. 

Petito set off on a once in a lifetime four-month-long trip with Laundrie on July 2, traveling across America in the couple’s white campervan and documenting their adventures on YouTube.  

On September 1, Laundrie returned to his family’s home in North Port, Florida, without his fiancee but driving their van. 

Laundrie did not report her missing and, in the days that followed, he and his parents allegedly ignored her concerned family’s pleas for information about her whereabouts.

Petito was reported missing on September 11 by her mom and police visited the Laundrie’s home. 

But the Laundrie family lawyered up and refused to let cops speak to the 23-year-old about his fiancee’s whereabouts.

On September 17, two days before Petito’s body was discovered, Laundrie’s parents Christopher and Roberta told cops their son had gone missing.  

Their version of events has changed in the weeks that followed – first telling authorities Laundrie had left their home to head to the Carlton Reserve nature park on September 14 and didn’t return.

Now, the fugitive’s parents have claimed they actually ‘believe’ Laundrie set off from their home one day earlier on September 13, meaning he had a four-day headstart before they finally reported him missing to authorities. 

The exact timing of when Laundrie went on the run is not clear.   

Police revealed last week that they did not see or speak to Laundrie at all after Petito was reported missing. 

It is not clear if authorities have any evidence of Laundrie even being at the family home prior to September 13.        

The young couple were stopped by police in Moab, Utah, back on August 12 after a witness reported seeing a man slapping a woman outside a grocery store before driving off in a white van.

Bodycam footage has revealed Petito told cops Laundrie had hit her and cut her face by grabbing her ‘with his nail’.

The video shows a cop pointing out ‘new’ marks on Petito’s face and arm and asking if Laundrie had hit her, to which she replies: ‘I guess.’

‘He like grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that’s why it looks, I definitely have a cut right here. I can feel it, when I touch it it burns,’ she tells the officer. 

The 22-year-old quickly backtracks and defends her fiance saying she ‘hit him first’ when he locked her out of their van and refused to let her in.  

Laundrie meanwhile instantly defends himself and pushes the blame onto Petito for the altercation as soon as the cops arrive on the scene.

He claims Petito was ‘really worked up’ and that he ‘was just trying to push her away’ when asked about allegations he had hit her. 

Bodycam footage from one Moab officer was released when Petito was still a missing person, showing Petito telling the officer she slapped Laundrie, while he is seen showing the cop scratches on his face and arm, which he claims were caused when she ‘hit me with her phone’.

A second officer’s camera was released on September 30, with some of the previous inaudible comments by the couple revealed for the first time.  

The cops determined Petito was ‘the primary aggressor’ and separated them for the night.  

The domestic incident less than two weeks before she was last seen alive. 

A probe has been launched into the police handling of the August 12 incident and Moab City Police Department Chief Bret Edge has since taken a leave of absence pending the investigation.  

Meanwhile, the manhunt for Laundrie has entered its fourth week with the search continuing to focus on the Carlton Reserve, close to the Laundrie family home.

Laundrie’s dad Christopher joined the search last Thursday as his family continues to face mounting scrutiny over what they know.  

The FBI is also investigating 11 alleged sightings of Laundrie along the Appalachian Trail near the North Carolina-Tennessee border.