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TETON COUNTY, Wyoming, Oct. 11, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue will host a press conference Tuesday via Zoom regarding the ruling on the autopsy of Gabby Petito, officials said Monday.
Officials confirmed on Sept. 21 the human remains found in Grand Teton National Park were those of the missing woman, and her manner of death was homicide. The cause of death has not yet been released.
During the news conference, the coroner will formally identify Petito and could reveal the official cause of her death.
The press conference will be held at 12:30 p.m. MT; Gephardt Daily will provide an update as soon as information is made available.
Brian Laundrie, 23, has been named a person of interest in Petito’s murder. The couple, who shared a home with Laundrie’s parents in Florida, had been traveling across the western U.S., including stops in Utah, before Petito’s disappearance near the end of August.
Laundrie returned home on Sept. 1, driving Petito’s van, but without her. Petito, 22, was reported missing on Sept. 11.
Laundrie declined to cooperate with authorities, as did his parents, although on Sept. 17 the parents relented and told investigators Laundrie had gone missing on Sept. 14, and may have been headed to the Carlton Reserve, a nature reserve in Florida.
On Sept. 19, FBI agents found the remains believed to be Petito’s in an area where the couple had been camping in Grand Teton National Park.
Though authorities have not explicitly connected Laundrie to Petito’s death, they’ve been looking for him, in part over a federal arrest warrant accusing him of illegally using another person’s debit card.
Officials said last Wednesday night they found the remnants of a campsite that appeared to have been recently used at the Carlton Reserve, a 24,565-acre nature reserve, which has hiking paths and areas of swamp. They since stated they have found no physical evidence directly linking Laundrie to any of the areas they searched so far.
If you have any information in this case or know Laundrie’s whereabouts, you’re asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information is made available.
