Gabby Petito Died of Strangulation, Autopsy Reveals

Coroner Brent Blue of Teton County, Wyoming has revealed that Gabby Petito's cause of death was strangulation.

Blue revealed during a virtual press conference Tuesday that DNA samples were taken by law enforcement and that the body was outside in the wilderness for three or four weeks.

The autopsy consisted of a whole-body cat scan, an examination by a forensic anthropologist, a forensic entomologist, and a toxicologist.

According to Blue, the FBI has sent evidence to a forensic entomologist. Entomologists use their knowledge of how insects aid in body decomposition to help investigations.

Blue was unable to reveal many details, such as how they knew the cause of death was strangulation and was the body buried, due to Wyoming state statutes and said that only the FBI and law enforcement could answer them.

The death certificate has not been completed at this time but the state of Wyoming allows for death certificates to have an approximate date.

The autopsy revealed that Petito was not pregnant.

Gabby Petito's disappearance nearly a month ago captured the nation's attention. The travel vlogger and her boyfriend were documenting their journey through Instagram and other social media outlets until her feed went dark around the end of August. Shortly thereafter, her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, returned home to Florida without her. However, it wasn't until September 11th, when Petito's family, after not hearing from her for nearly two weeks, alerted the authorities that she was missing.

From that moment on, a massive search erupted to locate her. Her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, became a person of interest and went into hiding days after she was reported missing. Petito's body was found on September 19th and Laundrie remains the only person of interest. Authorities have still not located his whereabouts and an FBI manhunt continues.