Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue held a Zoom press conference at 2.30pm on Tuesday Oct. 12 to discuss the ruling of Gabby Petito’s autopsy.
According to the Coroner:
- Verdict – Death by strangulation and manner is homicide
- No other information will be released on the autopsy due to Wyoming state laws.
- Autopsy findings and photos will not be released
- Now taking questions – these are the questions & answers:
- Were you able to determine when she died?
- Date of death: 3-4 weeks before the body was found.
- When will her remains be released her family?
- Remains have been released to the mortuary.
- John Walsh comes on and asks: ‘Everybody in the world believes Brian Laundrie killed Gabby – will the FBI release a homicide warrant for Brian now that they know the cause of death?
- Coroner says that would be up to the FBI
- Can you comment on any other bruising on the body? Older bruises or cuts?
- Coroner says due to state law he can only release the COD.
- What were the condition of her remains?
- Coroner says her body was outside for 3-4 weeks – he can’t say anything more specific than that.
- John Walsh is back asking questions that the coroner can’t answer. He again asks “do you have any doubt Brian Laundrie killed her?”
- Coroner again says he can’t answer that.
- Was her body buried?
- Coroner can’t say – they’re not allowed to release that info.
- Was there any impact on her body from weather or wild animals?
- Cant say specifically but again her body was outside for 3-4 weeks.
- Was she murdered there or taken there?
- He cant comment on that.
- What were the results of her toxicology testing?
- He cant comment
- Was Gabby Petito pregnant?
- She was not pregnant.
- Can you tell us what tests you ran?
- Whole body cat-scan, examination by forensic pathologist, examination by forensic anthropologist and toxicology – covered all the bases.
- How did you come to conclusion that she was strangled?
- He can’t comment on that
- Was there any other COD that was a possibility?
- They look at all possibilities but strangulation is the COD they determined.
- Is there a date of death on the death certificate?
- The death certificate is not finished but in Wyoming you’re allowed to have a range or estimate so there won’t be a specific date.
- Can you clarify if it was manual strangulation or with an item?
- He cannot
- Was the examination all done at your lab or was her body shipped elsewhere?
- Full examination was done there
- Can you comment on what it was like doing your job with this being such a big case?
- He said it’s been a big media circus but there are a lot of men and women who aren’t covered with this kind of media attention who die from domestic violence (not the full quote from him – but generally this is what he said).
- Can you comment on the state of decomposition and if that hindered your investigation at all?
- He cant comment on that.
- Can you determine if this was an accidental homicide or deliberate?
- That would be up do the FBI.
- Were you able to determine when she died?
The Laundrie family attorney gave a statement:
Even though the coroner said he couldn’t clarify on the type of strangulation during the press conference, the official statement does say it was manual strangulation/ throttling.
The definition of ‘manual strangulation’ is “Manual strangulation, also known as throttling, is a type of asphyxial death where the perpetrator uses his hand to encircle and compress the front and side of the neck. It is a common method of homicide, most often encountered when the physical size and strength of the assailant exceeds that of the victim.”
You can read our previous blogs on Gabby’s case: