20th September, 2021
An autopsy on the body said to be that of the missing American hiker Gabby Petito is scheduled for Tuesday, a coroner said today.
Dr. Brent Blue, the Teton County, Wyoming coroner, said no positive identification or preliminary findings have yet been made on the remains.
The remains were found Monday in a remote camping area at Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest.
The FBI said the body matches all the description given about the missing woman, said Charles Jones, a supervisory senior resident agent with the FBI office in Denver, at a press briefing.
“Earlier today, human remains were discovered consistent with the description of Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito,” Jones said.
“Full forensics identification has not been completed to confirm 100 percent that we found Gabby, but her family has been notified of this discovery.”
“The cause of death has not been determined at this time,” he added.
The coroner said all further information about the autopsy will be released by the FBI.
Petito, 22, was on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, when she disappeared late last month.
Laundrie, 23, returned home to Florida without Petito on Sept. 1, retained a lawyer and refused to cooperate with authorities.
He has now gone missing after his family told police he went for a hike in the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve last week and never returned.
The search in the area was called off Monday.
But the FBI searched the home of the parents on Monday.
“The FBI is executing a court-authorized search warrant today at the Laundrie residence in North Port, FL relevant to the Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito investigation,” the agency’s office in Tampa said.
“No further details can be provided since this is an active and ongoing investigation.”