21st September, 2021
The FBI in Denver has announced the autopsy report on the body found in the Wyoming national forest, confirming it belonged to Gabby Petito, the missing 22-year-old American hiker.
It said the manner of death was homicide, according to a tweet by the FBI’s Denver field office.
Coroner Dr Brent Blue’s initial determination for the manner of death is homicide. The cause of death remains pending final autopsy report”, FBI stated.
Richard Stafford, family lawyer of the Petitos had earlier positively identified the body as Gabby’s
Gabby mysteriously disappeared in the midst of a cross-country trek with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, who has also disappeared, triggering a manhunt as a ‘person of interest’.
Stafford’s confirmation was the first positive identification of the found body.
The autopsy, which has further reinforced the confirmation, was performed Tuesday by the Teton County coroner’s office.
Petito last spoke to her family on Aug. 25 and was reported missing on Sept. 11 — 10 days after Laundrie, 23, returned to their home in North Port, Fla. without her.
Laundrie, who was declared a person of interest in Petito’s case but not criminally charged, went missing himself last week.
His disappearance sparked a massive manhunt of a sprawling Sarasota County nature preserve.
Latest report, said a person looking like he was sighted in a deer camera footage in a wilderness in Florida.
Sam Bass said he spotted the man toting a backpack at 6:17 a.m. Monday in the town of Baker, Fla., about 500 miles away from Laundrie’s home in North Port.
“I’m not saying this is the guy but whoever was on my trail camera this morning in Baker, Fl strongly fits the description of Brian Laundrie,” Bass wrote on Facebook.
“Authorities have been contacted but people in the North West Florida area be on the look out.”
Authorities in Florida said Tuesday they are “actively” investigating the report.