Gabby Petito official cause of death cited as strangulation by human force says coroner during CNN appearance. Death may have been issue of domestic violence.
Gabby Petito was strangled to death by ‘human force,’ the Wyoming coroner who oversaw the Long Island native’s autopsy released on Tuesday.
Teton County Coroner Brent Blue offered new details in the investigation into Petito’s cause of death who described the 22 year old death the result of strangulation.
Paperwork listed the cause of death as ‘manual strangulation/throttling.’
‘Throttling means that someone was strangled by human force,’ Blue said while appearing on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 show.
‘There was no mechanical force involved,’ Blue said.
This. This image, haunts me. This is Gabby TELLING LE in Utah, that #BrianLaundrie grabbed her jaw just like “this”. This is a POWER move done by abusers, because it mimics the power of strangulation… #DomesticViolence #KnowBetterDoBetter #GabbyPetito #JusticeForGabby pic.twitter.com/evC7XrUEwb
— @shley (@Shley713) October 12, 2021
Had been dead in the wilderness 3-4 weeks before body discovered
‘People can be strangled by other means,’ he said. ‘We have seen people on snowmobiles who run into a wire — that would be strangling by a mechanical event. But this was, we believe this was strangling by a human being.’
Host Anderson Cooper asked how Blue knew it was a human responsible for killing Petito.
‘Mainly because only humans have opposable thumbs,’ Blue said. ‘There is no evidence that this was done by any animal as far as the cause of death.’
Petito, 22, had been dead in the wilderness for three to four weeks by the time her body was found in Bridger-Teton National Forest on Sept. 19, ending a weeklong search that drew national headlines.
Although officials ruled her death a homicide, the cause of death wasn’t revealed until Tuesday afternoon, when Blue briefed members of the media on the results of the autopsy. But he said that under Wyoming law, he wouldn’t release further details.
Blue didn’t estimate the exact time of Petito’s death, and didn’t disclose details such as the condition of her body when it was found — or even whether her remains were found buried.
And though he didn’t speculate about the potential involvement of Petito’s fugitive boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, Blue said that Petito’s death was one of many of ‘people who are involved in domestic violence‘ and it was unfortunate that others don’t get as much attention.
Domestic violence
Cooper asked if Petito’s death was a result of domestic violence.
‘That’s an assumption,’ Blue said. ‘That was strictly an assumption.’
Petito was last seen alive sometime in late August while on a cross-country trip with Laundrie. But the trip was aborted and Laundrie returned home to his parents’ house in Florida without Petito early on Sept. 1.
He refused to cooperate with police when Petito was reported missing on Sept. 11, and vanished shortly after. The search for Brian Laundrie continues.
