Almost one month after Gabby Petito’s body was discovered, a coroner in the US state of Wyoming has revealed her cause of death.
Tenon County Coroner Dr Brett Blue released a memo on Tuesday, listing Gabby’s cause of death as homicide and the cause as, “Death by manual strangulation/throttling.”
“Our initial determination is the body was in the wilderness for three to four weeks” before she was found, Blue told reporters, which would place her time of death in mid to late August.
The coroner believes that Gabby’s manner of death is consistent with a tragic end to a domestic violence relationship.
“This is only one of many deaths around the country of people who are involved in domestic violence and it’s unfortunate that these other deaths do not get as much coverage as this one,” Blue said.
Gabby’s story has gripped the world, after her and her fiancée Brian were travelling around the United States on their ‘van life’ road trip, and chronicling their adventures on social media.
A few weeks into their trip, Gabby’s body was found in the Grand Teton National Park on September 19th.
Brian returned to his parent’s home in North Port, Florida on September 1st without Gabby, and Gabby was officially reported missing 10 days later.
Brian is still at large, as the ruling of Gabby’s autopsy motivates police further to find her fiancée.
North Port Police Department have made a major breakthrough in the search for Brian, as they have located a small campsite close to his family’s home.
Brian is now the subject of a federal warrant as a key person of interest in Gabby’s case, as well as for unauthorised use of another person’s debit card.
You can watch the Teton County Coroner’s full statement on Gabby’s autopsy here:
Image credits: Instagram @gabspetito
This article first appeared on Over60.