Disclaimer: The article contains mentions of murder and suicide. Readers’ discretion is advised.
Travel vlogger Gabby Petito’s autopsy report revealed that she died by strangulation. Petito, 22, went missing after she left on a four-month cross-country tour with her fiancé Brian Laundrie in July 2021.
Strangely, Laundrie returned home to Florida at the beginning of September alone, reported The New York Times, after which Petito’s family reported her missing. As an investigation began, all suspicion fell on her fiancé, who also disappeared shortly after. Authorities ruled him a “person of interest,” believing that he was the last person to have seen her alive.
On September 19, 2021, the FBI found Gabby Petito’s remains at a campground near the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. According to CNN, the coroner ruled Petito’s cause of death to be strangulation and the manner of death a homicide.
Authorities then began looking for Brian Laundrie as a possible murder suspect. However, the weeks-long manhunt for Laundrie ended on October 20 after the discovery of his remains at Carlton Reserve in Florida. He died by suicide of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, per The New York Times. The FBI had also found the suspect’s notebook next to the body, which revealed a detailed confession claiming responsibility for Petito’s death.
What did Gabby Petito’s autopsy report reveal?
According to Fox 13, Gabby Petito’s autopsy report confirmed the manner of death to be homicide. Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue ruled the cause of death to be “manual strangulation/throttling,” per CNN. Dr. Blue also stated that Petito’s death occurred about three to four weeks before authorities discovered her body at a campground in Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming on September 19, 2021.
However, by then, Petito’s fiancé, Brian Laundrie, the prime suspect in her death, had also gone missing. All suspicion fell on Laundrie after he returned to his home in Florida without the 22-year-old vlogger on September 1, 2021. His parents alleged that the 23-year-old left for a hike in a local Florida nature reserve shortly after Petito’s family officially was reported missing. He never returned.
The New York Times stated that on October 20 of that year, the FBI found Laundrie’s remains in the Carlton Reserve in Florida. Near his body, they also found a notebook and a backpack belonging to him. A Sarasota medical examiner eventually ruled that Laundrie died by suicide. His cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Moreover, the FBI disclosed that the contents of Brian Laundrie’s notebook revealed that he was responsible for Gabby Petito’s death. It consisted of a detailed confession claiming responsibility for the vlogger’s death. Per Fox News, He wrote in the notebook, “I ended her life.”
The outlet reported that Laudrie called Petito’s death “merciful,” alleging “that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked. I was in shock.” He further claimed to have killed the 22-year-old because she injured herself during a tragic fall in Wyoming. The note said, “From the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her.”
In the note, Laundrie also wrote, “Please do not make life harder for my family. They lost a son and a daughter. The most wonderful girl in the world. Gabby I’m sorry.” The FBI claimed after killing Petito, Laundrie sent fake text messages from her phone to cover up the crime. They believed he also stole her debit card.
In March 2022, Gabby Petito’s parents filed an emotional distress complaint against the Laundries in March 2022, per People Magazine. They claimed Brian Laundrie’s parents knew the truth behind their daughter’s disappearance. The Petito family claimed that they also knew about the whereabouts of her body as detectives searched for weeks.
The complaint alleged that the Laundries helped Brian conceal Gabby Petito’s murder and were making plans for him to flee the country. It said that Laundrie made “a frantic telephone call” to his parents, Chris and Roberta, soon after strangling Petito to death. He allegedly told them about the events.
Recently, Chris Laundrie acknowledged in his deposition that their son told them, “Gabby’s gone,” according to Fox13, WPTV, and WFLA. He claimed they had “no idea” what their son meant and alleged that “it was all mumbled.” However, Christ recalled that Brian asked for their help and an attorney. He said, “I told him [Brian], ‘Yeah, I’ll help you. I’ll call Steven Bertolino, and just stay put.’ And then I asked him again, and he just said, ‘Just help me.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to, so stay calm. Stay put.’ And he hung up.”
Several true-crime episodes, including CBS 48 Hours, have previously chronicled Gabby Petito’s death at the hands of her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. A movie titled The Gabby Petito Story also covers the case.
