Gabby Petito's Family Heads to Wyoming to Get Her Ashes as Coroner Released Her Remains for Cremation
Gabby Petito's parents are heading to Wyoming to recover her remains a day after a Teton County coroner said she was strangled to death by "human force."
Fox News reported that the Schmidt and Petito families were on their way to Wyoming on Wednesday morning to get their daughter's remains and then have her cremated before returning to New York this weekend with her ashes.
According to Daily Mail, Petito's remains had already been released by the Teton County coroner to a local mortuary for cremation.
Petito's parents will also meet with law enforcement in Wyoming to brief them on the latest updates in the case. The Petito family attorney earlier said the family would make no statements until they bring her remains home.
An autopsy was performed on Petito's remains after her body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Campground near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19.
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Wyoming Coroner Announced Gabby Petito's Autopsy Results
Teton County, Wyoming coroner Brent Blue said on Tuesday that Gabby Petito was strangled to death by "human force" and the manner of death was homicide. The cause of death is officially listed as "manual strangulation/throttling."
During an appearance on CNN, Blue said that throttling means that "someone was strangled by human force" and "no mechanical force" was involved. He noted that people could be strangled by other means, like individuals on snowmobiles who run into a wire.
"That would be strangling by a mechanical event. But this was, we believe was strangling by a human being," he added.
When host Anderson Cooper asked how they knew it was a human responsible for Petito's killing, Blue answered, "because only humans have opposable thumbs." He added that there's no evidence it was "done by any animal as far as the cause of death."
In a press briefing just hours before the CNN interview, Blue said they conducted a "detailed investigation" in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that included a full-body computed tomography scan and examinations by a forensic pathologist and a forensic anthropologist.
The coroner also revealed that Gabby Petito was not pregnant at the time of her death, and her body was left in the wilderness for three to four weeks.
The Wyoming coroner has declined to answer if he suspects that Laundrie was responsible for his fiancee's homicide, saying it will be up to law enforcement to determine that.
Brian Laundrie's attorney, Steve Bertolino, maintained that his client has not been charged and was not even a suspect in Petito's homicide.
The FBI has issued a federal arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie but over debit card fraud. Court documents showed that Laundrie "knowingly with intent to defraud" used a debit card belonging to Gabby Petito in the amount of at least $1,000. It happened between August 30 and September 1.
"Brian is only considered a person of interest in relation to Gabby Petito's demise... At this time Brian is still missing and when he is located we will address the pending fraud charge against him," Bertolino noted.
Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie
Gabby Petito disappeared on a cross-country road trip with Brian Laundrie. The couple was traveling to Oregon when the YouTuber stopped communicating with her family in Wyoming in late August.
Laundrie was named a person of interest by North Port police in Florida after returning home on September 1 or 10 days before Petito was reported missing by her family.
North Port police earlier said they tried to talk to Laundrie, but were rebuffed by his parents, who directed them to their son's attorney, New York Post reported.
North Port police spokesman Josh Taylor has told The Post that they talked with Laundrie's parents, but they "did not make him available."
Authorities are still trying to locate Brian Laundrie after he was reported missing on September 17. His parents said they last saw him on September 13.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: Autopsy Shows Gabby Petito Died by Strangulation - From ABC News
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