Coroner says Gabby Petito was strangled to death

Gabby Petito died by strangulation three to four weeks before her body was found, Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue said at a Tuesday news conference.

Blue declined to speculate whether he believed her boyfriend at the time, Brian Laundrie, was involved. “We are only tasked with cause and manner of death,” he said. “Who committed the homicide is up to law enforcement.”

He said only the cause of death, strangulation, and manner of death, homicide, would be released, per Wyoming law. Blue first ruled the death a homicide on Sept. 21.

“In a situation like this, nothing is obvious, so the cause of death required investigation,” he said.