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Gabby Petito’s body is finally released by coroner so she can be cremated

Gabby Petito’s father Joseph Petito will bring her ashes back home to Long Island, New York

Sravasti Dasgupta
Thursday 14 October 2021 14:51 BST
Analysis: A new link in the puzzle of Gabby Petito’s death
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Gabby Petito’s body was released by a coroner in Wyoming on Thursday to a local mortuary for cremation.

Teton County’s coroner Brent Blue had said a day earlier that Petito was killed by manual strangulation and that she had died three to four weeks before her body was found on 19 September.

The coroner, however, cited Wyoming law and said no other details of the autopsy could be released to the public.

Petito’s father Joseph Petito travelled to Wyoming on Wednesday to collect his daughter’s ashes and bring them back home to Long Island, New York.

The coroner also released DNA to the police for the investigation of her murder, according to local news network WPBF 25.

Petito’s fiance Brian Laundrie remains a “person of interest” in the case as the police manhunt for him continues. Mr Laundrie had gone missing on 17 September, weeks after returning home to Florida without Petito.

It remains unclear how strong any DNA evidence retrieved from the body will be, given Petito’s remains had been exposed to the elements for a long time, state attorney Dave Aronberg was quoted as saying by WPBF 25.

Meanwhile another day of police searches at the 25,000-acre Florida Carlton Reserve, the last place Mr Laundrie was believed to be, ended on Wednesday without results.

The officials said there was a 50 per cent chance of Mr Laundrie being alive.

Josh Taylor, a North Port police spokesperson told CNN that the police hunt would continue even though no significant link to Mr Laundrie was found in the nature reserve.

Mr Laundrie’s initially declined to cooperate with investigators, though his father Chris has since joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in their search at the Carlton Reserve.

On Wednesday, Mr Laundrie’s father was seen on a Fox News video uploaded on Twitter, mowing his lawn and ignoring questions from reporters.

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