Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #62

[wary]

I’m very curious how the coroner’s office would know right away that her manner of death was homicide before an autopsy was done if it was strangulation and not something more obvious like gunshot, knife, or blunt force trauma. Would her neck be obviously bruised over 3wks later when she was found?

definitely not stating I don’t believe them. I’m just surprised that they were so sure in the beginning on manner of death and am curious how much they could tell about it without an autopsy yet. Normally they don’t come right out and immediately give manner of death.

MOO

My guess is that she had a fractured/broken hyoid bone. It’s a bone in the throat that is broken in about 50% of strangulation deaths, but is extremely unlikely to be broken if there’s any OTHER cause of death. So, since they could tell from the scene of the crime that she didn’t hang herself, (my assumption), that meant homicide. (I think they didn’t release that the manner of her death was homicide until they’d done a preliminary autopsy, at least.)

I feel so furious!

MOO

 

[Periwinkl3]

This is a terrific resource out of the California District Attorneys Association:

https://evawintl.org/wp-content/uploads/California-Strangulation-Manual_web3.pdf

It's very long, so I've been skimming it--the last 2 paragraphs on p. 33 alone made me cry.

 

[epiphany]

CNN's Wolf Blitzer just had on a former Deputy Chief of Homicide for Bklyn DA office (now CNN Legal Analyst) who when asked about the manual strangulation/throttling responded by saying that the reference to throttling strangulation was interesting bc it is generally used to describe choking someone to death, but often using some kind of instrument to apply pressure to the throat.

No link bc it was Live

 

[Speculaytor]

WTH????

Dog The Bounty Hunter Calls Brian Laundrie ‘A Gentleman’ And Says He Killed Gabby Petito While Calming Her Down (msn.com)

Snip

“I was told by a very close source that he was a gentleman,” he told The Sun as he recounted some of the ideas in his head about how Laundrie may have reacted after killing Petito.

WTH is right?? So weird to say he killed her while calming her down. My word, who needed to be calmed down? I would say the one doing the killing does/did.

 

[kittythehare]

Ooooh my gosh. I have no words (suitable for this forum). Go home Dog. :'( MOO

I'd say it's purely tactical... he thinks if BL believes DTBH thinks he's a nice guy and possibly innocent he will approach Dog..
He's casting bait, no more, no less, I imagine.

 

[Barbie619]

Just throwing this out there- also we don't know if he had help driving. Someone could have flown out and met up with him and they took turns driving. That wouldn't be smart, as the person helping to drive would become part of this case, but it's not impossible. IMO.

I have this feeling that LE/FBI knows exactly who was driving that van from WY to FL. If BL was using Gabby's debit card for gas and food, there's a paper trail and video of whoever was in that van and we just don't know yet.

JMO

 

[Bertha96]

Ooooh my gosh. I have no words (suitable for this forum). Go home Dog. :'( MOO

It might just be DTBH's strategy. Trying to say hey, I don't think you're a bad person ,accidents happen. LE takes that approach a lot when they are interviewing someone hoping for a confession. IMO.

 

[samanthadaniels1995]

Very accurate too. I've taken many trips out West but half the distance of BL's drive and it's almost exactly the same numbers. I stopped for gas 4 times only because I needed a little more than 1/2 tank so I would just stop and fill it all the way.

I too believe he left pretty quickly after killing her and he would seriously be cutting it close upon arrival in North Port. Driving straight through for 35/36 hours is extremely dangerous, just as much as a drunk driver, he would have needed stop to rest time added in to drive safely without drawing attention to himself. JMO

If you had just killed, with rage, someone you intimately know as family, would you not be running on a high level of adrenaline or something ? Doctors performing training in hospital frequently stayed up 24+ hrs. Normal hrs + on call hrs. It would be a shock, a period of unbelievable grief and dream like existence. This stage of grief is referred to as the first stage, Denial. Every animal on earth goes through these stages supposedly. So, until he reaches home he may be able to make a trip like that quickly.

 

[Jurisprudence]

There campsite was in BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST....it is not a National Park...for clarification. I don't know if that makes a difference regarding who's in charge or not.

Bridger-Teton National Forest - Dispersed Camping Areas (Undeveloped Campground)

(US Dept Agriculture/ Forest Services)

Still have to get to the 2nd prong though which is was she killed there, or moved there (from state land).

 

[Bertha96]

I have this feeling that LE/FBI knows exactly who was driving that van from WY to FL. If BL was using Gabby's debit card for gas and food, there's a paper trail and video of whoever was in that van and we just don't know yet.

JMO

Oh yeah, with cameras everywhere, they definitely do. They aren't going to release that information to the public while he's on the run. IMO.

 

[SandSage]

I'd say it's purely tactical... he thinks if BL believes DTBH thinks he's a nice guy and possibly innocent he will approach Dog..
He's casting bait, no more, no less, I imagine.

I hope you're right because that was too much.

 

[MassGuy]

Gabby Petito autopsy: Expert weigh in after coroner's 'manual strangulation' ruling

<Snip>


Dr. Cyril Wecht has been involved in some of the country’s most high-profile death investigations, including those involving President John F. Kennedy and JonBenét Ramsey. He spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, immediately following Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue’s press conference and the office’s subsequent announcement that Petito died from "death by manual strangulation/throttling."

Sign of manual strangulation, compared to ligature strangulation, would typically still be detected on a body that had been exposed to the elements for so long, Wecht said Tuesday when reached by phone. Wecht spoke to Fox before the Teton County Coroner’s office released the official cause of death determination document, and was predicting at the time that Petito, 22, had died from manual strangulation.

"Manual strangulation produces more anatomical injuries than ligature ... you can strangle someone with the ligature without breaking anything underneath," Wecht said. "Ligature, he would not have been able to make that determination after three or four weeks because the soft tissues would have been decomposed and shrunken, dehydrated and the ligature, if there was one, might or might not have still been in place."

Wecht added that there would have had to be "anatomical defects of one or more fractures to the structures in the neck."

<Snip>

"They brought in experts, or the FBI did. Anthropology and radiology and entomology and toxicology, as well as, of course, the forensic pathology."

Speaking generally, Wecht said some signs that typically point to strangulation include fractures or defects of the hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage, and, in men, the Adam’s apple, among other structures in the neck.

He added that entomology, toxicology have "nothing to do with strangulation."

 

[whiterhino]

MOO

My guess is that she had a fractured/broken hyoid bone. It’s a bone in the throat that is broken in about 50% of strangulation deaths, but is extremely unlikely to be broken if there’s any OTHER cause of death. So, since they could tell from the scene of the crime that she didn’t hang herself, (my assumption), that meant homicide. (I think they didn’t release that the manner of her death was homicide until they’d done a preliminary autopsy, at least.)

I feel so furious!

MOO

There could also have been evidence of cervical spine damage (broken neck essentially). This might have been more apparent upon LE attending the scene, even without conducting a formal examination.

 

[kath4557]

yes, I think the hard part for me to swallow overall is unless you choke someone from behind, you are looking in their eyes as they die. Takes quite a while to do that.

Yes that upsets me so… she looked into the eyes of her killer, her killer whom she believed loved her

 

[Mom24]

Out of curiosity, how do charges work in regards to things like credit card fraud? Is it just one blanket charge, or is it a separate offense for each individual use of a card? For instance, if Brian got gas and then used the card at a drive thru McDonalds is that one charge or two separate charges?

 

[ZoriahNZ]

DTBH is definitely using a strategy to get BL to bond with him, to see him as a way out of this mess. If it works, good on him. JMO

 

[SouthAussie]

CNN's Wolf Blitzer just had on a former Deputy Chief of Homicide for Bklyn DA office (now CNN Legal Analyst) who when asked about the manual strangulation/throttling responded by saying that the reference to throttling strangulation was interesting bc it is generally used to describe choking someone to death, but often using some kind of instrument to apply pressure to the throat.

No link bc it was Live

Which could account for the Coroner refusing to state if there was any implement used in the strangulation.
He might not have wanted to say what the implement could have been (if there was one) as any potential implement might be something that is a "hold back item" in the investigation.

 

[builder]

"Jurisprudence,Bridger-Teton National Forest - Dispersed Camping Areas (Undeveloped Campground
yes thats the one. I am sorry I should have attached the link. I am not even sure if I am replying to you correctly..sorry

 

[rleigh123]

The Laundries only did the right thing - if the right thing was protecting themselves and BL. They did nothing right on behalf of the Petito family or Gabby.

As the saying goes, “the world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

BBM
IMO

Yes yes and yes.

We often see things change when there's enough public outrage. And more often than that, I'm surprised at things that don't elicit public outrage. It's my hope that Gabby's case will create movement and education among the public the way Nicole Brown Simpson's did.
MOO
Something else that saying brings to mind: too often we see cases where violent criminals are given light sentences and/or let out and go on to commit more violent crimes. These are people who've already shown us they're monsters. It's the prosecutors, judges, and parole boards who are supposed to represent and protect us, "the people."

MOO

 

[PezCandy]

I just read somewhere recently that the message was sent in the morning (7am, but it didn't specify whether this was MDT or EDT). I'll see if I can dig up a source, but it made me think that BL had possibly had control over GP's phone for some time before her murder--in fact, quite possibly before Moab, as he mentions in the police cam video that he has it "in a spot" in the van, which struck me as odd, as if he'd had it hidden away somewhere.

Officer 2: (41:49)
She is. She’d like her phone. If you know-

Brian Laundrie: (41:49)
Yeah.

Officer 2: (42:00)
… happen to know where it is?

Brian Laundrie: (42:00)
Yeah. Yeah, I’ll go-

Officer 2: (42:03)
[inaudible 00:42:03] where is it?

Officer Robbins: (42:03)
Yeah, just hang with us. Go ahead and tell her.

Officer 2: (42:05)
Yeah. Go ahead and tell me, if you don’t mind [inaudible 00:42:05].

Brian Laundrie: (42:05)
I can grab it, just because it’s like… it’s in a spot.
​

MOO.

Did anyone notice if an officer went with him to retrieve it? Or ask why he was holding it from her?