The Gabby Petito case will take another turn Tuesday as authorities will reveal new details about the young woman’s autopsy report.
Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue will give new details on what happened to Petito. He will speak at a press conference at 12:30 p.m. Mountain time (2:30 pm EDT) about Petito’s autopsy report, according to CNN. Blue will have a question-and-answer session after the press conference.
Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, went on a cross-country road trip this summer. But only Laundrie returned home to North Port, Florida, on Sept. 1. Ten days later, the Petito family reported Gabby Petito missing.
Petito’s body was found on Sunday, Sept. 19, outside of a Wyoming national park. Blue confirmed that the remains were Petito, who has born March 19, 1999. He said she had died by homicide but the cause of death was not confirmed.
“Coroner Blue’s initial determination for the manner of death is homicide. The cause of death remains pending final autopsy results,” the FBI said in a tweet.
Michael Schneider, an FBI Denver special agent, released a statement about the finding at the time:
“The FBI’s commitment to justice is at the forefront of each and every investigation,” he said. “The FBI and our partners remain dedicated to ensuring anyone responsible for or complicit in Ms. Petito’s death is held accountable for their actions.”
Priya Banerjee, a forensic pathologist, told Fox News back in September that officials might struggle to release a cause of death, though, because the investigation is still ongoing.
She said telling people Petito died by homicide “tells us that she didn’t die of a natural death,” Banerjee told Fox News. “This was due to someone’s actions taking her life.”
But Banerjee added that it will be hard to tie a perpetrator to the crime because Petito’s body had been left out in harsh conditions.
“That is a challenge, tying the perpetrator to the crime, especially, I want to say, in the setting of decomposition, this was out in the wild, high-temperature fluctuation,” she said.
And, she said, it would be hard to link Laundrie to the case because there will be DNA on her from him since they spent so much time together.
“So that will be a challenge, I think, to tie it all together,” she said.