22-year-olds killed
FBI confirms: Human remains discovered in Florida are from Gabby Petito’s friend
22-year-old Gabby Petito disappeared while traveling across the country with her fiancé in a converted motorhome. Her body was later found – and now that of her boyfriend as well
Who Strangled Gabby Petito? And why? Finding an answer to these questions must have become even more difficult. Petito’s 23-year-old friend can no longer question the investigators.
Brian Laundrie, the fiancé of Gabby Petito who was killed on a US road trip, is also dead. The US authorities assigned human remains found in Florida to the 23-year-old, as the FBI said on Thursday on Twitter. The result was a comparison of dental documents. The investigators initially did not provide any further information on the cause of death.
The Petito case is causing a stir internationally
The Petito case had kept the United States in suspense for weeks and also attracted international media interest. The couple had taken a road trip across the United States. Petito disappeared without a trace. Her body was finally discovered after an intensive search in mid-September in Grand Teton National Park in the state of Wyoming in the western United States. She was strangled, according to forensic medicine.
Laundrie had initially returned alone from the trip to Florida in early September, where he lived with Petito. When Petito’s parents reported their daughter missing, the 23-year-old initially refused to testify and eventually disappeared. He was subsequently wanted by an arrest warrant – initially not for Petito’s death, but for credit card fraud after the death of his fiancée.
On Wednesday, the FBI announced that human remains and personal belongings of Laundrie had been found in a nature reserve. The young man lived in the nearby town of North Port in southwest Florida. According to investigators, the human remains were found in a swampy area of the reserve that is home to alligators, snakes, coyotes and other wildlife.
Forensic doctor criticizes “media circus”
Petito’s death caused so much attention because the couple shared their experiences during the adventure originally planned for four months on the online services Instagram and Youtube. The photos showed a smiling couple and impressive landscapes.
However, there were apparently arguments between Petito and Laundrie during the trip. Police were called in an incident in Utah state in August. Petito can be seen crying on a police officer’s body camera saying that she hit her fiancé and he grabbed her.
The interest in the case took on bizarre traits: Countless Internet users took part in the search for Petito in the online networks, and a bounty hunter known from a reality TV show joined the search for her fiancé.
Critics questioned whether the case is getting so much attention because Petito is white. They pointed out that the disappearance of young African Americans or Latinos is much less reported.
The coroner who autopsied Petito’s body recently criticized a “media circus”. Unfortunately, Petito is just one of many domestic violence victims, he said. Most of these cases are reported significantly less, and that is “regrettable”.