Gabby Petito was strangled to death, coroner reveals
Gabby Petito was strangled to death, a US coroner has announced, following a post-mortem examination of her body.
Teton County Coroner Dr Brent Blue told a news conference: “In the manner of death in Gabrielle Venora Petito, we find the cause of death the cause is by strangulation and the manner is homicide.”
Ms Petito, 22, who vanished while on a road trip with her boyfriend, was found dead in Wyoming on 19 September – a week after her parents reported her missing – and the case has made headlines across America.
Dr Blue said the level of decomposition of the body suggested she died three to four weeks before her body was discovered.
Brian Laundrie is the prime suspect in Gabby Petito’s death
Ms Petito’s family were notified of the results of the medical examination ahead of the news briefing.
There is a huge effort to track down her travelling partner Brian Laundrie who is considered a person of interest in her disappearance and remains unaccounted for. He has been missing for nearly a month.
Dr Blue said he could not comment on who committed the murder, as this was “up to law enforcement”. It is not yet clear if the new cause of death might lead to additional charges against Mr Laundrie.
The post-mortem took more than three weeks to complete and included specialists and an analysis of toxicology test results, the doctor said.
DNA evidence was taken from Ms Petito’s body but the coroner did not clarify who it belonged to. Dr Blue declined to comment further on the post-mortem, citing Wyoming law that limits what coroners can release.
The couple were visiting national parks in the western US in a Ford transit van and documenting the trip on social media.
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Gabby Petito: ‘He grabbed me with his nail’
Police bodycam showed them being pulled over in Utah in August after they got in an altercation, with the officer separating the couple.
No charges were filed, but police ordered the two to stay in separate lodgings for the night.
Ms Petito’s body was eventually found in an undeveloped camping area surrounded by woodlands and brush, about 30 miles (48km) northeast of Jackson, Wyoming.
TV personalities including Duane Chapman – known as Dog the Bounty Hunter – and America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh have started their own searches for Mr Laundrie.
Earlier this month, police released new bodycam video in which Ms Petito tells officers that, while her boyfriend had hit her, she had hit him first.
The couple were travelling in a white transit van. Pic: North Port Police
The case has led to renewed calls for people to pay greater attention to cases involving missing Indigenous women and other people of colour, with some commentators describing the intense coverage of her disappearance as “missing white woman syndrome.”
Federal officials in Wyoming last month charged Laundrie with unauthorized use of a debit card, claiming he used a Capital One bank card and someone’s personal identification number to make unauthorized withdrawals or charges worth more than $1,000 during the period in which Petito went missing
Millions of Americans are voting in an historic election that could put Donald Trump back into the White House or make Kamala Harris the first woman to become US president.
The two candidates are neck and neck in the polls after bitter campaign that saw two assassination attempts against Republican Mr Trump as well as the shock withdrawal of President Joe Biden.
In around 100 days, Ms Harris has found her feet and mounted a fierce challenge to her opponent.
With just hours left before polls close, the election has come down to the wire and could be decided by a handful of crucial battleground states.
Follow live: Harris makes surprise stop in Washington
Voting on Tuesday appears to be smooth, with only scattered reports of delays from extreme weather, long lines or technical problems.
The FBI reported that there had been “non-credible” bomb threats to several states, some of which it said came from Russian email domains.
Pic: AP
How the vote works
As well as those lining up at polling booths on Tuesday, tens of millions of Americans cast early ballots – voting by post or in person before today.
To become president, the winning candidate needs 270 electoral votes or more, with each state carrying a different number of votes.
If the polls predicting a close race are correct, the election will likely come down to a few battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The first ballots cast on Tuesday mirrored the national divide. Overnight, the six registered voters in the tiny hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, split their votes between the two candidates in voting just past midnight.
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Key issues for American voters
Read more:
An easy guide to the US election
What Trump or Harris victories would mean for UK
Trump or Harris
Former President Mr Trump, 78, voted in Palm Beach, Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago club.
Wearing his trademark red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, he said at the polling station that he was feeling “very confident”.
“I hear we’re doing very well,” he said. “It looks like Republicans have shown up in force.”
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump donor, said he will watch results unfold with the former president.
In the meantime, Ms Harris, the 60-year-old Democratic vice president, did radio interviews in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.
A cat seen at a polling booth in battleground state Pennsylvania. Pic: Reuters
What do the polls say?
Many polls are too tight to call and, with a large margin of error, most experts are refusing to predict the outcome.
Georgia could be among the first battleground to declare, with polls there closing at 7pm local time (midnight UK time). State election officials told Sky News they could have a result as early as 10pm (3am UK time).
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
North Carolina could also give an early indication of how the vote is going.
Even so, it could be several days before the US has a definitive result.
An exit poll by conducted today by Sky News’ sister outlet NBC News and other US outlets suggests that democracy is the top issue on the minds of voters as they cast their ballots.
Some 35% of people said it was their most important issue, closely followed by the economy on 31% and with abortion ranked third at 14%.
Voters are not just selecting a president. A number of seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate are up for grabs. In addition, 10 states will hold abortion-related ballots, half of which would overturn existing restrictions.
Americans are choosing their new president today.
Either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will be the new occupant of the White House in January.
For many people, their vote will make little difference.
The main crunch points are in seven states and one inner state district.
In the following game, you can predict who will win in each swing state.
We will tell you at the end who the new president will be – if you have made correct predictions.
Good luck!
Voters across 50 states are preparing to cast their ballots after a bitterly contested US election campaign, which will see Donald Trump or Kamala Harris become president.
In the last few hours, both candidates have been giving their final pitches. “The momentum is on our side,” Ms Harris told a crowd in Philadelphia that chanted back, “We will win”.
“Tonight, then, we finish as we started: with optimism, with energy, with joy,” she said, while enjoying the support of celebrity endorsements on the day from Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Jon Bon Jovi.
In contrast, Mr Trump ended his campaign in Michigan, repeating key messages about the economy and immigration.
A handful of states will play a crucial role in determining the outcome of the election. Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin hold the keys to the White House.
To become president, the winning candidate needs 270 electoral votes or more, with each state carrying a different number of votes.
But the focus has been on Pennsylvania which carries 19 electoral votes, the most of all the swing states.
It has been a remarkable journey for both candidates – with Mr Trump surviving two assassination attempts and Ms Harris not even originally in the running.
Katy Perry performed in Pittsburgh in support of Kamala Harris. Pic: AP
For more than a year, the 2024 presidential race seemed destined for a rematch between Joe Biden and Mr Trump – but a disastrous TV debate by Mr Biden eventually forced him to withdraw from the ticket.
The Democratic party’s decision to replace Mr Biden with his vice president transformed the race and shifted polls in Ms Harris’s favour. But only just.
Many polls are too tight to call and, with a large margin of error, most experts are refusing to predict the outcome.
Read more:
Overseas ballots face legal challenge
You decide the new president
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Later, attention will turn to those battleground states including Georgia, which is among the first polls to close at 7pm local time (midnight UK time).
State election officials told Sky News they could have a result as early as 10pm (3am UK time).
Even so, it could be several days before the US has a definitive result.
Voters are not just selecting a president. In addition, 10 states will hold abortion-related ballots, half of which would overturn existing restrictions.
Predict who you think will win in each swing state and we’ll tell you who the president will be if you’re right.
Tonight, Sky News will have access to the most comprehensive exit poll and vote-counting results from every state, county and demographic across America through its US-partner network NBC.
You can find out more about Sky News’ coverage here.
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