JACKSON, Wyo. — Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue spoke with Anderson Cooper about the recently released autopsy results of Gabby Petito on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, on Oct. 12.
On Oct. 12 Blue held a virtual press conference at 12:30 p.m., sharing the cause of death verdict. He had previously released the manner of death as a homicide.
Blue revealed more details about the autopsy to Cooper during their nearly 8-minute interview.
“According to your report, Gabby Petito’s cause of death was manual strangulation/throttling. What exactly does that mean, does that mean that somebody used their hands or some sort of object?” Cooper asked.
“Throttling means that someone was strangled by human force, there was no mechanical force involved.”
“This was strangling by a human being,” Blue said.
Cooper also asked Blue about a comment he made following a question from local reporter Will Walkey from 89.1/KHOL. Walkey asked about the attention this case drew compared to other missing person cases.
This is only one of many deaths from around the country of people who are involved in domestic violence, it is unfortunate that these other deaths do not get as much coverage.” Blue said.
“Your statement though also suggests, I don’t know if that’s intentional or not, that you determined that Gabby Petito’s death was the result of domestic violence. Was that an assumption or is that something that you are saying based on something that you learned?” Cooper asked.
“That’s an assumption, that’s strictly an assumption,” Blue said.
Randi Kaye, investigative reporter for Anderson Cooper 360 asked Blue about the timeline, specifically about a text Gabby Petito’s mom received on Aug. 30.
“Can you say definitively that Gabby Petito could not have sent that text on Aug. 30th?” Kaye asked.
“No I can’t, when we talk about a timeline of death, this far out from a death that timeline could be plus or minus a week at a minimum and that is because of different weather conditions or locations,” Blue said. “From an autopsy point of view, it’s a very rough estimate.”
To read Buckrail’s previous coverage of this case click here.
