NORTH PORT — We’re hearing from people in North Port reacting to the news that Gabby Petito died from strangulation.
Some of them say this reinforces their belief that Brian Laundrie was involved in her death.
We met Linda Angelino and her friend next to a memorial for Gabby Petito outside the Laundrie's North Port home. She said she traveled from Venice to see it because she shares a bond with Petito’s parents.
"I lost a son at nine years old from a, from a sickness, and it’s, you cannot imagine the loss in your life when you lose a child," said Angelino.
That loss was set in stone Tuesday when the Teton County Coroner read out the official autopsy report.
"We hereby find the cause and manner of death to be, the cause death by strangulation and manner is homicide. Our initial determination is that the body was in the wilderness for three to four weeks," said Dr. Brent Blue.
Petito's body was found on September 19th, so that means her time of death was sometime between August 23rd and August 30th, while she was still traveling in Wyoming with Brian Laundrie.
Angelino said the report convinced her of Laundrie’s guilt.
"The circumstantial evidence is probably the most I’ve ever seen in my life. I think there should be a warrant out for his arrest for murder," said Angelino.
But the only warrant out for Laundrie’s arrest so far is for using an unauthorized debit card. Laundrie is only a "person of interest" in Petito’s death.
The Laundrie family attorney, Steven Bertolino, released a statement Tuesday night, saying in part "Brian is only considered a person of interest in relation to Gabby Petito’s demise. At this time Brian is still missing and when he is located we will address the pending fraud charge against him.”
Angelino said she hopes the search for Laundrie comes to an end soon.
"People want to see justice. I think once he’s caught and he goes to trial, then life will go on for everybody, but I think nobody has closure," said Angelino.
There were several questions that the Coroner told news outlets he simply couldn’t answer, like the state of the body when it was found, or the whether the manner of death was accidental or intentional. Those are questions Dr. Blue said the FBI will have to answer once it has wrapped up its investigation.
