Composite photo: KSL TV
JACKSON, Wyo. — The FBI confirms remains found in Grand Teton National Park over the weekend are indeed those of Gabby Petito, a missing 22-year-old.
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The preliminary report also determined her death as a homicide but did not specify a cause.
In a series of tweets, the FBI’s Denver office confirmed the remains found Sunday in Teton County, Wyoming along Spread Creek belongs to Petito, last seen in late August.
Gabby Petito disappeared in the midst of a cross-country trip she documented regularly on her social media accounts. She and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, planned stops throughout Utah before heading toward Wyoming. He returned home to Florida on Sept. 1 in the van the two used for the trip; Gabby Petito was reported missing ten days later.
The Wyoming location where searchers found the remains later identified as those of Gabby Petito were in an area where she had planned to camp, according to her profile on the camping app The Dyrt, as reported by COLD podcast host Dave Cawley.
The FBI tweeted a request for anyone who used the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area who may have been in contact with either Petito or Laundrie or saw their vehicle to contact them. They specifically asked anyone in the area between Aug. 27 and Aug. 30 to reach out.
The couple’s stop by Moab police just inside Arches National Park drew national attention in recent days when it became known a 911 caller had alerted police to a potential domestic violence situation.
On the 911 recording, an unidentified caller reports seeing a man, later identified as Laundrie, slap a woman, presumably Petito, in a white van. However, Moab police determined the incident was not a case of domestic violence, recommending the couple spend the night apart to cool off. Gabby Petito stayed in the van; police helped Laundrie find a hotel room for the night.
Investigators ruled out any possible connection between the disappearance of Gabby Petito and the murder of two Moab women in the La Sal mountains last month.
The search for Laundrie continues, with investigators focusing on a heavily-forested nature reserve in Florida.