Gabby Petito died by strangulation, coroner says
CBSN
Gabby Petito died by strangulation, a Wyoming coroner announced Tuesday. The grim details come as authorities continue to search for her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, who was traveling with her before her death.
Dr. Brent Blue, the Teton County coroner, said the manner of death is still considered a homicide, backing initial autopsy results that were released last month. Blue did not comment on who may be responsible for her death and said he could not comment on how his team determined she died by strangulation.
The 22-year-old was reported missing and later found dead after she and Laundrie embarked on a cross-country road trip earlier this summer. Laundrie returned to Florida on September 1 without Petito, 10 days before her mother reported her missing.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.
The knock at the door came at nighttime on Mother's Day 2008 in Oregon, where Jessica Ellis' parents lived. It was around 9:20 p.m. and his wife, Linda, was already in bed; her father Steve Ellis told CBS News, that he thought someone let their animals out — but two soldiers in Class A uniforms were standing at the door.