JACKSON, Wyo. (ABC4) – In Jackson, Wyoming, authorities are awaiting the results of an autopsy on a body found near a campground in Grand Teton National Park. Officials were searching the park for missing Gabby Petito. They say the body found matches the description of Petito.
As ABC4’s Marcos Ortiz reports, one chapter of the investigation was closed at around 6 p.m. Monday night in Jackson as authorities cleared a possible crime scene. That scene is the campsite where authorities located the body on Sunday.
Ortiz says a makeshift cross made with river rocks from the slowly disappearing Spread Creek could be seen in the area authorities had blocked off. It is unknown who put the memorial there.
After spending hours searching, authorities left the Spread Creek area Monday afternoon. Ortiz spoke with a former NCIS forensics investigator who says she knows what authorities were searching for.
“They’re going to be looking for any evidence to be able to tie if it is, in fact, a homicide,” Amie Houghton tells Ortiz. “Any evidence that they can look to tie a suspect to that particular area where the remains were found and in connection with Gabby’s remains if those are in fact hers.”
Those remains are now sitting with the Teton County Coroner’s office in Jackson, Wyoming. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.
Brian Laundrie, Petito’s fiance, may be the only one who knows what happened to Petito. He is a person of interest in her case and authorities in Florida are currently searching for him. The possibility of violence between the couple reared its ugly head in Moab last month.
In recently released 911 audio, you can hear a witness paint a different picture than what Moab Police determined after speaking with Petito and Laundrie outside Arches National Park. The witness is heard tell dispatch he saw Laundrie slapping Petito. No charges were filed in this incident.
For continuing coverage of the Petito case, including updates on the scheduled autopsy and the search for Laundrie, stick with ABC4 on-air and online.
