Blogger Gabby Petito was strangled to death - coroner

A 22-year-old "van life" blogger who went missing on a road trip with her fiancé was strangled to death, a Wyoming coroner has ruled.

Gabby Petito had been dead for several weeks when her body was found in September in a national park the couple had visited, coroner Brent Blue said.

Petito's fiancé Brian Laundrie is a person of interest in the case but has been missing since mid-September.

The plight of the travel influencer captured global attention.

It also triggered a debate over the amount of attention accorded to missing white women.

Dr Blue told reporters in a news conference that Ms Petito's body was found in a campsite with signs of strangulation. He estimated that she had been in the wilderness for three to four weeks before she was discovered.

He would not confirm the specifics, or if an item was used to kill her.

He added that he could not disclose details of her toxicology report, but did say that she was not pregnant at the time of her death.

The ruling on her cause of death follows an initial post-mortem in September. He had previously called the death a homicide, which means it had been caused by another person.

Ms Petito's body is in the local mortuary, Dr Blue said, and officials are in contact with her family about transferring her remains to them.

"Unfortunately, this is only one of many deaths around the country of people who are involved in domestic violence and it's unfortunate that these other deaths do not get as much coverage as this one," Dr Blue added.

He said the town was experiencing a "media circus". The case has also captivated amateur detectives, from TikTok sleuths to TV personalities like Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman.

In July, Ms Petito set off on a road trip from her hometown in Long Island, New York, with Mr Laundrie.

The pair had been documenting their nomadic "van life" trip through national parks in the American West on social media.

The couple had been travelling for several weeks before Mr Laundrie returned home to Florida alone with their white van on 1 September. He did not contact police or the Petito family on his return.

Ms Petito's family reported her missing on 11 September.

Mr Laundrie, currently the only person of interest in this case, remains missing. His family say he left for a hike on 14 September and never came back.

Police and FBI teams are scouring the Carlton Reserve, a 24,000-acre county park in Florida's Sarasota County with police dogs, drones, and all-terrain vehicles.

The FBI has issued a federal arrest warrant, charging him with fraudulently using a debit card after Ms Petito's death.

He has not been charged with crimes relating to Ms Petito's killing.