Gabby Petito autopsy: Experts weigh in after coroner's 'manual strangulation' ruling
updated
Dr. Cyril Wecht spoke to Fox before the Teton County Coroner’s office
released the official cause of death determination document, and was
predicting at the time that Petito, 22, had died from
manual strangulation.
Wecht, who said he has not seen the autopsy report,
was critical of the lack of answers Blue was able to provide,
but said investigators did "all the things that were necessary."
"They brought in experts, or the FBI did.
Anthropology and radiology and entomology and toxicology, as well as, of course, the forensic pathology."
He added that entomology, toxicology have "nothing to do with strangulation."
…
Dr. Michael Baden told Fox News Digital the FBI’s decision to withhold Petito’s remains "very unusual."
"In 2021," said Baden, a Fox News contributor, "where anything of value can be document[ed], retained, tested on day one or two or three, there's no reason to keep the whole body from the family."
When reached by phone on Tuesday, he predicted that the coroner and law enforcement investigating the case "knew on day one when the autopsy was done that this was a strangulation and a homicide."
He added: "
There was no reason that the body is still there."
Baden went on to say that while investigators might have been gathering additional information, "all that other information has more to do with who done it than what the cause of death was."
Baden said an
issue that could potentially arise is that analysis of DNA likely "isn’t going to help here unless they found someone else’s DNA."
….
During his afternoon press conference, Blue confirmed that a toxicology report had been completed, but would not discuss the results. He also said Petito was not pregnant, but would not say whether her body had been moved. He also would not discuss at the time whether the strangulation was manual or involved a ligature.
Blue pointed to the ongoing investigation as preventing him from sharing much more information other than the cause and manner of death.