The search for the friend of the killed 22-year-old Gabby Petito is complete: body parts found in the US state of Florida have been identified as his human remains. This was determined with the help of a dental examination, the FBI said on Thursday in Denver. The 23-year-old was not explicitly considered a suspect in the Petito case, but the police classified him as a person relevant to the investigation.
His death is likely to further complicate the investigation of the killing of Petitos, who had been strangled. The young man’s remains were found on Wednesday after a long search in the Carlton Nature Reserve in an area that until recently had been under water. Investigators also found a laptop and a backpack that belonged to the 23-year-old.
Petito had not returned from a trip to the United States with her boyfriend that summer. The case is attracting attention both in the US and internationally – not least because the Florida couple shared numerous pictures and videos from their trip on social networks. After an intensive search, Petito’s body was finally found in September in the state of Wyoming. The couple had traveled there as part of their USA road trip. According to the coroner, the young woman was strangled. Her body was found in the vicinity of the Grand Teton National Park for three to four weeks before it was found.
Petito’s boyfriend had returned from traveling with the 22-year-old in September alone. A short time later, his parents reported him missing. The police have been looking for the man since then. The authorities issued an arrest warrant against him for bank fraud. A court document said he had withdrawn around $ 1,000 with an ATM card. It remained unclear who owned the card.
Petito and her boyfriend had posted pictures and videos from their converted van during their trip. The two always looked happy after that. However, the image taken by a police officer’s body camera left a completely different impression than these images. Police were called to the couple’s vehicle in mid-August about a possible domestic violence case. Media reported that a caller reported to the police that a man had hit a woman. On the video itself you can see a dissolved and crying Petito. In it, she claims to have slapped her boyfriend.