TAMPA BAY (WFTS) — An official autopsy report conducted by a Florida medical examiner has determined that Brian Laundrie died by a suicide caused by a gunshot wound to the head.
The report, conducted by District 12 deputy chief medical examiner Dr. Wilson Broussard, determined that Laundrie shot himself in the head with a handgun.
FILE – This Aug. 12, 2021, file photo from video provided by the Moab, Utah, Police Department shows Brian Laundrie talking to a police officer after police pulled over the van he was traveling in with his girlfriend, Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, near the entrance to Arches National Park in Utah. (The Moab Police Department via AP, File)
The report confirms the account made by attorneys representing Laundrie’s family in the days following the discovery of his remains.
Laundrie was a person of interest in the disappearance and death of his fiancee, Gabby Petito. Petito was a travel blogger who went missing over the summer amid a cross-country road trip with Laundrie.
Laundrie returned to Florida from the road trip in September without Petito. In the days that followed, Laundrie and his family chose not to speak to investigators as a nationwide search for Petito took place.
Laundrie went missing on Sept. 17. Petito’s remains were found in Wyoming just days later, on Sept. 19. She was later determined to have died by strangulation.
Laundrie’s remains were found in late October. The FBI has since said that a diary recovered at the scene indicates contains a passage in which Laundrie admitted to killing Petito.
