Moab City Police Department
- Brian Laundrie died by suicide, a medical examiner said on Tuesday.
- Laundrie was the sole person wanted in connection with the killing of his fiancée, Gabby Petito.
- His cause of death was revealed a month after the 23-year-old's remains were found.
Brian Laundrie — who was the sole person wanted in connection with the killing and disappearance of his fiancée, Gabby Petito — died by suicide, a Florida medical examiner said on Tuesday.
Steven Bertolino, an attorney for the Laundrie family, told Insider that the 23-year-old's parents, Chris and Roberta, were informed of the medical examiner's findings.
"Chris and Roberta are still mourning the loss of their son and are hopeful that these findings bring closure to both families," Bertolino said.
Laundrie's skeletal remains were discovered on October 20 near his backpack at Florida's vast Carlton Reserve in an area that had previously been underwater, the FBI said at the time.
The District 12 Medical Examiner's Office in Sarasota determined Laundrie's cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was suicide.
Laundrie's parents turned guns over to law enforcement but one was missing
His parents had told authorities their son had gone for a hike there on September 13 and never returned to their North Port home.
Laundrie was officially reported missing by his parents on September 17.
And after that the parents surrendered five or six guns that they had in their home to law enforcement, except for one that was missing, Bertolino told Insider on Tuesday.
It is unclear if that missing gun was the one Laundrie used to kill himself.
A day after Laundrie's remains were found in the wildlife preserve, the FBI revealed that a comparison of dental records confirmed they were his.
According to the medical examiner's office, DNA analysis also confirmed the remains were Laundrie's.
Courtesy of the Schmidt and Petito family
The North Port Police spokesperson Josh Taylor previously told Insider that the remains found at the reserve, which connects to the 160-acre Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, consisted of "bones."
Laundrie's remains were found at a location his parents had "advised" authorities to search for him, Bertolino previously told Insider.
The initial autopsy came back "inconclusive," and Laundrie's remains were sent to a forensic anthropologist to be analyzed, Bertolino previously said.
A US district court issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie on a charge related to bank card fraud in September, and he was the subject of a massive FBI-led manhunt before his remains were discovered.
Laundrie disappeared nearly two weeks after he returned home from a joint cross-country road trip without Petito on September 1.
Petito's body was discovered at a remote campsite in Wyoming on September 19. A coroner later determined her manner of death was homicide and the cause was manual strangulation.
Richard Stafford, an attorney for Petito's family, said in a statement Tuesday that the family was "aware of the circumstances surrounding the suicide of the sole suspect in Gabby's murder."
The family, Stafford said, "will not be making a statement at this time due to the request of the United States Attorney's Office and the Teton County Prosecutor's Office."
The lawyer added, "The family was asked to not make any comments and let the FBI continue their investigation."
The family will make a statement once the United State Attorney's Office makes a determination "on whether any additional individuals will be charged," Stafford said.
Brian Laundrie died by suicide, medical examiner rules
Source: Kalayaan News
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