Gabby Petito: Family Retrieving Body After Cause Of Death Revealed

Gabby Petito’s family is finally getting to pick her body up from the coroner's office in Wyoming where she was found. The late 22-year-old’s mom, dad, and stepfather will retrieve her body and plan on having her cremated and then return to New York with her ashes.

The family has indicated that they will not be speaking to the public until after they have secured their daughter’s remains and returned her home. However, Petito’s mother, Nicole Schmidt did share that she was disappointed in the suspect Brain Laundrie’s family lawyer calling her daughter’s death a “tragedy” and brushing it off in a sense.

According to sources, upon the family’s return to New York, the authorities will be briefing the family on the next steps in the case that has captivated America.

The case is picking up pace now that the cause of death has been released. Petito’s cause of death was strangulation, specifically, she was manually strangled by someone’s hands. She was dead for about four weeks before her body was found.

The coroner also shared that the crime seemed to be carried out with "a lot of anger". Assuming he can tell by the bruising and positing of her neck. It’s also important to note that Petito’s body was out in the wild for about four weeks so, this could also have an effect on the conditions of her body.

Laundrie was a person of interest from the beginning. Law enforcement has been looking for him since mid-September. At first, they wanted to know if he knew where Petito was. Then when her body was found, they wanted to know what he knew about her last days.

Finally, now that her cause of death has been revealed as strangulation, authorities are pressing even more to find and question Laundrie. He was one of the last people to see Petito alive and there was a domestic violence incident involving the couple while on their cross-country road trip.

They were pulled over in Moab, Utah after someone had reported that they had seen Laundrie hit Petito. When they were pulled over, she was crying and clearly distressed.

Some of Petito’s friends have shared their upset over the cause of death with new organizations. Alyssa Chen spoke with PEOPLE and admitted that the news made her sick to the stomach. “I wonder what was going through her mind, knowing she was probably about to die. She must have been so scared,” Chen continued.

Other friends were not as diplomatic as Chen. “If Brian strangled her, I hope he burns in hell,” said Ben Matula who was friends with both Petito and Laundrie. Overall, just like Petito’s family, her friends just want to know what happened and who did it.

“Whoever did this, whether it's Brian or someone else, needs to pay for what they did. She didn't deserve to die that way.” It has not been revealed when the family will return home with their daughter’s ashes, but it could be as early as this coming weekend.