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Petito family's lawyer confirms body found in Wyoming has been identified as Gabby Petito

Gabby Petito has been missing for nearly three weeks.
Gabby Petito speaks to the camera in her only YouTube upload. YouTube/Nomadic Statik
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The body found in a Wyoming national forest has been confirmed to be Gabby Petito's, the family's lawyer told Insider on Tuesday.

The Teton County Coroner's Office performed an autopsy on the body Tuesday. 

The attorney for Petito's family, Richard Stafford, told Insider in a text message that the remains — found near the border of Grand Teton National Park — belonged to Petito.

The FBI's Denver office later confirmed on Twitter that the body found in Wyoming belonged to the missing 22-year-old woman and said that the coroner's "initial determination for the manner of death is homicide."

"The cause of death remains pending final autopsy results," the FBI said.

Petito's remains were discovered in a remote campsite in Bridger-Teton National Forest on Sunday. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Stafford thanked reporters "for giving the Petito and Schmidt family time to grieve."

"We will be making a statement when Gabby is home," Stafford said.

The news comes as authorities, including the FBI, continue searching a vast nature preserve in Florida for Petito's fiancé, Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the case whose family reported him missing to police on Friday. 

Authorities have for days searched the sprawling Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County where Laundrie's parents said the 23-year-old North Port, Florida, man went for a hike a week ago and never returned, police said.

Earlier Tuesday, Florida police said for the first time that the Petito case was now officially a "criminal investigation."

"This is an FBI-led criminal investigation and North Port Police are assisting our federal partner in any way we can to bring this investigation to a close," Josh Taylor, a spokesperson for Florida's North Port Police Department, said in a statement. 

On Monday, the FBI raided the North Port home where Laundrie and Petito lived with Laundrie's parents.

Petito was reported missing by her family in New York on September 11, 10 days after Laundrie returned home from a cross-country road trip out West in the van the couple had been driving in — but without Petito. 

After Laundrie returned, he quickly retained a lawyer and refused to speak with authorities about the case, which has gripped the nation. 

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Natalie Musumeci
Natalie is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Business News team covering the AI and data center boom.She was previously on BI's Legal Affairs team, where she handled major cases coming out of state and federal court, as well as bankruptcy. Her coverage often focused on stories at the intersection of law, business, politics, and technology. Natalie has covered Donald Trump’s criminal and civil cases, the wave of lawsuits against the second Trump administration, the indictment and criminal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the legal battles facing Elon Musk and his companies. Natalie came to Business Insider in June 2021 as a breaking news reporter, focusing on the most interesting angles on the day's trending news. Natalie largely drove BI’s coverage around the fatal “Rust” shooting involving Alec Baldwin and the disappearance and murder of Gabby Petito.Prior to joining BI, Natalie worked for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and The Brooklyn Paper. She has an extensive background covering crime and courts. During her more than 12-year journalism career, she did a stint covering the police beat out of the New York Police Department's headquarters. Natalie, a Brooklyn native, graduated from Brooklyn College in 2012 with a degree in journalism.