Though authorities have not explicitly connected Laundrie to Petito’s death, they have said he was among the last people to see her alive. “Two people went on a trip, and one person returned,” North Port Police chief Todd Garrison said in September.
Crime scenes will be critical in investigation
Among the most important components in an investigation like this are the crime scenes, said Paul Belli, a retired lieutenant of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and president of the International Homicide Investigators Association.
Teton County, Wyoming, Coroner Dr. Brent Blue said Petito died by manual strangulation/throttling, adding that her body had likely been outside in the wilderness for about three to four weeks before being found.
“Throttling means that someone was strangled by human force. There was no mechanical force involved,” Blue told CNN.
There could be clues as to what happened — and who did it — that investigators may be able to collect from a crime scene, Belli said, including fingerprints, depending on the condition of the human remains. What’s difficult in cases like these is that unlike killings that are committed by strangers of the victims, when the person of interest is someone the victim was involved with, finding their DNA on a victim’s body is to be expected.
“You would expect DNA on either one of them from the other,” Belli said. “But I mean, if there’s DNA maybe where it shouldn’t be, that could be kind of a clue as to what may have occurred.”
“So there are ways to absolutely, at least get you to a point where you’re like, ‘OK, this definitely makes sense, this is the person who did this crime,'” he added.
The type of crime also can help offer hints, said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani. Killings involving manual strangulation can often indicate “an emotional element,” Rahmani said.
Some key items could provide answers
Investigators last week recovered personal items such as a backpack and notebook along with Laundrie’s remains….
Source : cnn
