The tragic epilogue is confirmed.

The body found Sunday in a Wyoming national park is that of Gabby Petito, the young hiker whose disappearance has moved America - and beyond - for the past ten days.

The preliminary autopsy report confirmed his identity, the FBI said on Tuesday.

And according to the medical examiner, she was the victim of a "homicide".

Not found since Friday, her fiancé Brian Laundrie, with whom she was on a long summer road trip across the country, is more than ever wanted by the Florida authorities.

If the medical examiner has established that the circumstances of death were indeed homicide, the cause of death will not be announced until after the publication of the full autopsy report, in the coming weeks.

Manhunt in a crocodile infested area

Brian Laundrie is a "person of interest" at this point, according to the FBI, as he is arguably the last to see Gabby Petito alive.

But he is not, for now, considered a suspect, for a reason the authorities have not explained.

The 23-year-old young man, who returned alone on September 1, driving the van that the couple were driving in the great American West, was walled in silence.

On the advice of his lawyer, he refused to voluntarily answer questions from investigators.

Last Friday, his family said they did not know his whereabouts.

He left, according to his parents, for the Carlton reserve, a 100 km² swampy area in western Florida.

North Port Police have launched a massive manhunt complicated by dense vegetation and the presence of snakes and alligators.

Images show the swampy, heavily wooded conditions in parts of the Carlton Reserve in North Port, where law enforcement on the ground and in the air have resumed their search for Brian Laundrie.

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- Fox News (@FoxNews) September 21, 2021

An altercation that challenges

Since the media explosion of the case, each twist has been analyzed by thousands of Internet users converted into apprentice detectives scrutinizing any clues left in the young woman's posts on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

The authorities, for their part, are particularly interested in an incident that occurred on August 12.

Utah police are intervening in what appears to be a marital dispute.

Gabby Petito, in tears, implies that the argument is her fault, and her companion, a scratched face, claims that she hit him with her phone.

But the couple claims to be very much in love and refuses to file a complaint.

The police note in their report that the young woman is "erratic and very emotional".

But in the call to the police, a witness to the dispute had claimed to have seen the young man "slap" his companion.

An element that seems crucial today, with a country that has only one question: where is Brian Laundrie?

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  • Disappearance

  • Homicide

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