Gabby Petito was strangled. Experts say such an assault is a red flag for intimate partner homicides

[Jilly_in_VA]

Gabby Petito died from strangulation. And while her case has opened up national conversation about partner abuse, experts hope the tragedy will shine a spotlight on a serious danger: Potential strangulation in domestic violence.

Strangulation is defined as killing someone by squeezing the throat. But a growing number of domestic violence experts believe that the term should be used more loosely to apply to situations where the incident is non-fatal.

"When journalists correctly utilize the term 'strangulation,' they increase the public’s familiarity with a specific form of abuse and acknowledge the severe short and long term consequences of this type of violence," according to a media guide by Jane Doe Inc., The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence.

Assaults that seek to deprive someone of oxygen are more common than most people realize, experts say. A woman who has been assaulted in such a way by a partner has a sevenfold risk of being murdered by that partner, according to Dr. Eve Valera, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School who studies intimate partner violence and brain injury.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/12/gabby-petito-strangled-experts-say-its-common-intimate-partner-violence/8426282002/
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October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT GABBY PETITO.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

1. I cant believe he strangled her in the van and carried her all way out there.

Seems more likely they had argument and he marches out into the wilderness, through rivers and streams, and she follows.

Then the fight reaches the point where he just grabs her and chokes her in a rage.

Realizes what he had done, leaves the van and just starts walking, hitch-hiking till he comes up with a plan what to do next.

Or where her body was found was their actual campsite, nobody ever saw activity around the van itself.

Assuming it was him, "death by manual strangulation", doesnt say who done it in coroners report.

[gldstwmn]

17. I think they were outside the van.

[Patton French]

2. What a scumbag..

..I hope they find him soon.

[malaise]

3. This one only needs a DUH response

It is pellucidly clear who killed that young woman - hope they find her killer alive

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. THIS THREAD IS NOT ABOUT GABBY PETITO

It's about INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE. Please, people, READ THE ARTICLE. It's important. I had a partner try to strangle me once. He stopped when I fought back and ran away. I never saw him after that, maybe because I threatened to call the police. We'd been dating for 6 weeks and he'd never been violent before.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

7. YOU USED HER NAME IN THE HEADLINE TO GET ATTENTION!!! Conversation steering never works, lol

DU is the wild wild west, anything goes

[Jilly_in_VA]

8. That was the header on the article, copied VERBATIM

If you did not bother to read the article, then that's on YOU!

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

9. Did YOU read the article? It was ALL about her death, with many suppositions thrown in

Are they saying they were choking each other for sexual pleasure? Maybe they left that out.

[Jilly_in_VA]

10. Yes, I read the article

It was all about how men strangle women. OFTEN. TOO GODDAM OFTEN. It was not about Gabby Petito. It was about INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE and how often men strangle women and how Gabby was just one of millions. It was not "all about her".

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

14. What if it wasn't domestic violence? What if a stranger killed her?

Sure, her BF is the logical suspect..


BUT what if they argued and she told him she's leaving and for him to fuck off. He storms off on a 2 day hike and comes back. She's gone, the van is there. He says fuck her and goes back to FL thinking maybe she hitched a ride. Meanwhile she was raped and strangled by someone else that was near there.

Her body was basically skeleton, thus the forensic anthropologist, no other DNA would be found.

[Jilly_in_VA]

15. Yeah right

And what if cows had wings? There was already a history of domestic violence from him.

You are just trying to start a fight. I'm done with you. One more silly post and you go on ignore. "Shanti" indeed.

[Demobrat]

19. You can be damn sure that

if they ever catch up with the guy his story will be something like that.

[gldstwmn]

18. But you used her name in the title.

What outcome are you looking for? I don't think anyone here supports domestic violence.
Now if you want to say the body cam video had all the hallmarks of her being a victim of DV then I will certainly agree with you there.
Your abuser left and left you alone but that is the exception and not the rule. It's usually a trap. There may be some value in teaching people what to look for in the behavior of others and possible ways to remove yourself from that situation.

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. I had a friend whose husband tried to kill her by

strangling her. She managed to get away.

He went to prison.

After that she had to be careful that he never located her again. He was even angrier after he got out of prison and was even more dangerous.

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. These guys

and there are so many of them! I know the one who tried to strangle me eventually got married. I wondered if he was violent with his wife. Probably. I think the reason he ran off was that I was kicking him and I nearly got him in the balls. Very close. Also I screamed and as he was running down the stairs one of my neighbors came running. I didn't call the cops but I should have.

[SheltieLover]

11. Toxic masculinity at its worst!

[ShazzieB]

12. I never knew how common this kind of abuse was until I started watching Dr. Phil regularly.

He has done many, many shows on domestic violence, and you wouldn't believe how often this comes up, how many men there are who repeatedly choke their partner until she passes out.

And yes, it's men who usually do this, and it's women who are the typical victims. I'm not saying there aren't cases of this behavior between same sex partners (I'm sure there are), or that there aren't women who abuse men (there are, but very few women are physically capable of overpowering a man in this fashion).

So yes, this is terrifyngly common, and it becomes a habit with certain men, until one day the strangulation goes on just a tiny bit too long and ends up with her dead and him charged with murder.

The article you posted is excellent, and I hope lots of people will read it. Here's another: https://www.strangulationtraininginstitute.com/strangulation-the-red-flag-of-domestic-violence-that-we-never-discuss/

[Jilly_in_VA]

13. Thanks for that

As a survivor of domestic violence, even though mine was long ago, I feel we MUST continue to raise awareness and yell and scream and jump up and down about it. We can't let our sisters continue to suffer.

Also, do you know how many police are killed answering domestic violence calls? That's scary too. It's the kind of call most of them dread going out on. I have a young friend who is married to a cop. She keeps the scanner on when he's on duty and tends to freak when there is one of those calls.

[PoliticAverse]

16. Experts also say being shot, stabbed, bludgened with a hammer and being hit with a fist...

are red flags as well.

In summary - any type of violence is a red flag for partner homicide.