♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, cause of death. how gabby petito was killed. >> death by strangulation, and manner is homicide. >> new details about the cross-country traveler, her body left in the wyoming wilderness for weeks. suspicion centering on her boyfriend. >> whoever killed gabby literally choked her to death. plus the soul of broadway. the new play, "thoughts of a colored man." >> i can't wait for the day when my skin isn't a novelty and our story isn't synonymous with poverty. >> helping to crash through barriers on the great white way. >> we want every man to understand, their story deserves to be told, and this is their home as well. >> its cast and creators all

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some answers. here's abc's trevor ault. >> gabby petito never goes outside. >> reporter: it's been 3 1/2 weeks since the body of 22-year-old gabby petito was found in wyoming near grand teton national park. with her autopsy now complete, the teton county coroner is finally telling us how she died. >> cause of death, by strangulation. and manner is homicide. >> reporter: the report further detailing it was death by manual strangulation/throttling, meaning she was killed by human force. today's revelations shed more light on the haunting belief that gabby's death was not an accident, drawing focus once again to the only named person of interest in the case, her boyfriend, 23-year-old brian laundrie, who himself has been missing since september 13th. the coroner also revealing a new detail about how long gabby could have been dead.

>> her body was outside in the wilderness for three to four weeks. >> reporter: a massive nationwide search to find brian is still ongoing. and while so far he has not been charged with gabby's death, many question whether that may happen soon. >> i can't make any comment about any suspects, because we are not involved in that part of the investigation. who committed the homicide is really to be determined by law enforcement. >> my sense would be, if they believe that brian killed gabby, they're still looking for those final links of information/evidence that would put him to the scene where she was found. >> reporter: social media lit up in reaction to today's news. many drawing the connection between strangulation and domestic violence. one person writing on twitter, your chances of being killed by your partner skyrocket the minute they choke you. >> i talked to some of the people who found her body, and they said, you know, that she didn't have a lot of bruises, a

lot of marks. that is an indicator of someone that she knew, someone that wants to hurt that person very badly. >> brian's stretching, doing some morning yoga. >> reporter: gabby and brian were part of the van life trend of social influencers, driving across the country documenting their road trip on youtube, tiktok, and instagram. >> we are right outside capitol reef right now in a free dispersed camp spot. >> reporter: they left new york july 2nd, sin filling up their account with pictures and videos of their travels over the following weeks. but behind those picture-perfect images, there was trouble. in this 911 call from august 12th, the passerby in moab, utah, allegedly witnessed the couple having a fight. >> we drove by, a gentleman was slapping the girl. >> he was slapping her? >> yes. then we stopped. they ran up and down the sidewalk. he proceeded to hit her, hopped in the car, and they drove off. >> reporter: officers responded

to that call near arches national park, body camera footage capturing gabby in distress. >> what's going on, how come you're crying? >> we've just been fighting this morning. some personal issues. >> reporter: according to the police report, at one point gabby went to slap brian, he pushed her away, catching her off balance, and she then scratched him in the face. >> sometimes i -- i have ocd, sometimes i get really frustrated. >> reporter: a second angle surfaced later when gabby reveals brian had grabbed her after she slapped him. >> where did he hit you? don't worry, just be honest. >> he like grabbed my face, like this. he didn't like hit me in the face, like he didn't punch me in the face or anything. >> did he slap your face or what? >> like, he grabbed me like with his nail, and i guess that was why -- a cut right hee, i can feel it, i touch it, it burns. >> i didn't get involved until i

saw that video of the stop. >> reporter: john walsh known for "america's most wanted" has been an outspoken voice since brian disappeared. he says gabby's interaction with police deeply concerns him. >> i watched with tears in my eyes. they wrote the report, said he was the victim. police need much more training in domestic abuse issues. >> maybe the cops didn't do everything exactly right, but they were really pretty thorough in their own way as to trying to figure out what exactly happened. and i think they agreed that, do they have really a prosecutable domestic violence case? i think it would be pretty iffy based on what evidence they had between the two of them and their statements given at the time. and so they did the responsible thing, which was separate them for a night. >> reporter: gabby and brian were last seen together august 27th at a restaurant in wyoming. a few days prior, gabby spoke with her mom by phone, telling her they were in wyoming and headed toward yellowstone

national park. >> she sounded good and excited to continue her trip and excited to start her youtube channel. she was -- i don't know. she seemed okay. >> reporter: a week later, september 1st, brian returned to his home in florida with the van, but without gabby. because the couple had been camping in places that often didn't have cell service, it took more than a week before gabby's friends and family to notice that they hadn't heard from her in some time. >> a few days is one thing when you're out camping. but when it starts to become seven, eight, nine, ten days, that's a problem. >> reporter: her parents reported her missing september 11th. her boyfriend never did. a multi-state search soon followed. nearly a week after, as gabby's disappearance drew national

attention, brian disappeared himself. >> his attorney reached out to law enforcement on late friday evening. said the family needed to speak with us, that they were concerned they had not seen brian since tuesday. >> reporter: for nearly a month, investigators have been scouring the carlton reserve, treacherous marshland where brian's family said he'd gone the night they last saw him. brian's sister, cassie, described her last interaction with him in an interview with abc news. it was five days after he returned home without gabby. >> there was no feeling of grand good-bye, there was no nothing. i'm frustrated that, in hindsight, i didn't pick up on anything. it was just a regular visit. >> reporter: on september 19th, gabby's body was found near a campsite along the border of grand teton national park. the hunt for brian laundrie is still ongoing. last week his father, chris,

joined investigators on the ground at the reserve to help the search. still, many across the country are searching too. >> i just motivate my army. here's the way you can turn him in without getting yourself in trouble. >> reporter: john walsh will be appearing in a discovery i.d. special tomorrow night in hopes of helping investigators find brian. >> the public will break this wide open. social media will help. >> reporter: the coroner acknowledging today that gabby's death is one of far too many. >> there are a lot of both men and women who have lost their lives that aren't covered with this kind of media attention. >> reporter: today the laundrie family through their attorney issued a statement saying, gabby petito's death at such a young age is a tragedy, but added, brian is only considered a person of interest to gabby petito's demise. the details of gabby's death were announced. her mother and stepfather visiting a long island memorial

in her memory. >> what i see is these parallel investigations continue recognize the homicide investigation in wyoming, the fugitive investigation based in florida. they will get to a point if they don't find brian, dead or alive, in the reserve, they'll stop looking. i think we will get answers eventually. they might not be complete. but i have some faith we'll get to some end here. but i don't know when. >> our thanks to trevor. much more on this story on "gma." up next, a manifestation of pbroadway's new diversity. the play breaking down barriers. this week on "nightline," we sit down with ben affleck and matt damon, back together again in "the last duel." woman: i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer ♪ ♪ yeah i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin, yeah that's all me. ♪ ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪

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♪ recent protests and calls for racial justice have turned the tide in many aspects of american culture. and now that change is making its way to broadway. it's experiencing a black renaissance of sorts with mre plays by people of color than ever before. a look at a new work that is truly one of a kind. here's abc's senior national correspondent steve osunsami. ♪ the sun kisses my skin and i ask the lord to take away my sin ♪ >> reporter: there's a powerful sound coming from the golden theater on broadway starting this week. >> these days it feels our lives

are as long as that bible verse you got. >> jesus wept, i can't wait for the day my skin isn't a novelty and our story isn't synonymous with poverty. >> reporter: it's a first for the great white way, a play called "thoughts of a colored man." the pages in a playbill have never looked like this before. the entire broadway cast, the producer, the playwright, and the director are all black men. >> i'm still figuring out how to be a husband. >> marriage isn't easy, like fatherhood, you've got to work at it. >> reporter: part poetry, part song. >> even when they discover the tombs, mommy's hair was woven down to the root, truth, but you don't hear it. >> reporter: the names on the marquee are two black men who say they stand on the shoulders of the black creatives and producers who first started trying to change the face of the american theater many decades ago. >> being a native new yorker, i've walked these streets many a time, you know. i've seen plenty of billboards, plenty of marquees.

i've seen times square. i've seen the screens get bigger and bigger over the years. never would i have thought, walking down the street, i'd be able to see my name on a marquee. it's truly a blessing. >> yeah, definitely, yeah. >> reporter: despite the success of "hamilton" and a number of other productions that aoth diverse in content and cast, a new visibility report shows that just 20% of shows in a recent season were written by people of color. and in the 2017-18 season, nearly 94% of the directors were white. >> it's been hard, but it's been finally get in a room with all black men, a space that we felt safe in, to be our authentic self, has just been healing just in the rehearsal process. >> it's been healing, it's been therapy. some days feel like church. >> you come from good stock, as they say. strong people came before you. >> one of the lines in the play, it's not the ground we stand on -- >> it's their shoulders.

>> and i think of the men who have come before us. ruben santiago, george w. wolff, they are the men that we stand on in order for us to be here today. >> absolutely, yeah. >> reporter: the play tells the story of seven black men from all walks of american life on a single day in brooklyn. teachers, coaches, husbands, friends. actors and musicians luke james and tristan mack wilds, who are no strangers to television, are making their broadway debut. ♪ james has two grammy nominations and starred in a number of films and television movies and played johnny gill in the new edition story. wilds as grammy nominee who starred in the reboot of "90210" and gave an iconic performance as a troubled middle school student in the hbo series "the wild." >> what up? >> i don't know, you tell me. everybody locked up, right? >> reporter: instead of names, the characters are feelings.

>> i portray passion. >> i am anger. >> i love the idea of the different emotions. >> yes. >> and it's funny, because i -- it didn't take me long from, who am i? >> right. >> who am i personally? you know. and then -- so i'm like, i guess i'm happiness? right? >> reporter: happiness is the gay corporate worker who finds himself having to come out of the closet all over again in a new barbershop which remains in this story a safe place for critical thinking and black male expression. >> what about you? which one you prefer? >> well, um -- i -- [ laughter and applause ] i this. i can't leave the barbershop, i'm new around here. >> there's not a black man in america who doesn't know, right

in the conversations that happen at the barbershop. >> yes, right? >> and it's a safe place. >> yes. >> our sanctuary. this is one man broken up into seven characters. so the beauty of it is that, if you allow it, you find yourself in all of them. >> in every single one of them. you start to realize, even though a lot of times we pin nmes on people, you are this, you're this -- >> this is what you are. >> you get a chance to see that, whatever you pin on somebody, that's not who they are. they aren't a monolith. anger isn't always angry. happiness isn't always happy. >> happiness is also passion. >> we have layers, we're all complex, that is exactly what this piece is about. >> going beyond the stereotypes and archetypes that are often presented about us as black men. that's what i love about this show. there's a lot of colors in the crayon box. >> reporter: one of the well-earned complaints about broadway is it's never been a great place for black stories. but now after the street protests have changed the

conversation over race in this country, there are now at least seven new productions on broad way written by black playwrig playwrights, four of them women. >> to see so much beautiful art come out at this time, it should show you this isn't just a moment. although this is the moment. >> right. >> it's not just a moment. >> yeah. >> it's so much more. >> that this is perhaps a change. >> the beginning. >> the tide is turning. >> yeah, yeah. >> the tide is turning. >> reporter: you can see the tide changing on this very stage with a story that takes its audience through a wide range of emotions, from great loss to great joy. the writer and director say this isn't just for black men, it's for anyone who has black men in their lives. and that's most of us. >> at the core of all of my work is empathy. that's the reason why i wrote this play in the first place. i wanted to be seen, and i didn't see myself on stages, i didn't see myself, i didn't see my community. that's why i wanted to create this piece. at the core of this piece is empathy. i would say for any audience

member, i would want them to leave with than what they came for these men on stage. >> for everyone, broadway belongs to you too. it's usually for a particular class of people. but no, we want every man to understand their story deserves to be told, and this is their home as well. >> we want the audience to walk away with a deeper understanding, and deeper -- >> feeling empathic. >> for black men? >> for black men. i think when that happens, it matriculates into your life and everything. you know, giving everyone space. in your life. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm steve osunsami in new york. >> our thanks to steve. up next, halloween is going to the dogs. is struggling to manage your type 2 diabetes knocking you out of your zone? lowering your a1c with once-weekly ozempic® can help you get back in it. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! my zone... lowering my a1c, cv risk,

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♪ finally tonight, if you're struggling to get in the halloween mood, look no further. check out these california rescue pooches decked out for the season. here they are in "nightmare on elm street" posing for halloween and ready for their cameo in "it."

the four have their own social media, monitored by their dog mom, anna schwab, who lovingly refers to them as "the rescue boys." she says she hopes to show the world how great rescue animals can be. and that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night. when that car hit my motorcycle, insurance wasn't fair. so i called the barnes firm, it was the best call i could've made. call the barnes firm now, and find out what your case could be worth. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million every day in business brings something new. and find out what your case could be worth. so get the flexibility of the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile.