Bodies of Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna released to family by LA Coroner's Office a week after chopper crash
More than a week after a helicopter crash claimed their lives, as well as that of seven others, the bodies of Kobe Bryant and his teenage daughter Gianna have been returned to his family by the Los Angeles County County Coroner's Office.
MEAWW previously reported that, following the tragic accident in Calabasas, California, on January 26, all the victims were transported to the forensic science center for official examination and identification.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner subsequently identified the bodies of Kobe, 41, Gianna, 13, and the other seven people onboard: Payton Chester, 13; John Altobelli, 56; Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; Sarah Chester, 45; Christina Mauser, 38; and the pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50.
The coroner's office revealed that they had identified Bryant, Altobelli, Chester, and Zobayan through their fingerprints, and the rest via "round-the-clock testing and analysis of DNA."
Body examinations were also performed on all nine victims and their causes of death were certified as blunt trauma. The manner of death was certified as an accident.
Now, close to a week after those examinations, Kobe's and Gianna's bodies have been returned to the Bryant family, it has been confirmed. All the bodies have been released to their families except for Altobelli family.
The news might mean that a memorial service for Kobe, which has so far seen multiple unforeseen delays, can finally go ahead.
Sources with knowledge of the situation had dampened the hopes of a memorial taking place any time soon just last week.
One source, affiliated with the Los Angeles Exposition Park sports complex, said the memorial is "probably not for at least two weeks, maybe longer." Another, also from inside one of Los Angeles' sporting venues had similarly described the timing as "nearing weeks."
While the release of Kobe's body back to his family will see at least one of the hurdles cleared, the sources had said that a lack of availability of large venues and other previously scheduled sports and entertainment events were also proving problematic.
Most fans want the service to be held at the Staples Center, the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and lovingly referred to as 'The House that Kobe Built,' but its capacity of 20,000 will likely mean that officials look to the LA Memorial Coliseum, which can hold 80,000, instead.
The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating the accident, which was described by an official as a "high energy impact crash" at a press conference on January 28. A preliminary report on the accident will be released by the NTSB in five days.