Police say they have identified persons of interest in the murders of a Utah couple, whose family believe they may have crossed paths with Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie

• Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner were found shot to death near their campsite in Utah on August 18.
• Early speculation suggested the couple's death had something to do with the Laundrie/Petito case.

Officials in Utah say they have identified persons of interest in the killing of a Utah couple, whose path appeared to cross with Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito last summer.

Kylen Schulte, 24, and Crystal Turner, 38, were found shot to dead in an irrigation ditch near their campsite in the LaSal Mountains of Utah on August 18, according to the Grand County Sheriff's Office. Officials now believe that the couple were killed on August 14.

Early speculation in the case centered on whether Schulte and Turner's deaths may have been connected to another crime case dominating the news cycle at the time — the disappearance of Gabby Petito.

Petito's boyfriend Brian Laundrie became the target of a manhunt when Petito's body was found in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming at the end of September, after being strangled to death. In October, Laundrie was found dead by suicide in a Florida park. Last week, officials said they were closing the investigation into Petito's death after discovering a diary entry in which Laundrie confessed to killing Petito.

One of the last places that Petito and Laundrie were seen alive together was outside of a grocery store in Moab, Utah on August 12, where Schulte worked. Police were called to the store when Laundrie hit Petito during an argument, and they had to separate the couple. Laundrie was sent to stay at a hotel just a seven minute walk from Schulte and Turner's campsite, Schulte's father, Sean-Paul Schulte, told the Understanding Crime Facebook page back in December.

Sean-Paul Schulte raised questions about whether his daughter's death was tied to the Petito/Laundrie case in the Facebook post.

Schulte said that his daughter and her wife complained to friends about a "creepy" man and how they planned to move to a different campground. Schulte questioned whether the creepy man may have been Laundrie.

But in a press release on January 18, the Grand County Sheriff's Office said investigators don't believe there is a connection between the Schulte/Turner murders and the Petito/Laundrie case.

"In the course of this investigation, there has been considerable conjecture that Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie were somehow involved in the double homicide. Upon the investigation, the FBI and Florida Investigators have determined, based on electronic transmission evidence, that neither Petito nor Laundrie were involved in this case," the press release said.

Officials added that they had identified persons of interest in the Schulte/Turner murders, but there are no official suspects yet.

The sheriff's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for further details on Monday.