Kobe and Gianna Bryant buried in private ceremony near family home
Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were buried on Friday in a private ceremony near the family’s southern California home, according to death certificates.
The certificates state the Bryants died of blunt trauma. Bryant’s occupation is listed as “author, producer and athlete” while Gianna is listed as a “coach and student.” They were buried at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar.
The Bryants and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash last month. The retired basketball superstar, his daughter and the other victims will be honored at a 24 February public memorial at Staples Center, where Bryant starred for most of his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers. The date corresponds with the No24 jersey he wore and the No2 worn by Gianna, whose team was coached by her father.
It’s not yet known what caused the crash, which occurred while the helicopter was taking the Bryants and the others to a youth basketball tournament. A report by the National
Transportation Safety Board issued last week stated there weren’t any signs of engine failure from the wreckage recovered from the crash site in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles. The pilot, Ara Zobayan, had nearly navigated the helicopter out of blinding clouds when it turned and plunged into a mountainside.
At a public memorial Monday, several thousand people mourned three of the other victims: Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter Alyssa, Gianna’s teammate. Also killed in the crash were Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach the teenage girls’ basketball team, as well as Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, another of Gianna’s teammates.
In an Instagram post earlier this week Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, expressed her grief over the death of her husband and daughter. “My brain refuses to accept that both Kobe and Gigi are gone,” she said, using a nickname for her daughter. “I can’t process both at the same time. It’s like I’m trying to process Kobe being gone but my body refuses to accept my Gigi will never come back to me.”