NORTH PORT, Fla. — The parents of Gabby Petito say if the Utah police officers that responded to her 911 call would have recognized the danger she was in, she’d still be alive today.
Attorneys for the family are pointing to new photographs of Petito from her cell phone around the same time she called 911.
The photos show an upset Petito with blood smeared on her forehead, nose and left cheek. Attorneys are arguing that is consistent with being grabbed by the face in such a way that she wasn’t able to breathe.
Body cam footage of the encounter between Moab, Utah police, Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie show her very upset while Laundrie remained calm.
Eventually, officers would let the two go.
Two weeks later, Petito was reported missing and eventually found strangled to death in August 2021 near a Wyoming campsite the couple had used.
Petito’s mother Nicole Schmidt released a statement about the lawsuit against the police, saying: “Our daughter, Gabby, died as a result of intimate partner violence that could have and should have been identified by law enforcement using the lethality assessment,” Schmidt said. “We believe that if the lethality assessment had been properly used in her situation, together with the recommended support and resources, Gabby would still be alive today.”
The city of Moab has responded to the $50 million lawsuit filed by the Petito family, saying officers could not predict the future and are not responsible for a murder that happened hundreds of miles away and weeks after the encounter with police.
The city says it will ardently defend itself against the lawsuit.
Petito was traveling the country with Laundrie, a North Port resident.
Several weeks after Petito’s body was found in Wyoming, Laundrie’s body was located in Carlton Reserve in Venice along with a notebook admitting he killed her.
