A selfie taken by murdered blogger Gabby Petito shortly before police responded to a 911 call in which she reported being attacked by her boyfriend Brian Laundrie shows her with a battered face.
The photograph was distributed by attorneys for Gabby’s family, who are preparing a lawsuit against Moab, Utah, police.
Laundrie strangled 22-year-old Gabby in Wyoming during a road trip in the summer of 2021.
The timestamp on the selfie indicates that it was taken on August 12, 2021 at 4:37 p.m.
Minutes later, a witness contacted 911 to report seeing Laundrie attack Gabby in a Moab parking lot.
Gabby’s eyes are filled with tears, and she has a crimson bruise around her eye.
Attorneys for her family say that responding officers disregarded her injuries. They claim that the police’s failure to safeguard Gabby contributed to her murder later in the month.
Gabby’s family has filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department, alleging that officers failed to properly handle the 911 call after a witness claimed to have seen Brian striking Gabby and attempting to steal her phone weeks before her death.
The department, two officers who responded to the call, and two former leaders are named in the case.
Brian Stewart of Parker & McConkie said in response to the revelation of the photographs, “Moab police failed to listen to Gabby, failed to investigate her injuries and the severity of her assault, and failed to follow their own training, policies, and Utah law.”
Petito is captured on police bodycam footage of their response to the event wearing the same outfit as in the selfie.
She informed investigators that Laundrie ‘grabbed my face’ and gestured to demonstrate the assault.
A police officer inquires, “Did he slap your face or not?”
Petito responds, ‘He grabbed me with his fingernail, so I suppose that’s why it seems like I have a cut here. I’m aware of it. When I touch it, it burns my skin.
After Petito stated that she had struck Laundrie first, police apparently did not pursue the matter further.
The Salt Lake Tribune claimed that under Utah law, any attempt to cover a victim’s mouth or nose is strangling, which should be considered as aggravated assault.
The incident was instead classified as disorderly conduct, and the couple was separated for the night, with Petito staying in their van and Laundrie remaining in Moab.
A month after Petito’s body was discovered in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Laundrie shot himself in the head.
The Petito family and Brian Laundrie’s estate reached a $3 million settlement in their wrongful death case last year.
In January, a Florida judge granted Laundrie’s former attorney Steve Bertolino’s request to join a lawsuit launched against his parents by Gabby’s family.
Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt filed a lawsuit against Christopher and Roberta Laundrie in January of this year, alleging that the Laundries knew their son murdered Gabby and refused to disclose the location of her remains.
In addition, the Laundries were accused of attempting to arrange for their son’s escape from the county, and Bertolino was accused of knowing Gabby was dead when he submitted a statement regarding the hunt for her.
Bertolino released a statement on behalf of Laundrie’s parents to the media on September 14, 2021, at a time when Gabby’s parents claim they knew Laundrie had killed her.
Bertolino stated that the Laundrie family hoped that the hunt for Miss Petito would be fruitful and that she would be reunited with her family.
Pat Reilly, who represents Petito and Schmidt, describes Bertolino’s statement as “outrageous.”
The original lawsuit asserted that Laundrie’s parents knew that their son had murdered Petito but were untruthful.
A statement provided by Petito’s parents last month stated, ‘When they chose to communicate, it was through words issued by Steven Bertolino.’
After weeks of fruitless searches in a seasonally flooded park, Laundrie’s bones were discovered at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in October. Laundrie had left his parents’ home on September 13.
After the water receded, the police discovered him along with a handwritten confession and a pistol.
»Gabby Petito selfie before Brian Laundrie driving stop exposes damaged face«