Just days before Gabby Petito died, a fresh witness said he saw Brain Laundrie “swing” at her with a “closed fist” during a fight in Wyoming.
On August 12, 2021, Chandler, 26, who wished to be identified only by his first name, told The Sun that he was at a stoplight when he saw Laundrie, 23, strike Petito, 22, outside of Moonflower Community Cooperative.
According to The Sun, Petito passed away precisely one year ago today, but Chandler maintained that Laundrie was the one who struck him with a “closed fist.”
He described it to The Sun as “kind of like a slapping action, but with a closed hand.” They started to scream before Brian struck her with what seemed to be his left hand.
When he saw Laundrie softly swing at Petito, smacking her in the face, forcing her to fall back against the white van, he remembered seeing the pair fighting close to the rear passenger-side tire.
Chandler told The Sun, “She obviously felt it (the punch). “She very much banged her back and perhaps the back of her head” when she “slammed into the vehicle.”
A fresh witness said that on August 12, 2021, during a brawl outside of Moonflower in Wyoming, he observed Brain Laundrie “swing” at Gabby Petito with a “closed fist.” Then-pictured Petito claimed to have “grabbed” her face and received “a couple of slaps” in return from her.
The witness, Chandler, 26, who only gave his first name, claimed to have seen Laundrie (seen above on August 12, 2021) strike her. He acknowledged that it wasn’t a very strong blow, but she “certainly felt it.”
After that, according to reports, the two began shouting at one another until Laundrie and his girlfriend left.
When Chandler noticed other people approaching the pair, he continued to drive despite being “very much” horrified by what he had seen.
Before they both got into the vehicle and left, one of the other people claimed seeing Laundrie smack Petito over the phone to 911.
Laundrie reportedly made an effort to prevent Petito from entering the vehicle.
The witness, who only gave his name as Christopher, said that “something clearly felt weird” since “they were talking angrily [at] one other.” They seemed to be arguing at one point over a phone, and I believe the man snatched the female’s phone. He didn’t seem to want her in the white vehicle, according to her.
Shortly after, Moab Police, who is being sued for $50 million by Petito’s family, caught up with the van life couple and split them apart to find out what had occurred.
Several witnesses to the altercation outside of Moonflower indicate that Laundrie struck the victim.
Petito was caught on camera confessing that he had “grabbed” her in newly released body-cam video, but he argued that she had “slapped” him first.
The young woman’s cheek, which seemed to be slightly bruised, was pointed out by an officer who also asked if he could “see the other side of your face.”
When the officer reiterated that “two independent witnesses” had said Laundrie had struck her and that there had been a domestic conflict, she altered her story and said the “backpack grabbed me” as she had gotten back into the vehicle.
“Well, to be honest, I struck him first,” they say.
She acknowledged that she had smacked him “a couple of times” after he had “told me to quiet up.”
Then, in August 2021, Petito admitted to police that she “guessed” he had hit her, but she asserted once again that she had struck him first.
The woman said, “He grabbed my face.” “He didn’t, like, strike me or punch me in the face,” the victim said.
She said, “He grabbed my cheek with his nail,” when asked whether Laundrie had slapped her. I can clearly feel that I now have a cut.
After the police stopped the couple but failed to see Petito was in a life-threatening scenario, Petito’s family is now preparing to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department.
According to the $50 million notice of claim, authorities in Moab, a popular tourist destination, disregarded warning indicators that Petito had been the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Laundrie.
They were allegedly arguing over a phone, according to a witness, and Laundrie was attempting to stop Petito from getting into the van.
The two had been on a cross-country journey since they set off from New York on July 2. On September 11, Petito was reported missing.
In a statement announcing the submission of the notice of claim, attorney James McConkie said that Gabby would still be alive today “if the cops had been properly educated and obeyed the law.”
Before suing a government entity, a notice of claim must be filed, and according to the family’s claim, the case will want $50 million in damages.
After that traffic encounter, Petito went missing for a month. Her strangled corpse was found on September 19 in Wyoming, on the outskirts of Grand Teton National Park.
After being identified as the lone person of interest in her killing, Laundrie, 23, subsequently killed himself in Florida. Long Island, New York, was where Petito and Landrie were born.
Due to the widespread media coverage surrounding Petito’s disappearance, online sleuths began searching social media for leads.
An independent review conducted earlier this year concluded that when Moab police encountered Petito and Laundrie, they committed “many unintended errors.”
According to the police, Petito “was a long-term victim of domestic abuse, whether it be physically, psychologically, and/or emotionally,” according to the report.
On September 19, 2021, Gabby’s bones were found in a solitary area of Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest.
In North Port, she and her boyfriend had been living with his parents. Early in July, the young couple left New York State, where her mother resides, and headed west on an adventure.
On September 1, however, Laundrie drove his own white Ford van back to the Laundrie residence. After their final phone conversation on August 25, worried Schmidt reported her daughter missing eleven days later.
North Port Police dragged the white vehicle off the Laundrie’s driveway and transported it away for forensic analysis hours after Gabby’s mother had called the police.
Laundrie’s parents informed the officers that he wasn’t accessible when they sought to talk with him at the residence. Whether the murderer was there at the time is unknown.
Then Laundrie vanished in the vicinity of his house in Carlton Reserve, igniting a large manhunt involving the FBI, at least two sheriff’s departments, and local law enforcement.
His parents eventually revised his first statement to say that he disappeared on September 13 in order to go hiking in the reserve. On October 20, when his parents emerged from hiding and joined law police there, his corpse was finally discovered in the marsh.
The Petito family intends to sue the Moab Police Department for $50 million, claiming that they failed to notice that Petito was a victim of domestic abuse (seen here: her mother).
Exactly one year ago today, on September 19, 2021, Petito’s bones were discovered.
Laundrie committed himself in a Florida marsh while still carrying a notepad that, according to police, contained a confession. On October 20, his corpse was discovered.
The killer said that he strangled Petito as a consequence of Gabby’s “unexpected tragedy” last summer, in which she wounded herself while falling into a stream in Grand Teton National Park.
Additionally, he started the notebook with a letter to Gabby that he said said: “I want I could be at your side, I wish I could be talking to you right now.”
Laundrie wrote self-pitying phrases in smeared blue ink about how he struggled to soothe Gabby, who was deteriorating, sobbing in anguish, and shivering constantly from the cold.
Nevertheless, he ultimately murdered her, writing: “I don’t know the extent of Gabby’s injuries, just that she was in great agony.
“I took her life.” I mistakenly believed that it was kind and that it was what she wanted, but I now see how wrong I was. I was scared. I was stunned. But as soon as I made my decision, I took away her suffering.
On October 20 of last year, after he had escaped to the alligator-infested Carlton Reserve near his house in North Port, Florida, his notebook was discovered in a dry bag next to his corpse. He had fatally shot himself.
After killing Petito, Laundrie composed his suicide note and intentions to pass away by the Florida stream where his corpse was finally discovered. He said that he could not survive without Petito.
Laundrie’s wet notebook, in which he admitted to killing Petito