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A selfie taken by murdered blogger Gabby Petito shows her with a bruised face moments before police responded to a 911 call that said she’d been attacked by her boyfriend Brian Laundrie.
The picture was shared by lawyers for Gabby’s family, who are building a lawsuit against police in Moab, Utah.
Gabby, 22, was strangled by Laundrie in Wyoming during a road trip in the summer of 2021.
The timestamp on the selfie shows it was taken at 4.37pm on August 12, 2021.
Minutes later, a witness called 911 and said they’d just seen Laundrie attack Gabby in a parking lot in Moab.
The picture was shared by lawyers for Gabby’s family, who are building a lawsuit against police in Moab, Utah. The suit alleges police failed to deal with the incident properly
Police bodycam footage of their response to the incident shows Gabby wearing the same clothes as in the selfie. She describes the attack but officers treated it as disorderly conduct instead of assault. Gabby’s family are suing police in Moab
Bodycam footage of the police response also shows Laundrie, who claimed he was ‘just trying to push her away’. He went on to kill Gabby several weeks later. Her family claim if police had handled the incident properly, her death could have been prevented
Gabby has tears in her eyes and a bloody red bruise around her eye.
Attorneys for her family claim officers who responded to the incident ignored her injuries. They say the police’s failure to take proper steps to protect Gabby contributed to her murder later that month.
Gabby’s family has filed a $50million wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department, alleging that officers failed to properly handle the 911 call after a witness claimed he saw Laundrie hitting Gabby and trying to steal her phone just weeks before her death.
The lawsuit names the department, two officers who responded to the call and two former leaders.
Commenting after the release of the pictures, Brian Stewart, at the law firm of Parker & McConkie, said: ‘Moab police failed to listen to Gabby, failed to investigate her injuries and the seriousness of her assault, and failed to follow their own training, policies, and Utah law.’
Police bodycam footage of their response to the incident shows Gabby wearing the same clothes as in the selfie.
Brian Stewart, a lawyer representing Gabby’s family, said: ‘Moab police failed to listen to Gabby, failed to investigate her injuries and the seriousness of her assault, and failed to follow their own training, policies, and Utah law.’
Gabby Petito, 22, vanished while on a cross-country trip in a converted camper van with her boyfriend. Laundrie, who strangled Gabby to death, killed himself a month after her body was found
Nicole Schmidt, mother of Gabby Petito, wipes away a tear during a press conference for SB117, a bill advocating for domestic violence protections, at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on January 30
Joe Petito, Gabby’s father, and her mother Nicole Schmidt at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, on January 30
Gabby’s family is also suing Laundrie’s parents, alleging they knew Laundrie (pictured with Gabby) killed their daughter after he returned to their Florida home alone – and tried to help him flee
She told officers Laundrie ‘grabbed my face’ and gestures to show them how she was attacked.
An officer asks: ‘Did he slap your face or what?’
Gabby replies: ‘He grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that’s why it looks — I definitely have a cut right here. I can feel it. When I touch it, it burns.’
Police reportedly didn’t pursue the matter further after Gabby said she struck Laundrie first.
Utah code says any attempt to cover a victim’s mouth or nose is defined as strangulation, which should be treated as aggravated assault, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The officers instead treated the incident as disorderly conduct and the couple were separated for the night, with Gabby staying in their van while Laundrie stayed in Moab.
Laundrie shot himself in the head a month after Gabby’s body was discovered in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Last year the families came to a $3million settlement in the Petito family’s wrongful death lawsuit against Brian Laundrie’s estate.
In January, a Florida judge approved a request to add Laundrie’s former attorney Steve Bertolino to a lawsuit against his parents brought by Gabby’s family.
Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt initially filed the lawsuit against Christopher and Roberta Laundrie earlier this year – claiming the couple knew that their son murdered Gabby and refused to tell them the location of her remains.
Gabby Petito, 22, was killed by her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie (pictured together) during a road trip in the summer of 2021
Gabby’s family are also suing Laundrie’s parents (pictured), alleging they knew Laundrie killed Gabby
The Laundries’ lawyer, Steve Bertolino, who is also being sued, said Christopher and Roberta Laundrie (pictured at their Florida home in September 2021) ‘did everything the right way, and they have no regrets’
Their lawsuit also accused the Laundries of trying to arrange a way for their son to flee the county, as well as accusing lawyer Bertolino of knowing Gabby was dead when he made a statement about the search for her.
On September 14, 2021, Bertolino issued a statement on behalf of Laundrie’s parents to the media – at a time Gabby’s parents say they knew Laundrie had killed her.
Bertolino said the Laundrie family hoped ‘the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is reunited with her family.’
Pat Reilly, who is representing Petito and Schmidt, says that the statement made by Bertolino is ‘outrageous’.
The original lawsuit alleged that Laundrie’s parents were aware that their son had killed Gabby and were not being forthcoming.
A statement released last month by Petito’s parents said: ‘When they did choose to speak, it was through statements issued by Steven Bertolino.’
Laundrie left his parents’ home on September 13, and his remains were found in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in October – after weeks of futile searches in a temporarily flooded park.
Police found him after water levels receded, along with a handwritten confession and a revolver.
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