Gabby Petito’s Parents Sue Utah Police For $50 Million For Failing To Stop Her Death

Topline

The parents of Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old whose disappearance and murder last year spurred intense speculation, have filed a lawsuit against police in Moab, Utah, claiming that officers who pulled Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie over just weeks before her death could have saved her life.

FILE – This police camera video provided by The Moab Police Department shows Gabby Petito talking to … [+] a police officer after police pulled over the van she was traveling in with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, near the entrance to Arches National Park on Aug. 12, 2021.

The Moab Police Department

Key Facts

Petito’s parents, Joe Petito and Nichole Schmidt, filed a complaint Thursday in Utah stating that if Moab police had followed Utah statutes on domestic violence, Petito would still be alive today, their lawyer said during a Thursday press conference.

According to the lawsuit, the Moab officers who spoke to Petito and Laundrie in August while responding to a domestic disturbance between the two were negligent because they “failed to recognize telltale signs of domestic abuse” and misidentified Laundrie as the victim, lawyers said.

Petito’s attorneys also allege that Eric Pratt, one of the police officers who questioned Petito, was “fundamentally biased” against her because Pratt had previously threatened to kill a woman after their relationship ended, according to the Salt Lake Tribune (the allegations come from a woman who is not named in the suit, and never filed a formal complaint against Pratt).

The family’s lawyers say the officers also sought out loopholes in Utah law to avoid following non-discretionary laws, and were not adequately trained by the department on domestic violence issues.

The Petitos indicated in August that they planned to file the lawsuit, and earlier this year sued Laundrie’s parents for emotional distress and alleged they hindered the search for Petito by protecting their son, saying the Laundries knew he had killed Gabby.

Crucial Quote

“We feel we need to bring justice because she could have been protected that day,” Schmidt said Thursday. “There are laws put in place to protect victims, and those laws were not followed, and we don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

Contra

The City of Moab said in a statement Thursday that while Petito’s death was “a great tragedy,” Moab Police Department was not responsible. “The attorneys for the Petito family seem to suggest that somehow our officers could see into the future based on this single interaction,” the city said in a statement, adding that the city will “ardently defend against this lawsuit.”

Tangent

On August 12, Moab officers responded to a domestic incident between Petito and Laundrie. An anonymous witness called 911 and reported seeing Laundrie “slapping” Petito and said that he had “hit her” before driving off. When the two were pulled over, Petito said she was suffering a mental health crisis, and the officers–who identified Petito as the aggressor–told them to spend the night apart. Officer Daniel Robbins noted in a subsequent report that Petito appeared to be in extreme distress and was unable to speak “without needing to wipe away tears.”

Key Background

Petito was reported missing September 11, 2021, ten days after Laundrie returned home to Florida alone after what was intended to be a cross-country road trip. Petito’s parents say they last spoke to Gabby on August 25, and say that they believed messages that were sent for five days after were actually sent by Laundrie pretending to be Petito. Petito’s body was found in Wyoming on September 18, and a coroner later said she had been strangled to death. On September 14, Laundrie left his parents’ home to go hiking at the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Fla., and was reported missing by his parents three days later. He was found dead by suicide in-mid October with a gunshot wound in the head, according to the Laundrie family attorney. In a journal found near his body, he wrote that he was responsible for Petito’s death, according to the FBI.