Petito’s Bruised Face Shown In Selfie Taken Before Death

MOAB, UT — A photo of Gabby Petito’s bruised and tear-stained face, taken just before a Utah traffic stop in August 2021, was released by the attorney representing her family in a lawsuit against the Moab City Police Department.

The selfie was taken by Petito shortly before she and her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, were stopped by Moab police on Aug. 12, 2021, according to Parker + McConkie.

Before police intervened that day, Petito “was most likely strangled and/or suffocated” by Laundrie, the Salt Lake City-based law firm wrote in a blog post.

Petito was last heard from at the end of August 2021 and killed at the hands of Laundrie, who admitted to strangling her to death in a written confession. Her body was found Sept. 19 at a Wyoming campground.

Prior to their cross-country road trip, the couple lived with his parents at their North Port, Florida home. Laundrie later took his own life in a nearby Sarasota County park.

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Before this, the van-life couple was pulled over in Utah after a witness told 911 they saw Laundrie slapping Petito outside the Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab and driving off without her.

The time stamp on the image was Aug. 12 at 4:37 p.m., which was “at or before the approximate time of the initial 911 call,” the attorney’s office said.

In bodycam footage released by police after the traffic stop, an emotional Petito told officers that she was struggling with her mental health and the couple had been fighting over personal issues.

Police also said Petito slapped Laundrie, but he never hit her.

"The male tried to create distance by telling (her) to take a walk to calm down," according to the police report. "She didn't want to be separated from the male and began slapping him. He grabbed her face and pushed her back as she pressed upon him and the van."

Neither wanted to press charges after the incident, and there were no serious injuries. Police, at the time, categorized the incident as a “mental/emotional health break,” Patch previously reported.

The couple was urged to separate for the evening and police helped Laundrie get a hotel for the night, while Petito stayed with her van.

Petito’s family filed a $50 million lawsuit against Moab City police in November, claiming their officers didn’t follow the department’s protocols for domestic violence incidents, according to Patch. Her family and their legal team argued this could have saved her life.

“The Petito family is heartbroken to see how Moab police officers failed to recognize the danger Gabby was in,” Parker + McConkie wrote in their blog. “They remain committed to making sure legislators and law enforcement will have the necessary training and resources to identify and prevent similar tragedies in the future.”

In a statement, her mother, Nichole Schmidt, said, “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. 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.”

Petito’s family has also filed a civil lawsuit against Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, and their attorney, Steven Bertolino, in Florida, for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

They claim Brian Laundrie’s parents and their lawyer knew their daughter was dead and where her body was during a national search for her. The case will go before a jury next summer.

In a separate case, a Sarasota County judge at the end of last year awarded Petito’s parents $3 million in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Laundrie’s estate.