Police made ‘unintentional mistakes’ in Gabby Petito stop: probe
Utah police reportedly made “several unintentional mistakes” in their handling of a roadside domestic dispute between road-trippers Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito — both of whom soon after wound up dead.
But ultimately, the report found the killer alone was responsible for Petito’s homicide. Laundrie later took his own life.
A probe of that Aug. 12 traffic stop in Utah determined that officers in Moab should have issued a domestic violence citation to Petito after she told cops she’d initiated the physical confrontation that prompted a 911 caller to report seeing a man slapping a woman outside the couple’s van.
According to Utah law, police responding to domestic violence reports are encouraged to name an aggressor. The independent investigation also found that officers should have taken a statement from the caller who directed them to the location.
One officer on the scene expressed concern that citing Petito could land her in jail, where Laundrie might claim “more control over her” if he bailed her out. That officer said that in hindsight, he’s “devastated” over how things turned out.
Investigators also noted that what happened in Moab may not have been indicative of the power dynamic that existed in the Long Island natives’ relationship overall.
“It’s very likely Gabby was a long-term victim of domestic violence, whether that be physically, mentally, and/or emotionally,” wrote Price, Utah police Capt. Brandon Ratcliffe, who prepared the report.
Authorities determined at the time that they were responding to an emotional disturbance and instructed the pair to spend the night apart as a means of diffusing the situation. The city of Moab said it respected the findings of the probe, but also felt the officers “showed kindness, respect and empathy in their handling of this incident.”
According to Ratcliff, he’s been involved in many investigations where victims of abuse are apprehended for lashing out against their long-term abusers. He said there’s no way of knowing if Petito, who was found strangled to death on Sept. 19, 2020, would be alive today had officers handled their encounter with the pair differently.
“That is an impossible question to answer despite it being the answer many people want to know,” Ratcliff reported. “Nobody knows and nobody will ever know the answer to that question.”
A coroner determined Petito had been dead for roughly a month before her body was discovered in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park near an underdeveloped camping area. Laundrie returned to his parents’ Florida home on Sept. 1 unaccompanied. Petite’s parents reported her missing on Sept. 11 — eight days before her remains were discovered.
Laundrie, too, went missing around Sept. 14. His body was found in the swampy 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve on Oct. 20 after an exhaustive manhunt that lasted more than a month. A self-inflicted gunshot wound was cited as his cause of death. He was the only person named as a person of interest in Petito’s death.
According to Petito, her clash with Laundrie in Idaho began when she became upset that he entered the converted van in which they were driving cross-country with dirty feet. She had been trying to keep the vehicle clean.
Her disappearance made headlines nationwide and sparked an Internet frenzy to search for clues. A couple that had passed through the area where Petito’s remains were later found realized their dash-cam had picked up what appeared to be the pair’s white van on Aug. 27. The hunt for Laundrie led to reports that he’d been seen along the Appalachian Trail as well as Canada, though it doesn’t appear he made it far from his parent’s North Port, Fla., home before taking his life.
With News Wire Services
