Attorneys for Gabby Petito’s family have released a previously unseen photo of blood on her face taken during a Utah domestic violence stop just weeks before her suspected murder at the hands of ex-fiance Brian Laundrie.
The law firm of Parker & McConkie first described the existence of the photo in a November 2022 wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab City Police Department, which encountered the travel-blogging couple on Aug. 12, 2021, after a witness reported seeing Laundrie hitting Petito and trying to take her phone and drive off without her outside the Moonflower Co-op, an organic grocer off the city’s main drag.
The photo was taken by Petito herself and recovered from her phone, shortly before the stop, according to the law firm.
“According to available data, the image was taken at 4:37 PM, at or before the approximate time of the initial 911 call,” the family’s attorneys said in a statement Tuesday.
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Gabby Petito with blood on her face in an Aug. 12, 2021 traffic stop in Moab, Utah. (Parker & McConkie)
The Moab police response triggered an outside investigation that found “unintentional mistakes” in the officers’ handling of the stop.
They split the couple up for the night and declined to press charges.
By Aug. 28, Petito is believed to have been strangled and bludgeoned to death by Laundrie in Wyoming – where her remains were discovered on Sept. 18.
Moab Police Officer Eric Pratt, in bodycam footage released by investigators, is seen speaking to Brian Laundrie on Aug. 12, 2021. (Moab City Police Department)
Laundrie returned to his parents’ Florida home on Sept. 1, driving Petito’s van.
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The FBI and local police found him dead in a swamp on Oct. 20 – of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. A drybag nearby contained a handwritten confession to Petito’s death.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
