Slain vlogger Gabby Petito took a photo minutes before someone called 911 to report seeing her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, slapping her, according to lawyers for the Petito family.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the timestamp on the photo, taken with Petito’s phone, indicates that she took a selfie photo on August 12, 2021, at around 4:37 p.m. On the same day and a few minutes after the timestamp, a bystander contacted 911 to report witnessing Laundrie slapping Petito in a Moab, Utah, parking lot.
The Petito family lawyers shared the photo while the lawsuit against Moab police continues. As CrimeOnline previously reported, the lawsuit claims that the officers didn’t try hard enough when questioning Laundrie after they pulled him near the Arches National Park in Moab.
“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,” lawyer Brian Stewart, with the Parker & McConkie law firm, said in a statement.
Clinical social work and victim advocate, Jenn Oxborrow, told the Tribune that Petito’s injuries appear to be more significant than the responding officers may have realized.
“The thing that stands out to me is she was definitely trying to come to terms with what was happening in her life with this photo,” Oxborrow said. “When I see people documenting an injury, it’s really important for them, they have something to refer back to.”
Petito’s family said last year that Moab police had the opportunity to save Gabby’s life when they responded to the call, but weeks later, Laundrie strangled her. After Gabby’s death, Laundrie is believed to have traveled back to his family home in North Port, Florida.
On September 13 or 14, 2021, he left his parents’ home and they subsequently reported him missing on September 17, 2021. He ultimately took his own life at a nearby environmental park.
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Petito was found deceased in Wyoming on September 19, 2021, at the Grand Teton National Park. In late October 2021, Brian Laundrie’s partial skull was discovered at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida.
The following month, the medical examiner in Sarasota County determined he died from a single gunshot wound to the head, self-inflicted.
Laundrie reportedly confessed to killing Petito in a notebook found near his partial remains. Its contents were released to the public in June of this year.
“I ended her life,” he reportedly wrote in October 2021. “I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made.”
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[Featured image: Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie/ Instagram]
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