More details in the shocking case of the missing woman Gabrielle Petito…
If you’ve been following the story, you know Gabby was reported missing by her family over the weekend when she stopped answering messages and calls during her cross-country road trip with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie. They’d been documenting the trip on YouTube.
Gabby’s family then became increasingly concerned when she never returned home — something which got worse when her boyfriend returned without her at the beginning of September! Brian immediately lawyered up and has continuously refused to cooperate with the police. Very sus! Since then, authorities in Florida have named him as a person of interest in the investigation.
Related: Father Arrested After Allegedly Putting Infant Daughter In The Dryer & Turning It On
We’d already heard the couple were involved in some sort of altercation while on the road, reported to police by witnesses, during their stop in Moab, Utah — just weeks before her family reported her disappearance.
Now, new police body camera footage from the incident has been released, capturing a visibly upset Gabrielle following the alleged physical altercation.
The hour-long video, obtained by ABC7 News and released on Thursday by the Moab City Police Department, shows an officer pulling over the couple’s van after an eyewitness saw Laundrie and Petito getting into a fight near the Moonflower Community Cooperative and called 911 over a “possible domestic violence” situation.
According to police, “when Brian got into the van, [the witness] saw what appeared to him as Gabrielle hitting Brian in the arm and then climbing through the driver’s window as if Brian had locked her out and she was trying to find a way in.”
In the footage, police talk to the couple separately. The 22-year-old can be seen breaking down in tears as she tells police the duo had been “fighting this morning” over “some personal issues.” Petito reveals to the officers she suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder that often affects her behavior, explaining:
“Yeah, I don’t know, it’s just some days, I have really bad OCD, and I was just cleaning and straightening up, and I was apologizing to him saying that I’m so mean because sometimes I have OCD and get frustrated.”
Meanwhile, Laundrie claims the duo got into a minor argument after he asked his girlfriend to “calm down,” causing her to begin slapping him. He tells the cops:
“She gets worked up sometimes. I try to really distance myself from her. … What happened this morning is that she’s trying to start up like her own little website/blog. We really had a nice morning, but she just worked up because we were trying to get going and get our day going.”
The video shows Laundrie with visible scratches on his face following the alleged altercation. He reportedly got physical as well, grabbing Petito’s face and pushing her back. In the report obtained by ABC7 News, one discrepancy noted was the reason Brian supposedly hit the curb before stopping for the police. Brian claimed Gabby grabbed the steering wheel when she noticed the flashing lights, while Gabby denied reaching for it at all.
Ultimately, the police did not file any charges per the pair’s request. Instead, they separated the two for the night, with Laundrie reportedly checking into a hotel and Petito remaining in the converted van. If you want, you can see the entire body camera video (below):
In the report, one of the responding officers also concluded that the incident was more of a “mental health crisis” than “a domestic assault” situation.
Here is hoping that the authorities can get to the bottom of what happened and that Gabby is found safe. Thoughts on the latest update, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via ABC7 SWFL/YouTube]
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