Murdered Blogger Gabby Petito Took Selfie With Bruises Minutes Before Traffic Stop By Police

Murdered blogger Gabby Petito took a photo of her scratched and bloody face mere minutes before a bystander called in a domestic violence report against Brian Laundrie.

Petito family lawyer Brian Stewart alleges that police pulled the couple over at 4:55 p.m. on August 12, 2021, just two weeks before Petito’s death.

Stewart points out that the photo suggests cuts to Petito’s cheek and blood smeared across her forehead, left eye, cheek and nose.

The reporter of the incident told police that he witnessed Laundrie, 23, slapping and punching Petito, 22, in a parking lot in Moab, Utah.

“Gabby pointed out the injury to Officer Pratt, but he ignored her and did nothing more to investigate or document the injury,” Stewart said.

In body-cam footage of the traffic stop one of the officers said Petito was the “primary aggressor,” and another officer told Laundrie that he was a “victim of domestic assault.”

The Petito family’s legal team says that Petito was likely “strangled or suffocated” at the hands of Laundrie before the traffic stop, suggesting that Petito was not the “predominant aggressor” of the incident.

Body-cam footage also shows Petito in distress telling officers that she and Laundrie had been “fighting all morning.”

She also tells officers that Laundrie had pushed her, grabbed her face and neck, and left a cut on her cheek. Officers did acknowledge in their report that they noticed the cut and blood on her face.

Laundrie reportedly told officers that he had been trying to calm her down, and with a smile on his face, told officers that Petito “gets worked up sometimes.”

No charges were filed after the incident, and Petito and Laundrie were separated with Petito being placed in a motel for domestic violence victims and Laundrie in the police van.

Petito was found strangled to death by Laundrie at a campsite located near Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.

The Petito family launched a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Moab police last August, blaming the department for failing to protect the blogger.

They accuse the officers at the scene, Eric Pratt and Daniel Roberts, along with Assistant Chief Braydon Palmer of wrongful neglect which failed to protect their daughter, and ultimately lead to her death. The Petitos also claim that the Moab police department fails to “properly train the officers to investigate domestic violence situations, and to properly assess the circumstances, including identifying Brian as the primary aggressor.”

The police agency said it stands by its officers’ actions.

The Petitos are also in the midst of another lawsuit against Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta. the Petitos have already been awarded $3 million from the Laundrie estate last November.