Moab City Police Department
- Brian Laundrie returned home alone in the middle of his trip with Gabby Petito, his sister said.
- In a video shared with NewsNation, Cassie Laundrie answered questions outside her home.
- She said Laundrie didn't mention getting into a fight with Petito.
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Brian Laundrie's sister Cassie Laundrie said he returned home to Florida alone on August 17, just a few days after police in Utah stopped him and his girlfriend Gabby Petito after a fight.
In an interview with a man who claimed to know the Petito family that was shared with NewsNation, Cassie Laundrie said five days after Laundrie and Petito were pulled over in Moab, Utah, for a domestic incident, he returned home alone.
Police pulled over Laundrie and Petito on August 12. Body-cam footage from the stop shows Petito crying and telling officers she and Laundrie were having some personal issues.
"Some days I have really bad OCD and I was just cleaning the back of the van before, and I was apologizing to him, saying, 'I'm sorry I'm so mean,' because sometimes I have OCD and sometimes I get really frustrated," she told the police officer. "Not like mean towards him, I guess my vibe. I'm just in a bad mood."
Petito said she hit Laundrie but did not intend to harm him. Police initially wanted to charge Petito with domestic violence but ruled it a mental-health incident rather than a domestic violence case and had the couple separate for the night.
Fox News later obtained audio of a 911 call where a bystander said he saw Laundrie "slapping" Petito during the same incident before police pulled them over.
Cassie Laundrie said her brother arrived home on August 17 but she doesn't know when he returned to his trip with Petito.
She said she saw him during that visit and everything seemed normal.
"He was telling me where they were going next. I FaceTimed with Gabby and the kids on that trip," she said, referring to her own children.
She added that Laundrie did not say he got in a fight with Petito.
Petito was reported missing by her family on September 11, ten days after Laundrie returned to his family home with her truck on September 1.
Petito's body was discovered at a remote campsite on September 19 in Wyoming. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Laundrie was reported missing from his family home on September 17 and is the subject of an FBI-led search. He was named a person of interest in Petito's disappearance.