- Gabby Petito was "very likely" a "long-term victim of domestic violence," a new report says.
- A third-party investigation was launched into the 911 call over an August 12 fight between Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie.
- According to the review, witness statements and physical evidence pointed to Petito as the aggressor in the incident.
Gabby Petito, the late 22-year-old travel vlogger whose disappearance and subsequent death made national headlines last year, was "very likely" a "long-term victim of domestic violence," a new report commissioned by the city of Moab, Utah, said.
Captain Brandon Ratcliffe with the Price City Police Department conducted the independent investigation into a Utah incident involving Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie on August 12, 2021, in response to a complaint filed against the police department that responded to the scene.
The city published its findings on Wednesday in a more than 100-page report.
Officers with the Moab City Police Department responded to a 911 call about a fight between Petito and Laundrie on August 12 — weeks before the 22-year-old travel vlogger was reported missing and her fiancé returned to their home in Florida alone on September 1.
According to the independent review, witness statements and observations and physical evidence of the incident "would point towards Gabby being the predominant aggressor, at least as it relates to this specific incident."
Though a witness told a 911 dispatcher at the time that they saw a "male hit a female," Petito told officers, "to be honest, I definitely hit him first." She went on to say that Laundrie grabbed her face and said she could feel a cut on her left cheek, according to the report.
The officers ultimately determined the issue was a mental health crisis, not a "domestic violence incident," and recommended that the couple spend the night separated.
The report released by Moab said that the officers made "several unintentional mistakes," including not deeming it a "domestic violence incident" and citing Petitio, who was determined to be the aggressor in the situation.
"Just because Gabby was determined to be the predominant aggressor as it related to this incident, doesn't mean she was the long-term predominant aggressor in this relationship," the report explained in its conclusion, saying that the officers have to "make a decision based on the information presented by law enforcement at the time, despite our personal feelings and the known history of the relationship."
"It is very likely Gabby was a long-term victim of domestic violence, whether that be physically, mentally, and/or emotionally," the report continued, citing potential evidence to support that conclusion.
On September 11, 2021, Petito was reported missing by her family after Laundrie returned to his parents' home in North Port, Florida, alone on September 1, after the couple embarked on a cross-country road trip over the summer.
On September 19, 2021, a body that authorities said was "consistent with the description" of Petito was found in a national park near the Spread Creek camping site in Wyoming. The FBI and the Petito family's lawyer later confirmed that the remains belonged to Petito, and her death was ruled a homicide.
Authorities launched a manhunt for Laundrie, who was named a "person of interest" in Petito's disappearance. Laundrie's family told authorities that he had been missing since September 14 after he went on a hike to the Carlton Reserve in Florida. In November 2021, human remains belonging to Laundrie were found in Florida's vast Carlton Reserve, and a medical examiner ruled that Laundrie died by suicide.
In a statement to Insider, Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino said the August 12 incident "was certainly an indication of the breakdown of Brian and Gabby's ability to handle the stresses of spending 24/7 with each other."
"To label every disagreement between couples a citable domestic violence incident is to criminalize human emotions and reactions that should be dealt with outside of the criminal code," Bertolino said. "In my opinion, the officers did the right thing by separating the two young adults. There are many other factors at play here that may have changed the outcome of the two young lives that have been tragically lost."
He added: "We may never know if citing Gabby, or Brian for that matter, would have been the deciding factor in the final outcome but I personally don't believe we should issue criminal citations and label everything as domestic violence."
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