Gabby Petito's Parents Help Pass Domestic Violence Legislation In Utah

Gabby Petito’s parents are fighting the good fight in her honor.

Their 22-year-old daughter was tragically killed by her fiancée, Brian Laundrie, during a cross-country National Parks tour in 2021.

Following her death, it became apparent Gabby was a victim of domestic violence.

Since then, her parents Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt have been on a mission to help victims of domestic violence.

In the days leading up to her death by strangulation, Gabby and Brian were stopped by police officers in Utah following an anonymous tip about a woman being hit by a male.

During the traffic stop, the 22-year-old and 23-year-old were separated and questioned by police.

Utah law enforcement officials kept Brian and Gabby apart for one night, but didn’t do anything in terms of a domestic violence investigation.

Gabby parent’s did an independent investigation into the traffic stop and it was found that the Moab City PD made multiple unintentional mistakes. They filed a $50 million lawsuit against the city of Moab.

Petito and Schmidt recently attended a legislation hearing in Utah on Monday, January 30th.

Utah state senators voted unanimously in favor of the “Lethality Assessment Protocol” proposal that would require law enforcement throughout Utah to ask a series of 11 questions in situations where they suspect intimate partner violence.

According to the Associated Press, police will ask questions about prior threats, access to firearms and a history of behavior such as choking, jealousy or spying.

The “Lethality Assessment Protocol” was first piloted in Maryland twenty years ago.

A number of law enforcement departments in Utah currently use the assessment protocol; however, it is not a statewide mandate.

Petito shared his thoughts on the proposal.

“If it had been used, I believe she'd still be here today," he said during a press conference.

“With this bill, we are trying to very narrowly target the biggest problem we have right now in the state with intimate partner violence," Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said. “That's to prevent intimate partner homicide.”

The Senate bill also aims to create law enforcement database for responses to the lethality screenings.

This will allow officers to access information on prior lethality assessments conducted by any department statewide to better understand and protect victims.

As previously mentioned, on August 12, 2021, a domestic violence call involving the couple was made to Moab authorities, and the couple was pulled over.

The call resulted in no arrests despite Utah state law mandating an arrest or citation in domestic violence incidents.

Fox News Digital first reported the domestic violence call which included allegations that Laundrie slapped and hit Gabby; however, both denied versions of the events to responding officers.

Laundrie had a cut on his cheek and Gabby had marks on her face.

According to a responding officer’s report of that day, “The driver of the van, a male, had some sort of argument with the female, Gabbie.”

The report continued, "The male tried to create distance by telling Gabbie to go take a walk to calm down, she didn’t want to be separated from the male, and began slapping him. He grabbed her face and pushed her back as she pressed upon him and the van, he tried to lock her out and succeeded except for his driver’s door, she opened that and forced her way over him and into the vehicle before it drove off."

In addition, a responding officer wrote that he believes “it was reported the male had been observed to have assaulted the female,” but instead wrote, “no one reported that the male struck the female.”

Gabby was visibly upset in the video.

Now, an independent investigation into the August 12 incident found “unintentional mistakes.”

The outside investigation also offered a number of recommendations on how the Moab police department should move forward.

The investigation includes interviews with both officers involved and the city's acting chief of police and looked into the incident reports, bodycam videos and other evidence.

The 102-page investigative report stated, “The independent agency’s investigative report finds that the officers who responded to the incident made several unintentional mistakes that stemmed from the fact that officers failed to cite Ms. Petito for domestic violence. The City acknowledges that this finding may raise questions, and the issue is examined extensively in the investigative report.”

It continued, “The report recommends improvements to both the policies and the training of the Moab City Police Department. These recommendations include: providing additional training in domestic violence investigation, as well as additional legal training to ensure officers understand state laws and statuses; conducting an overall policy review; conducting a software review; and strengthening the review process for incident reports.”