Gabby Petito’s family and legal have just released a heartbreaking new photo of their daughter in the days leading up to her death.
The legal team representing Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, shared a photo of the 22-year-old bruised and bloodied.
Gabby’s Family Release Heart Breaking New Photo Days Before Her Death
The law firm for Parker & McConkie first mentioned the existence of the photo in a November 2022 wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab City Police Department.
On August 12, 2021, the couple was pulled over by two Moab City police officers following an anonymous caller called 911 and reported seeing a man (Brian Laundrie) hitting Gabby.
Her parents believe her fiancé, Laundrie, killed her on or around August 28, 2021. Her body was discovered in Grand Teton National Park on September 19, 2021.
The former couple were on a cross-country National Parks road trip tour when the accident, traffic stop and Gabby’s untimely death happened.
The disturbing photo was taken by Gabby shortly before the cops pulled over her white conversion van for erratic driving. Laundrie was driving the car at the time of the traffic stop.
Please use caution looking at the photo.
Gabby Took Photo Of Bruised & Bloodied Face
“According to available data, the image was taken at 4:37 p.m., at or before the approximate time of the initial 911 call,” the family’s attorneys said in a statement Tuesday.
The civil complaint states that “Gabby took a photograph of her injury, which shows blood across her nose and left eye.”
Gabby reportedly showed her injury to Moab Police Officer Eric Pratt.
Her family argues that Officer Pratt ignored her and “did nothing more to investigate or document the injury.”
Both Petito and Schmidt believe Gabby would still be here today had the Moab City Police Department and responding officers did more investigating and intervening.
Gabby Petito’s Parents Sue Moab City Police Department
In fact, Gabby’s parents hired an outside investigator to look further into the traffic stop, in which they found multiple “unintentional mistakes” had been made.
Per Fox News, a Moab spokeswoman said Tuesday that the city does not comment on matters of litigation.
“The photo demonstrates the cut previously noted on her left cheek as well as blood smeared from her forehead, across her left eye and cheek and over her nose, indicating that she was grabbed over her face in such a way that her airways were likely obstructed,” the Petito-Schmidt attorneys’ statement continues. “Gabby documented the injury and, during the stop, attempted to tell the Moab officers, however, the seriousness and significance this type of assault and injury was completely ignored.”
Moab City PD incorrectly labeled Gabby as the “predominant aggressor” in the altercation, according to the lawsuit.
“Moab Police failed to recognize the violent grabbing of Gabby’s face and obstruction of her nose, mouth, and airways as a critical precursor to her eventual death by strangulation that occurred a short time later,” they said. “Moab Police failed to listen to Gabby, failed to investigate her injuries and the seriousness of her assault, and failed to follow their own training, policies, and Utah law.”
It is believed Gabby was strangled and bludgeoned to death at the hands of Laundrie.
