CrimeOnline’s Nancy Grace says the parents of slain New York vlogger Gabby Petito are right on for suing the Moab Police Department.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Petito’s family claimed Moab police had the opportunity to save her life when they responded to a domestic call on August 12 — weeks before her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, 23, allegedly strangled her at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
“The family is right,” Grace told Fox News Digital. “Not only did I prosecute domestic homicides for the city of Atlanta for over a decade, and I worked as a volunteer for the Battered Women’s Center hotline for about nine years.”
“The signs, the classic signs, of domestic abuse were everywhere. It’s a trail a mile wide! And by not identifying it and acting on it, they did not de-escalate the situation. And Gabby is dead. ”
Petito’s family claimed Moab police had the opportunity to save Petito’s life when they responded to a domestic call on August 12 — weeks before Laundrie, 23, allegedly strangled her at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
The family cites an independent report, completed by Price police Captain Brandon Ratcliffe, which found that responding officers overlooked claims by the original 911 caller who indicated that they witnessed Laundrie slap Petito at a nearby co-op.
Ratcliffe stated that responding cops also ignored scratches on Petito’s cheek, and they did not document her injuries. The officers allegedly also failed to contact the original 911 caller.
Despite this, the 99-page report concluded that it was impossible to know whether Petito would be alive today had police handled the August 2021 call differently. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Petito’s family wants any judgment to go to anti-domestic violence initiatives.
After allegedly killing Petito, Laundrie is believed to have traveled back home to North Port, Florida. On September 13 or 14, he reportedly left his parents’ home. His parents reported him missing on September 17, the same day they reportedly informed law enforcement of the missing gun.
Petito was found strangled in Wyoming on September 19. In late October, Brian Laundrie’s partial skull was discovered at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida. The following month, the medical examiner in Sarasota County determined he died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Laundrie reportedly confessed to killing Petito in a notebook found near his partial remains. Its contents were released to the public in June of this year.
“I ended her life,” he reportedly wrote in October 2021. “I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made.”
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[Featured image: Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie/ Instagram]
