FOLLOW US

On March 1 the family of Gabby Petito filed a First Amended Complaint to their August 2022 wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab City Police in Utah.

New information has surfaced regarding what the family claims are the department’s negligence and failure to protect Gabby. Which the family believes ultimately led to her death.

The complaint includes multiple admissions made by Officer Eric Pratt. He revealed that he knew Brian was a mental and emotional threat to Gabby. And saw numerous dangerous “red flags”.

The Petitos claim the police intentionally chose not to follow the law to protect their daughter. Pratt even claimed that he would rather be fired than follow the legal requirements to ensure Gabby's safety.

Brian Laundrie returned from a cross-country trip without his “van-lifer” influencer girlfriend. He and his parents refused to answer questions about what happened to Gabby.

 After a weeks-long manhunt, Gabby's remains were found in September 2021. Laundrie fatally shot himself and left behind a handwritten note confessing to her murder.

Wrongful death lawsuit cites Utah law

Moab City Police had agreed to implement the Lethality Assessment Protocol (LAP) in 2018 and 2019. But they did not employ the LAP when the police responded to the 911 call that led to Gabby's case.

Gabby's mother, Nichole Schmidt, stated that if the lethality assessment had been used appropriately, together with the recommended support and resources, Gabby would still be alive today.

Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, Gabby's parents, recently traveled to Utah to express support for S.B. 117, a bill that would mandate all Utah law enforcement agencies to conduct a lethality assessment in every instance of intimate partner violence. The bill aims to prevent tragedies like Gabby's from happening in the future.

Court papers reveal that a Utah cop responded to a 911 call about an abusive Brian Laundrie weeks before Gabby was murdered.

Moab City Police Officer Eric Pratt was one of the first responders to the domestic incident call on August 12, 2021. Witnesses reported seeing Laundrie hitting Gabby, and she even took a selfie showing her bloody face. 

Utah police stop Gabby and Laundrie

Pratt and Officer Daniel Robbins separated the couple for the night but treated Gabby as an offender rather than a victim.

During an outside investigation, conducted by Brandon Ratcliffe, a captain at the Price Police Department Pratt admitted to seeing "more red flags than a Chinese communist rally."

Pratt's interview transcripts reveal that he believed Laundrie was a mental and emotional threat to Gabby and had been messing with her mentality. He thought Laundrie was a "weird, not healthy dude," and saw him as an emotional bully. 

Despite the warning signs, Pratt did not arrest Laundrie or take any further steps. He claimed that there is no law against being a "sh*tty boyfriend and gaslighting and taking advantage of people mentally and emotionally for your own reasons."

Gabby's parents filed the lawsuit against the Moab City Police Department, alleging that if the police had acted appropriately, their daughter might still be alive today. And it was amended on March 1.

 They are also in litigation with Laundrie's parents in Florida. And accuse them of withholding information about their daughter's murder.

A spokesperson for the City of Moab declined to comment on matters involving ongoing litigation.