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.
