Gabby Petito's Family Pursues Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Police

SARASOTA, FL — The $50 million wrongful death lawsuit Gabby Petito's family filed against the Utah police department involved in an infamous traffic stop before her death at the hands of Brian Laundrie will continue, their attorney said Monday.

Petito's family sued the City of Moab and its police department in 2022, alleging the actions of officers involved in the traffic stop led to her death because they did not follow protocol when investigating the domestic violence reported by witnesses on the Main Street of a nearby town. The incident was captured on police bodycam footage, showing an anxious Petito crying as she spoke with officers.

The lawsuit claims the police officers did not ask the proper questions that could have identified Petito as a domestic violence victim whose life was in danger. Witnesses reported seeing the couple fighting and Laundrie striking Petito, but the officers determined Petito to be the aggressor and almost arrested her instead, but decided to only split the couple up for the night.

Laundrie strangled Petito, his fiancée, within days after the traffic stop in August 2021. They were staying at a Wyoming campground while on a cross-country trip. Investigators placed her date of death around Aug. 28, 2021, about 16 days after the traffic stop in Utah.

On Feb. 22, the Utah District Court issued an order setting aside a bond and lifting a stay that cleared the way for the wrongful death lawsuit to move forward, but dismissed claims against the individual officers involved while maintaining all claims against their employer, the Moab City Police Department.

Three days later on Feb. 25, Petito's family's attorneys filed a second amended complaint as part of their lawsuit against the police department.

Moab spokesperson Lisa Church said the city does not comment on matters related to active litigation.

Salt Lake City attorney Brian Stewart, who represents Petito's parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, said that with the lawsuit they hope to continue to raise awareness of the problem of domestic violence and the deficiency in the resources that are available in a similar situation, and the insufficiency in training in law enforcement.

Part of the lawsuit is to raise money for the Gabby Petito Foundation, which is committed to education and working towards changes all over the country to help save the lives of people in domestic violence situations, he said.

The young couple, aspiring vloggers originally from New York, lived with Laundrie’s parents in North Port, Florida, before embarking on their “van life” journey during the summer of 2021.
After strangling her, Laundrie left her body at a campsite in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest, where she was found nearly a month later on Sept. 19, 2021.

In the two and a half years since Petito's death, her family has held up by keeping her memory alive in the foundation named after her.

"They're doing well," Stewart said. "They both have kids at home and they're also busy just raising a family and with regular life as well," he said.

Petito's family is not about to give up.

"Although this is a long process and filled with difficulty, they're undeterred, and they're determined to move forward and do whatever it takes to spread Gabby's message and to hopefully save other lives," Stewart said.

Petito was reported missing by her mother on Sept. 11, 2021, after contact was lost with her family. Laundrie drove home from Wyoming alone to his parents' house in Florida. Amid the massive cross-jurisdictional search for Petito involving multiple law enforcement agencies, Laundrie refused to speak with investigators.

He later took his own life, shooting himself in the head in a Sarasota County park in September of that year.

His remains and a handwritten confession to killing Petito were found in October 2021. He left his confession in his notebook, claiming he strangled her out of mercy after she fell into a ravine and was injured.

The Petito and Laundrie families reached a confidential settlement in a civil lawsuit filed in Sarasota County, avoiding a trial, an attorney for the Petito family said in February 2024.

Petito’s parents filed a civil lawsuit against Laundrie’s parents and their attorney, Steven Bertolino, for intentional infliction of emotional distress. They claim the Laundries and their lawyer knew that their daughter was dead and where her body was during a national search for her in 2021.

In a separate wrongful death lawsuit, the families settled for $3 million in November 2022.

Related Stories:

• Laundrie Called Parents 20 Times In Days After Killing Petito
• Shovel To Bury Petito's Body Offered By Laundrie's Mother
• Laundrie Texted Friend About 'Fun' Trip After Murdering Petito: Report
• 'I Ended Her Life': Laundrie Confessed In Notebook To Killing Petito
• 'Burn After Reading' Letter Explained By Laundrie's Mother

A Lawsuit Seeking Change In Domestic Violence Cases

The next steps in the Petito family's case could be a series of intricate legal spars that depend on how the City of Moab responds to the recent amended complaint.

Stewart said he expects the members of the police department who were involved in the traffic stop, as well as their supervisors, and potentially the Forest Service Rangers, as well as the witnesses who called 911 to say they saw Petito and Laundrie fighting.

It's hard to say if a settlement can be reached in the case against the City of Utah, Stewart said.

"The family would like their day in court, but these things are fraught with risk as well," he said. "And, so we'll have to see as it develops. Of course, we are always open to discussing settlement with the other side, but we're not there yet."

The lawsuit alleges that the officers involved in the traffic stop had a "flawed" investigation, and that Officer Eric Pratt was "fundamentally biased in his approach."

He chose to believe Petito’s abuser, "ignoring evidence that she was the victim and intentionally looking for loopholes to get around the requirements of Utah law and his duty
to protect Gabby," the complaint states.

Pratt has since explained that, at the time of the traffic stop, he believed Laundrie was emotionally and mentally abusing Petito and she did not assault him, and that Laundrie used physical force on Petito by grabbing her face which left a cut on her face, according to the complaint.

"I think the allegations against Pratt are unique," Stewart said. "It's a unique situation in that, like, on video you have essentially him out loud going through the processes of thinking through what he should have done with the case," Stewart said. "And then, he pretty obviously chooses to not follow the law even though he is explaining to his junior partner that they don't have discretion to not effect an arrest."

Stewart said he agrees with the conclusions of the independent review that it sounds like the officers didn't investigate properly and didn't follow the law with respect to responding to domestic violence calls.

"They missed a lot of red flags that they should not have," he said. "They should have seemed to know the severity of Gabby's situation," he said.

An Independent Review Of The Traffic Stop Showed 'Unintentional Mistakes'

In the review Stewart references, Moab police were said to have made "unintentional mistakes" in their handling of the traffic stop.

Capt. Brandon Ratcliffe, of the Price Police Department, which is located about two hours northwest of Moab, released his 102-page report in January 2022, outlining a review of how officers questioned Petito and Laundrie, and about a potential assault that took place outside of a shop in Moab.

The report recommended both officers be placed on probation, calls for additional training in domestic violence and legal issues so that officers have a better grasp of state laws and statutes, as well as upgraded software.

In a disclaimer, Ratcliffe says that while he had access to all of the reports and video footage, he would not pretend to have the same perception as the officers who investigated the case, noting there are many 'what-ifs' that have presented themselves as part of the investigation, with the primary one being: "Would Gabby be alive today if this case was handled differently?”

“That is an impossible question to answer despite it being the answer many people want to know,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Nobody knows and nobody will ever know the answer to that question."

After the bodycam footage was initially released, Petito's mother told NBC News that the footage was hard for her to watch.

"I wanted to jump through the screen and rescue her," she said. "I saw a young girl that needed someone to just hug her and keep her safe. I just felt so bad for her. I wish that she reached out to me."