Police Body Cam Shows Missing LI Native After Alleged Fight

MOAB CITY, UTAH — An emotional Gabrielle Petito can be seen in police body camera footage intermittently wiping tears from her eyes as she explains what transpired in an altercation with Brian Laundrie while they were out on the road in Moab City, Utah, about 2½ weeks before she went missing.

Police said they were notified by a witness who saw Petito slap Laundrie and then him pushing her away from the camper van on Aug. 12. The couple were later pulled over after a police officer saw it swerve and then hit the curb as he trailed behind. The officer asked Petito why she was crying, and she told him that they had been fighting earlier in the day over "some personal issues."

In the footage which was obtained from the Moab City Police Department, Petito, who was asked to step out of the van over to a police cruiser, tells officer Daniel Robbins, who was wearing the body camera, that Laundrie hit the curb because she "distracted him." She tells Robbins that she had been apologizing to Laundrie, explaining she was in a bad mood and was stressed out because she had been building a website for her blog.

Related coverage: The Search For Gabby Petito

Laundrie would not let her in the vehicle under the belief she needed to calm down, according to her statements in Robbins' footage.

"He really stresses me out," she said, then describes the altercation as "just a bad morning."

Laundrie then tells the officer that Petito "gets really worked up sometimes" and he was trying to distance himself from her, saying that he did shove her to get away from her, and apologizes to the officer because of that. Laundrie, who had visible scratches on his face, is then asked by the officer how he got them, and says that Petito "had her phone" and he was struggling with her as she was trying to take the keys to the van.

He then tells Robbins that the van struck the curb because she grabbed the steering wheel.

A group of officers, including Robbins, then discuss how to handle the situation and explain to Laundrie that, based on their investigation — including his and Petito's comments, as well as those of the witness — there was enough evidence to charge Petito with assault, but they were hampered because they live together and he did not want to press charges.

Instead, they told Laundrie that they did not have discretion under the law and suggested giving her a citation for domestic assault, which included a stay-away order. The stay-away order would be in effect for the night, preventing any contact between the two, and then if Laundrie wanted to have the order removed, he could do so the next morning, Robbins told him.

Petito did not want to be separated from Laundrie, though, according to another officer who interviewed her.

Near the end of the video, Robbins decides not to cite Petito for domestic assault and tells her, then suggests separating the pair for the night.

"I want you guys both to be — tonight — away from each other," he said, adding, "relax, breathe."

Petito started welling up with tears as he was speaking.

"There is no reason to be crying," he said. "I understand this can feel like a nightmare, but you are coming out the golden flower on top."

He tells Petito that she is taking the van for the night and Laundrie will be taken to a hotel, and urges them to stay away from each other for both of their sakes.

"From what you told me and what he told me, both of you guys have little things that have been building up and building up, and finally the little string that you guys were walking on broke," he said.

The officer then asks Petito if she wants him to let Laundrie know that she loves him and will see him in the morning, and she tells him yes, before adding that he needs to keep his cell phone charged because he is bad about keeping it charged.

Petito had been traveling by van with Laundrie on a tour of the national parks system since early July. The last time she spoke with her mother, Nichole Schmidt, was Aug. 25; and when Petito did not respond to a text conversation from late August, Schmidt became worried. In a text at the end of August, Petito told Schmidt that she was headed to Yellowstone National Park. It is believed that before her last communication with family that she was in Grand Teton Park in Wyoming.

Petito's family filed a missing person report with Suffolk police on Saturday.

They called on Laundrie's parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, for information Thursday afternoon.

In a letter read by family friend Rick Stafford at his Bohemia law firm, Petito's mother and stepfather, Nichole and Jim Schmidt, and her father and stepmother, Joseph and Tara Petito, asked the Laundries to help them find their "beautiful daughter."

"We understand through a difficult time and your instinct to protect your son is strong," the letter reads. "We ask you to put yourselves in our shoes. We haven't been able to sleep or eat and our lives are falling apart. "

The letter goes on to say that they believe the Laundries know the location their son "left Gabby."

"We beg you to tell us," the letter continues. "As a parent how could you let us go through this pain and not help us. As a parent, how could you put Gabby's younger brothers and sisters though this?"

"Gabby lived with you for over a year," the letter reads. "She was going to be your daughter in law. How can you keep her location hidden? You were both at Jim and Nichole's house. You were both so happy that Brian and Gabby got engaged and were planning to spend their lives together."

"Please, if you or your family has any decency left, please tell us where Gabby is located. Tell us if we are even looking in the right place. All we want is Gabby to come home. Please help us make that happen," the letter concludes.

Police in North Port, Florida, where the couple lived, have taken over the case and have classified Laundrie as a "person of interest."

In previous statements, an attorney for the Laundrie family, Steven Bertolino of East Islip, has said he would not be making public statements, nor would he be speaking with police.

Bertolino said, "many people are wondering why Mr. Laundrie would not make a statement or speak with law enforcement in the face of Ms. Petito's absence."

"In my experience, intimate partners are often the first person law enforcement focuses their attention on in cases like this, and the warning that 'any statement made will be used against you' is true, regardless of whether my client had anything to do with Ms. Petito's disappearance," Bertolino said, adding, "As such, on the advice of counsel Mr. Laundrie is not speaking on this matter."

Bertolino said he has been informed by police that his client is a person of interest, but the "formality has not really changed the circumstances of Mr. Laundrie being the focus and attention of law enforcement and Mr. Laundrie will continue to remain silent on the advice of counsel."

Earlier Thursday in a news conference in North Port, Petito's father, Joseph Petito, said he wanted everyone's focus to remain on finding her, nothing else, and asked members of the media to do whatever they can to help bring her home.

"There is nothing else that matters to me now," he said, pointing to an enlarged photo of his daughter, adding, "This girl right here. This is what matters."

North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said the department's focus is on finding Petito.

"North Port is a small community where what happens is felt by all," he said.

Investigators are pleading with people out there to give us information, Garrison said, adding, "point us in the direction that we need to be."

He said investigators are continuing to treat Petito's case as a missing persons case, not a homicide.

Police have repeatedly said that there is no evidence that a crime took place, though they have named Laundrie a "person of interest" and described him as hindering the investigation by not providing any helpful information. When asked whether investigators can charge Laundrie with anything related to the disappearance, such as stealing her van or hampering the investigation, Garrison told reporters they cannot at this time.

Laundrie is exercising his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, Garrison said, adding, "and I have to respect that."

When asked if investigators had an active grid search on the ground, Garrison said they did not because they are still trying to narrow the search down to a geographical area.

In the meantime, police in Grand County, Utah, are saying that they are not ruling out a connection between Petito's disappearance and the slayings of a newly wedded couple whose bodies were found riddled with bullets in the South Mesa area of the La Sal Loop Road.

"We're looking at everything, I mean, anything and everything that was suspicious around that time," a spokesman for the Grand County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet Wednesday afternoon, adding that investigators are "not ruling anything out at this time. So we're just investigating the information as it comes in."

Crystal Turner, 38, and Kylen Schulte, 24, who were last seen at Woody’s Tavern in Moab on Aug. 13, were found shot to death about five days later, Fox reported.

Garrison said that the department's investigators have been in contact with the sheriff's office and they have shared the information that they have.

"They told us that they are looking at everything now," he added.

Anyone with tips about Petito's disappearance is urged to call 800-CALL-FBI.