Shocking Police Body-Cam Footage Shows Missing 'Van Life' Woman Gabby Petito Sobbing Hysterically After Leaving Visible Scratches On 'Person Of Interest' Brian Laundrie's Face Prior To Disappearance
Sept. 16 2021, Published 3:17 p.m. ET
The 22-year-old "van life" woman whose mysterious disappearance continues to make headlines nationwide was seen crying hysterically after confessing to hitting her fiancé in newly released police body-camera footage taken a month before she was reported missing.
On Thursday morning, cops in Moab, Utah, released an hour-long video of their interaction with Long Island native Gabby Petito and her 23-year-old fiancé, Brian Laundrie, outside the couple's white 2012 Ford Transit van on Aug. 12.
Petito was reported missing by her family on Sept. 11, 10 days after Laundrie returned to the couple's Florida home alone following their cross-country trip.
Laundrie has since lawyered up and is refraining from assisting authorities in their search. Though he's been named a person of interest in the disappearance, police in North Port, Florida, said Thursday afternoon they do not currently have evidence to show a crime was committed.
According to the Petito family, Gabby and Brian left for their trip from New York on July 2 and were due to conclude the trek in Portland, Oregon, to celebrate Halloween with friends.
The following month, Moab police pulled the couple's van over outside Arches National Park after receiving a call about a potential domestic violence incident. In the video, an officer observed that the driver was speeding and hit a curb.
Petito was sitting in the front seat sobbing when a cop asked her to step out and speak with him about the situation.
"Some days I have really bad OCD, and I was just cleaning the back of the van before, and I was apologizing to him, saying, 'I'm sorry I'm so mean,' because sometimes I have OCD, and sometimes I get really frustrated," she explained through tears. "Not like mean towards him, I guess my vibe. I'm just in a bad mood."
Petito said she and Laundrie had been fighting all morning and that he locked her out of the van during an earlier argument. She said he "wouldn't let me in the car before" and "told me I needed to calm down."
Still crying, she told officers she had hit him, which caused a bystander to call the police. "I was trying to get him to stop telling me to calm down," she explained, adding that she hit him again while they were driving to tell him that cops were trying to pull them over.
