The aspiring "van life" travel blogger was reported missing by her family last weekend after her boyfriend returned home to Florida without her.
Newly released bodycam footage shows a distraught Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brain Laundrie, moments after a heated argument during their cross-country road trip.
The Aug. 12 video was taken outside Arches National Park in Utah, after a witness reported the couple arguing at a grocery store and called 911.
Petito, 22, was reported missing by her family last weekend, after Laundrie returned home to Florida without her.
“We’ve just been fighting all morning,” Petito says in tears in the bodycam footage.
The officer asks Petito to step out and she explains what’s going on.
“I just quit my job to travel across the country, and I'm trying to start a blog — a travel blog. So I’ve been building my website, so I’ve been really stressed,” Petito says.
Then, police question Laundrie.
“She just gets worked up sometimes,” Laundrie says.
Petito told police she has obsessive compulsive disorder. She said she was afraid Laundrie was going to drive off and leave her stranded at the grocery store. She apparently scratched him during the back-and-forth scuffle.
“You want to tell me about those scratches on your face?” an officer asked Laundrie.
“She had a cellphone in her hand. That's why I was pushing her away,” Laundrie said.
On the day the couple was pulled over, Petito and Laundrie had been living in the van for about four months, crossing the U.S. and visiting national parks for Petito’s travel blog. They told police they were still in love, but after all that time together, tension was building until it erupted in tears and shoving.
Petito, still distraught, says being pulled over by the cops added to the stress.
“I just saw the lights come on, and I was more just like, you're an idiot,” Petito said.
An officer took photos of Laundrie’s scratches.
“When you slapped him those times, were you attempting to cause him physical pain or physical impairment? Was that what you were attempting to do to him?” an officer asked Petito.
“No, never,” Petito said. “I was trying to get him to stop telling me to calm down.”
Neither Petito nor Laundrie were charged in the incident.
But at the cops’ insistence, the couple spent the night apart to cool down. Officers gave Laundrie a ride to a local hotel. Petito slept in the van.
Petito’s last known whereabouts were in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. Police are calling Laundrie a “person of interest” in the case and have seized the camper van the couple traveled in during the trip.
“Somebody out there knows where Gabby's at and that's all we're asking. You can call anonymously,” North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said.
Petito’s father, Joseph, also made a plea for help.
“Whatever you can do to make sure my daughter comes home, I’m asking for that help. There's nothing else that matters to me now,” he said.
