Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Judge Rules Against Gabby Petito Family in Moab Police Lawsuit

Transcript

Judge Rules Against Gabby Petito Family in Moab Police Lawsuit · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace Can the family of murder
0:09
Speaker 1: victim a beautiful young girl, Gabby Petito bring a wrongful
0:16
Speaker 1: death lawsuit against the Moat Police Department for Gabby's death.
0:24
Speaker 1: If you will recall, Gabby and her killer slash fiance,
0:30
Speaker 1: Brian Laundry, were pulled over by Moab police. Witnesses had
0:36
Speaker 1: seen Brian Laundry hitting Gabby in the face. Yet after
0:45
Speaker 1: Brian Laundry takes off in the car and Gabby Potito's
0:51
Speaker 1: for a transit, almost leaving her behind, she had to
0:56
Speaker 1: try and jump in the car window. He was leaving
1:00
Speaker 1: not only in her for transit, but everything she owned
1:04
Speaker 1: in the world. She had single handedly customized the transit
1:09
Speaker 1: for a cross country trip in the heat of the moment.
1:13
Speaker 1: After hitting her in the face, he tries to drive
1:15
Speaker 1: off with her transit at all her worldly belongings. She
1:19
Speaker 1: finally gets in and not too far out of the city,
1:24
Speaker 1: she's pulled over along with Laundry who's driving, and believe
1:28
Speaker 1: it or not, the Moa police name her as the
1:33
Speaker 1: aggressor and let them go. It was within hours that
1:41
Speaker 1: Gabby Petito was murdered by her violent fiancee, Brian laundry.
1:47
Speaker 1: So bottom line, can her family sue the Moa Police Department? Well,
1:53
Speaker 1: as of right now, believe it or not, the answer
1:57
Speaker 1: is no. But let me get I predict this case
2:03
Speaker 1: ain't over yet and that it will become extremely complicated
2:10
Speaker 1: and contentious. Remember this happened in Moab, Utah. The Utah
2:17
Speaker 1: Seventh District Court Judge Don Torgerson agreed with the city
2:23
Speaker 1: of Moab. They requested that the Gabby Potito family motion
2:30
Speaker 1: be dismissed, and the judge went along with it. He
2:36
Speaker 1: basically said, this is too big for a district court
2:39
Speaker 1: to decide, and appeals courts will have to determine if
2:44
Speaker 1: the Potitos had a case. Now, many people argue that
2:49
Speaker 1: Judge Torgerson had no choice but grant the request to
2:53
Speaker 1: dismiss the case based on something called governmental immunity. It's
3:00
Speaker 1: also called sovereign immunity, which dates all the way back
3:04
Speaker 1: to our common law from Great Britain. The king can
3:08
Speaker 1: do no wrong. In other words, you can't sue the
3:12
Speaker 1: king and hear you can't sue the government. So what
3:16
Speaker 1: of the Potatoes are asking is for the judge to
3:21
Speaker 1: rule against sovereign immunity. Well, I think everybody else is wrong.
3:26
Speaker 1: I think Torgersen could have gone along with the Potatos,
3:30
Speaker 1: but he hid behind his robes and decided not to act.
3:37
Speaker 1: Let's do a little reality check about what happened to
3:42
Speaker 1: Gabby Potito. Take a listen to our friend Jenna Dangeli's
3:46
Speaker 1: at CBS two.
3:48
Speaker 2: An emotional mother holding on to a photo of her
3:50
Speaker 2: daughter is desperate for her to come home.
3:53
Speaker 1: Scary and nerve wrecking. We don't sleep, We're just actively
3:57
Speaker 1: looking for her.
3:58
Speaker 2: Gabby Potito's family reported her missing Saturday to Suffolk County Police.
4:03
Speaker 2: The twenty two year old with blue point was on
4:05
Speaker 2: a cross country road trip, but kept in touch with
4:07
Speaker 2: her mom at.
4:08
Speaker 1: Least three times a week. We've been FaceTime called tex frequently.
4:13
Speaker 1: She kept me updated on this whole trip.
4:14
Speaker 2: Her mother says they last facetimed about three weeks ago.
4:18
Speaker 2: The last text she received was on August thirtieth.
4:21
Speaker 1: The first couple.
4:22
Speaker 3: Of days, though I wasn't getting responses.
4:24
Speaker 1: I believe she was in a place with no service.
4:28
Speaker 4: It took it was like day eight and nine that
4:30
Speaker 4: I really became concerned.
4:32
Speaker 1: I've been on that exact route before with the twins
4:35
Speaker 1: in an RV and the mom is right. There are
4:39
Speaker 1: a lot of desk spots where you can't get a
4:41
Speaker 1: sale to call out. We're looking at behavioral evidence. How
4:46
Speaker 1: many days had passed before mom realized something was wrong?
4:51
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our friends at CBS two.
4:54
Speaker 2: Police say she's believed to have last been in Wyoming's
4:57
Speaker 2: Grand Teetown National Park. Video of the trip was uploaded
5:00
Speaker 2: to YouTube August nineteenth. Her mother says she left New
5:04
Speaker 2: York early July for the trip, which was set to
5:06
Speaker 2: end in Oregon next month. She was traveling in his
5:09
Speaker 2: white van, which police say has been recovered.
5:12
Speaker 5: I just believe she's in danger because is she not
5:15
Speaker 5: in touch with us and she could be alone somewhere,
5:17
Speaker 5: She could be stranded somewhere in the wilderness and.
5:21
Speaker 1: She needs help. Well, is that what happened? Does she
5:24
Speaker 1: and her boyfriend have an argument and he she stormed off?
5:27
Speaker 1: Did he just leaver stranded? My question is why is
5:32
Speaker 1: he not being forthcoming and telling the story as to
5:36
Speaker 1: what happened to Gabrielle? As I told you, the van
5:39
Speaker 1: is found in his parents' driveway back in Florida. But no, Gabby,
5:44
Speaker 1: how did it all start? Take a listen to April
5:47
Speaker 1: Baker Fox thirteen.
5:49
Speaker 6: Gabby is originally from New York, but she was living
5:52
Speaker 6: in Florida with her fiance at the time they took
5:55
Speaker 6: off on the road trip back in July. Her family
5:58
Speaker 6: tells Fox News that the couple touring national parks and
6:01
Speaker 6: a converted camper van before heading to Salt Lake City.
6:05
Speaker 6: The couple actually documented most of their trip on Instagram
6:09
Speaker 6: and YouTube. You're seeing it here, some of it showing
6:11
Speaker 6: them hanging out in a tent outside Capital Reef. Gabby's mom, Nicole,
6:16
Speaker 6: says she last spoke on the phone with her daughter
6:19
Speaker 6: August twenty fifth.
6:20
Speaker 1: That's very critical as a matter of fact, because that
6:24
Speaker 1: travel on video, which I have watched over and over
6:27
Speaker 1: and over, it's call I think nomadic static with the K,
6:31
Speaker 1: static with the K and it's very engrossing. It makes
6:37
Speaker 1: you want to be with them on the camp or
6:38
Speaker 1: this beautiful, wonderful trip. But it's critical to me because
6:43
Speaker 1: her last Instagram posting linked to that video, and that's
6:47
Speaker 1: really the last day as I understand the timeline that
6:51
Speaker 1: we know her to be safe and alive about the video.
6:57
Speaker 1: Take a listen to her video Van Life. Take a
7:01
Speaker 1: tiny listen. Yeah, I mean Pa never goes outside. You know,
7:09
Speaker 1: you hear this beautiful, whimsical music throughout and it shows
7:13
Speaker 1: them traveling the country. A lot of the shots our
7:16
Speaker 1: video as they're you know, looking out the window as
7:18
Speaker 1: they're flying past desert. They went to the Delicate Arch,
7:23
Speaker 1: they went to the Mystic Hot Springs, They covered everything
7:28
Speaker 1: beautiful in the West. How did it all go so
7:31
Speaker 1: horribly wrong? With me? An all star panel to try
7:35
Speaker 1: to make some sense of what we know right now?
7:38
Speaker 7: With me?
7:39
Speaker 1: Renowned trial attorney you know her well, Kathleen Murphy joining
7:43
Speaker 1: us out of North Carolina. You can find her at
7:45
Speaker 1: NC Domestic Law dot com. Karen is Stark, you know
7:49
Speaker 1: her well. She is a psychologist, joining us out of
7:53
Speaker 1: Manhattan at Karenstark dot com on Facebook Karen Stark. That's
7:58
Speaker 1: with a c who hasized nearly every high profile criminal
8:04
Speaker 1: case that I can think of. Joining me Lisa M. Daddio,
8:08
Speaker 1: a former police lieutenant. And you have a police department
8:11
Speaker 1: lecturer and the director of the Center for Advanced Policing
8:14
Speaker 1: in be Haven and Emmy Award winning investigative reporter Christy Missourich. Christy,
8:20
Speaker 1: let's start at the beginning, tell me about how the
8:23
Speaker 1: road trip. With the inception of the road.
8:25
Speaker 8: Trip, they were living together in Florida, and this boyfriend
8:31
Speaker 8: promotes himself as a nature enthusiast's.
8:36
Speaker 1: Stop, what do you? May promote himself well.
8:39
Speaker 8: On Facebook, in all of his other social media he
8:43
Speaker 8: promotes himself as a nature enthusiast and believes that getting
8:46
Speaker 8: bug bites out in the beauty of the world are
8:49
Speaker 8: better than being brainwashed by the media his words.
8:53
Speaker 1: What's wrong with that? You say it like there's something
8:56
Speaker 1: wrong with being a nature enthusiast? And I want to
8:58
Speaker 1: ask you, is nature enthusiast? Are those your words? Are
9:01
Speaker 1: his words?
9:02
Speaker 8: His words? His words?
9:03
Speaker 1: And nature? Can I ask you this? What does he
9:06
Speaker 1: do for a living other than be enthusiastic about nature?
9:10
Speaker 8: Working at a public's grocery store?
9:12
Speaker 1: Okay, Oh, I'm glad you said that, because they both
9:15
Speaker 1: worked at publics. But that's not where they met. Okay,
9:18
Speaker 1: I'm interrupting you.
9:19
Speaker 9: Go ahead?
9:19
Speaker 8: Will They originally meet in New York State and then
9:24
Speaker 8: he leaves with his parents to go to Florida. She
9:27
Speaker 8: follows a few years later, so earlier this summer, they
9:31
Speaker 8: decide that they are going to leave all of their
9:34
Speaker 8: valuables behind and transform this van into a mini camper,
9:40
Speaker 8: travel up to see her brother graduate in New York State,
9:44
Speaker 8: and then cross the country on this excursion.
9:47
Speaker 1: Now it's my understanding. Christy, Missouri. They knew each other
9:51
Speaker 1: way back way back home in Suffolk County.
9:54
Speaker 2: Then she.
9:56
Speaker 1: Goes. Then they meet each other again years later, slightly
10:00
Speaker 1: meeting an old high school friend, and they fall in love.
10:04
Speaker 1: He moves to Florida, she comes down with him. Her father,
10:08
Speaker 1: her bio dad, also moves to Florida to be near her.
10:11
Speaker 1: The mom and her new husband stay in New York.
10:14
Speaker 1: Is my understanding, and then they travel back to New
10:18
Speaker 1: York for her little brother's high school graduation, and from
10:21
Speaker 1: there they commence the road trip Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
10:36
Speaker 1: In the last hours, a judge dismisses Gabby Petito's family
10:42
Speaker 1: suit against the Moab Police. I think it's completely wrong,
10:48
Speaker 1: but it happened. A Disha Court judge dismissed the case
10:53
Speaker 1: against the Moab Police Department. Now Justin Burton, who is
10:59
Speaker 1: Gab's family lawyer, argued the ability to file a suit
11:05
Speaker 1: like this is built into the Utah Constitution and that
11:10
Speaker 1: the government immunity. As I was describing earlier, sovereign immunity
11:16
Speaker 1: is unconstitutional, completely unconstitutional. Now, the judge, as I've seen
11:22
Speaker 1: so many times before, this is Judge Don Torttersen goes
11:28
Speaker 1: to great links to explain before he dismissed it how
11:33
Speaker 1: he had to follow the law. Well, if this is
11:36
Speaker 1: the lawn, the law is an ass okay, and Torgerson
11:41
Speaker 1: went along with it. What happened, Sharon Stark? It looks
11:46
Speaker 1: like something off HGTV where they have people that live
11:50
Speaker 1: they redo a little house or a house on wheels,
11:53
Speaker 1: or traveling campers, and you're on the room and it's
11:56
Speaker 1: so amazing and it's escapist, but this was their real life.
12:01
Speaker 1: Gabby Gabrielle and boyfriend Laundry go on this What's in
12:08
Speaker 1: a lifetime fantastic trip and they video blog it and
12:14
Speaker 1: the blog is engrossing in one part. Karen, I mean,
12:19
Speaker 1: I watched the whole thing, which is rare for me.
12:22
Speaker 1: She's in her tent. She says, we're going to hang
12:24
Speaker 1: out at the campsite today and it all looks so
12:27
Speaker 1: cozy and perfect, and you can see this beautiful natural
12:31
Speaker 1: scenery that most of us just dream of seeing one
12:34
Speaker 1: day in the background and then one day it's raining
12:37
Speaker 1: and she's holding the tent up like that because she
12:40
Speaker 1: says the rain's coming in and she's laughing. She's just
12:43
Speaker 1: so happy and it makes you want to go along
12:46
Speaker 1: with them. She's got a very inviting personality.
12:51
Speaker 10: She's totally engrossing, and the whole trip. The only thing
12:55
Speaker 10: that's what makes it so mysterious and upsetting to think
13:00
Speaker 10: about how beautiful is coming across and she totally disappeared.
13:04
Speaker 10: And Nancy, when you watched that, the only thing that
13:07
Speaker 10: you can find is that she talks about how precarious
13:11
Speaker 10: it is that they like to climb, and they really
13:14
Speaker 10: like to climb things that are difficult.
13:16
Speaker 1: You know, that's so funny, funny. Odd. I was up
13:20
Speaker 1: super early this morning studying about Gabrielle Gabby and was
13:25
Speaker 1: discussing it with my friend Medea, and she said, well,
13:29
Speaker 1: what if they were posting on a cliff and Gabby
13:33
Speaker 1: fell off? And my response was that could possibly have happened,
13:38
Speaker 1: But why would he get in the van and come
13:42
Speaker 1: all the way back home to Florida. Is it north
13:46
Speaker 1: Port or North north Point, Christy Masurich, It's north Port
13:51
Speaker 1: Port Port.
13:52
Speaker 8: Nancy, to your point of all the cliff climbing. On
13:56
Speaker 8: August twenty third, Gabby didn't post on Instagram that the
14:01
Speaker 8: pair were doing adventurous and risky hikes through some dangerous
14:07
Speaker 8: terrain during their stay. That was one of her last posts.
14:11
Speaker 1: You know, back to you, Karen, with that knowledge. You know,
14:16
Speaker 1: Christy massourk is right, the hiking was very forcarious. As
14:21
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, if that happened, why would he
14:24
Speaker 1: drive all the way back to Northport, Florida, which I
14:29
Speaker 1: think is Sarasota County and not say a word to
14:32
Speaker 1: anybody if she fell off a cliff, or even if
14:35
Speaker 1: they had an argument, Karen and she's like, I'm not
14:37
Speaker 1: going anymore, this is it and leaves number one? Why
14:40
Speaker 1: would he leave or stranded if that's what happened, but
14:44
Speaker 1: to come all the way back home and not tell
14:48
Speaker 1: everybody what happened.
14:50
Speaker 10: Either this is really a nefarious character and he planned
14:53
Speaker 10: something all along, or he went into shock. Something really
14:58
Speaker 10: did happen to her and he.
14:59
Speaker 1: Couldn't cope with it and not a hand Karen, Karen, Karen, Karen, Karen, Karen.
15:05
Speaker 1: If he could drive across country and operate a van
15:10
Speaker 1: having to stop, I guess for gas or food. That's
15:15
Speaker 1: not a shock to me. When you're in shock, you
15:17
Speaker 1: can't think straight.
15:18
Speaker 11: Not necessarily.
15:20
Speaker 10: He could get himself home. He could have punished. And
15:23
Speaker 10: that's the only thing I could think of that would
15:26
Speaker 10: make sense out of it. Unless he actually had planned all.
15:30
Speaker 7: Along to do something.
15:31
Speaker 1: I don't believe that there was a plan all along
15:33
Speaker 1: to do something. I don't believe that. Guys. Take a
15:36
Speaker 1: listen to our cut five. I loved it.
15:44
Speaker 5: So we are right outside Capital Reef right now in
15:48
Speaker 5: a free dispersed camp spot. And we've been lucky so
15:52
Speaker 5: far at all the places we stayed, but I say
15:55
Speaker 5: this is one of the best so far. Since we
15:57
Speaker 5: left in New York, I've only set up my Hammick ones.
16:00
Speaker 5: They were all do way in Utah, and luckily enough,
16:02
Speaker 5: I was able to setup my handmack.
16:03
Speaker 1: One of these trees, and they're kind of like in
16:05
Speaker 1: the desert.
16:06
Speaker 5: I heard a few trees.
16:08
Speaker 1: It just sounds so beautiful. And I also noticed, straight
16:13
Speaker 1: out to you, Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina trial lawyer Kathleen,
16:18
Speaker 1: I noticed throughout he spoke very little. It's mostly her
16:22
Speaker 1: shooting the video and speaking. He did occasionally speak, but
16:25
Speaker 1: I want to know what you make of it, Kathleen.
16:27
Speaker 11: Well, first, Nancy, I went and tried to do a
16:30
Speaker 11: deep dive on who this guy is. In all of
16:32
Speaker 11: his social media accounts, there's nothing. Prior to meeting this
16:36
Speaker 11: young lady. I knew nothing about him except what.
16:40
Speaker 12: He is like with this young lady.
16:42
Speaker 10: I did, and.
16:44
Speaker 12: It's concerning to me that we don't know much.
16:46
Speaker 11: And you know, I have a daughter about the same
16:48
Speaker 11: age and I know her boyfriend pretty well.
16:50
Speaker 1: And I went and deep dived on his social media account.
16:54
Speaker 11: I can't find anything about this young guy before he
16:58
Speaker 11: met this girl.
16:59
Speaker 1: How old is Well, from what we understand, he is
17:03
Speaker 1: a twenty three year old young man. That's my understanding
17:07
Speaker 1: of his age, Kathleen, twenty three.
17:09
Speaker 11: He looks a lot older on his pictures, but it
17:11
Speaker 11: seems to me that he would have high school pictures
17:14
Speaker 11: and work pictures and family pictures out there. But I
17:18
Speaker 11: didn't find anything, and so I don't really know if
17:21
Speaker 11: the family knows much about him.
17:22
Speaker 1: Well, I would think that they do. Christy, Missouri, because
17:25
Speaker 1: my understanding of how the two knew each other is
17:28
Speaker 1: they knew each other previously, and there's not much previously.
17:33
Speaker 1: The only she's only twenty two, so she had to
17:36
Speaker 1: know him in high school or college. She had to
17:40
Speaker 1: know him at that point. Then they reconnect and then
17:45
Speaker 1: fall in love. That's my understanding. So the family had
17:48
Speaker 1: to know him if she knew him in her past.
17:50
Speaker 8: She's only twenty two, correct, they didn't go to high
17:53
Speaker 8: school together, and they knew Brian in passing in passing
17:57
Speaker 8: and when they reconnected, they time gave the duel their blessing.
18:03
Speaker 8: That's why her biological father moved down to Florida to
18:06
Speaker 8: be close to them.
18:08
Speaker 1: Listen to Nicole Schmidt is Gabby's mother, and Jim Schmidt,
18:14
Speaker 1: her stepfather, at their most recent press conference. When she left,
18:18
Speaker 1: what did she say, like Cima, we sit on my height?
18:21
Speaker 1: What did she what was it like?
18:23
Speaker 13: We hig?
18:24
Speaker 1: We gave them some money, so you know they needed
18:26
Speaker 1: it because they're kids. You know, they were excited.
18:30
Speaker 6: About the truth.
18:31
Speaker 1: They left on July second from New York. What was
18:34
Speaker 1: the hardest of the trip?
18:35
Speaker 5: On the many what are they wanted to do?
18:37
Speaker 3: Camping, hiking, seeing the country?
18:41
Speaker 12: What was both truth?
18:44
Speaker 1: The trip was the end in October and Shortland Oregon.
18:49
Speaker 14: And what was the last conversation you had with her
18:51
Speaker 14: on video chat?
18:52
Speaker 5: Whether she's say, I believe it was around the twenty
18:55
Speaker 5: third and for the twenty fourth I can't recall, but
19:00
Speaker 5: she was having a great time.
19:01
Speaker 1: She said she was headed up to Wyoming. So the
19:06
Speaker 1: last time that we see her they were facetiming, to
19:10
Speaker 1: my understanding, was around let's give it the benefit of
19:13
Speaker 1: the doubt, August twenty four. She was not reported missing
19:18
Speaker 1: by her family until September eleven. Why well, you heard
19:22
Speaker 1: the mother stating that she thought Gabby had gone into
19:27
Speaker 1: a remote area where there's no cell phone coverage, so
19:30
Speaker 1: she chalked it off. Now, they were speaking every three
19:34
Speaker 1: days or so by FaceTime, and her bio dad was
19:37
Speaker 1: also speaking to her. So the first three days past
19:40
Speaker 1: and she thinks, well, she's in a bad cell area.
19:43
Speaker 1: Then we get to the next three days as she
19:46
Speaker 1: still does not.
19:47
Speaker 7: Hear from her.
19:48
Speaker 1: So you go August twenty four, you pass six days,
19:52
Speaker 1: you're now at August thirty. Then she finds out, to
19:56
Speaker 1: my understanding, that the boyfriend comes back home on September
20:01
Speaker 1: eleven in the van with no Gabby. That is when
20:06
Speaker 1: she not the boyfriend reports Gabby missing. I don't like it.
20:13
Speaker 1: I don't like it one bit. A judge has granted
20:17
Speaker 1: the defense motion to dismiss the family of Gabby Potito's
20:22
Speaker 1: lawsuit against Moab Police Department. It was a virtual hearing
20:27
Speaker 1: in the last hours. The state argued a lawsuit like
20:30
Speaker 1: this should not be filed against the Moab PD because
20:33
Speaker 1: of sovereign immunity. The king can do no wrong. It's
20:37
Speaker 1: a holdover from Anglo Saxon common law that we brought
20:42
Speaker 1: with us when we settled America from Great Britain. Well,
20:49
Speaker 1: I got a curve ball for you, judge. If this
20:51
Speaker 1: is the law, then the laws asked, do I need
20:54
Speaker 1: to jog your memory, Judge Jorgerson, about what happened to
20:57
Speaker 1: Gabby Potito? Okay, I will. I want you to take
21:01
Speaker 1: a listen to what we know about the van showing up.
21:05
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our cut twenty four. It's Evan Exelbank.
21:08
Speaker 1: Our friends at Fox thirteen.
21:10
Speaker 15: Police found the van that they were potentially by the
21:13
Speaker 15: boyfriend's parents. They're now processing that. They've toted it away
21:16
Speaker 15: and are looking through it for any evidence they can find.
21:20
Speaker 15: Family in New York say that Gabrielle Pateto was on
21:24
Speaker 15: a cross country trip, leaving Long Island on July tewod
21:27
Speaker 15: They were headed to Oregon, but stoppering numerous places along
21:31
Speaker 15: the way, documenting their journey in their van on YouTube.
21:35
Speaker 15: Family last spoke with her August twenty fourth or twenty fifth,
21:39
Speaker 15: and last texted.
21:40
Speaker 1: With her August thirtieth.
21:41
Speaker 15: She was reported missing this weekend September eleventh, and they
21:45
Speaker 15: may have reached as far as Grand Teton National Park.
21:48
Speaker 1: What happened that fateful moment when Moap police ignored all
21:54
Speaker 1: the signs that Gabby Berttita was a domestic violence victim,
21:59
Speaker 1: named her the aggressor, and sent her along her way
22:05
Speaker 1: with her killer body cam video. Let's go Tyler, if
22:11
Speaker 1: you could play cut to zero eight. This is Adrian
22:15
Speaker 1: Banker Muse Nation now.
22:16
Speaker 16: Biddi camera video has been released from Gabby Patito and
22:18
Speaker 16: Brian Laundry's heated exchange in Utah back in August, and it.
22:21
Speaker 16: Patito admits she hit Laundry first, but that then he
22:25
Speaker 16: grabbed her face after and dug his nails into her face.
22:28
Speaker 16: The officer is heard on this camera footage this video
22:32
Speaker 16: footage telling Laundry that he is the victim of domestic assault.
22:37
Speaker 4: The police chief has taken a sudden leave of absence,
22:39
Speaker 4: and now the city is looking into how the police
22:42
Speaker 4: officers involved handled the situation when they were called to
22:45
Speaker 4: stop there with Gabby and with Brian, and many people
22:48
Speaker 4: criticizing this incident because the police called Brian the victim
22:52
Speaker 4: in this situation.
22:54
Speaker 1: Let me go straight out to Marsacaiety joining us WFLATV.
23:00
Speaker 1: How come we didn't say that bodycam video to start with.
23:04
Speaker 17: Great question, A great question and a question that we're asking.
23:08
Speaker 17: And another question, is there any other bodycam video that
23:11
Speaker 17: we haven't seen yet. There's a female law enforcement officer
23:14
Speaker 17: on that scene, and she is according to the two
23:17
Speaker 17: bodycam videos that we have seen already, she does appear
23:20
Speaker 17: to be talking with Gabby alone while Gabby is in
23:23
Speaker 17: the back of that police cruiser. You know, sometimes a
23:27
Speaker 17: girl might reveal more information to another to another woman,
23:31
Speaker 17: So it'd be very interesting to see if there's any
23:33
Speaker 17: other bodycam video and feel free to chime in. But
23:36
Speaker 17: I did think I saw possibly a camera on her uniform,
23:40
Speaker 17: so that's one big question. But really the new thing
23:42
Speaker 17: that happened when this video was released the officer says, quote,
23:46
Speaker 17: did he hit you though, And she says, I guess yeah,
23:50
Speaker 17: but I hit him first, and she kind of breaks down.
23:53
Speaker 17: She says, he grabbed my face. He didn't punch me,
23:56
Speaker 17: but he grabbed.
23:57
Speaker 1: Me with his mail.
23:58
Speaker 17: I definitely have a cut it.
24:00
Speaker 13: When I touch.
24:00
Speaker 11: It, it burns.
24:02
Speaker 17: So this is what was new Gabby saying very clearly
24:06
Speaker 17: that he also assaulted her in this way. This is
24:09
Speaker 17: something that we did not hear as clearly.
24:11
Speaker 1: Let's try to play the entirety of cut to eleven
24:16
Speaker 1: the Moa Police Department second body cam footage that we
24:20
Speaker 1: didn't see initially after lock out.
24:24
Speaker 10: He walked away to take it either, but I wanted
24:27
Speaker 10: to sit in the car because there was all myself in.
24:30
Speaker 14: The car.
24:32
Speaker 1: And I was working on something at the moment in
24:35
Speaker 1: the car and I don't want to relax. So I got.
24:47
Speaker 9: Happen here. It's like, did you get hit in the face?
25:01
Speaker 10: I would hitting you in.
25:02
Speaker 11: The face, an over on your arm, shoulder just this
25:08
Speaker 11: new huh, new mark.
25:12
Speaker 10: That's the other side of the face.
25:14
Speaker 17: So what happens here?
25:16
Speaker 7: And here.
25:18
Speaker 12: I'm I'm sure you.
25:23
Speaker 14: Find so the back gotcha?
25:30
Speaker 1: So she has a bruise and a cut on her face,
25:33
Speaker 1: a bruise on her left arm, yet she was deemed
25:38
Speaker 1: the aggressor. If Laundry had been arrested right then and
25:44
Speaker 1: there for domestic violence in Moab, would Gabby be alive today?
25:51
Speaker 18: I'm doctor brin Blue County, Wyoming Corner. After a detailed
25:56
Speaker 18: investigation by our forensic pathologists or anthropologist and over the
26:00
Speaker 18: law enforcement with assistance from the FBI the Teton County
26:04
Speaker 18: Corners offices following the fallen Verdon in a manner of
26:08
Speaker 18: death of Gabrielle Noora Patito, we find the cause and
26:12
Speaker 18: manner of the cause death by strangulation and manner is
26:16
Speaker 18: homicide to investigate.
26:18
Speaker 1: A reporter with w FLA TV joining me right now.
26:21
Speaker 1: Massa's Society on the case from the very beginning. Were
26:25
Speaker 1: you surprised at all with what the car owner said
26:30
Speaker 1: strangulation death?
26:32
Speaker 13: I mean, it has been just an absolutely heartbreaking day.
26:34
Speaker 13: We know that the Petito family knew this was coming,
26:37
Speaker 13: that officials were in.
26:38
Speaker 17: Touch with them.
26:39
Speaker 13: But as you said, we just learned from the Titan
26:42
Speaker 13: County Corner that Gabby Petito was strangled. It's unclear if
26:45
Speaker 13: it was manual or with an object. We also learned
26:48
Speaker 13: that her body had been outside in the wilderness, likely
26:52
Speaker 13: for three to four weeks before it was discovered.
26:55
Speaker 17: We had no other information about.
26:57
Speaker 13: Her remains, as you mentioned right off the top, Nancy,
27:00
Speaker 13: any potential prior injuries, that the body had been moved,
27:03
Speaker 13: none of that. The Chutung County corner doctor Brent Blue
27:06
Speaker 13: kept saying that his job was only to determine the
27:08
Speaker 13: cause of death and the manner of death. Reporters were
27:12
Speaker 13: peppering him with tons of questions. Everyone was asking him
27:15
Speaker 13: about Brian Laundry, about the potential suspect, and he kept
27:18
Speaker 13: saying that he could reveal nothing about the success. But
27:21
Speaker 13: then he made a statement that to me was stunning.
27:24
Speaker 13: He said, unfortunately, and I'm quoting here, he said, this
27:28
Speaker 13: is only one of many deaths around the country of
27:31
Speaker 13: people who were involved and domestic violence. And when he
27:36
Speaker 13: said that, that just struck me because he said he
27:38
Speaker 13: couldn't reveal anything about the suspects. But then he made
27:41
Speaker 13: that statement to.
27:42
Speaker 1: Doctor angel Arnold, psychiatrist joining us out of Atlanta at
27:45
Speaker 1: ANGELA Arnold MD dot com. What do you think we
27:48
Speaker 1: have finally learned the cause of death, not manner cause
27:52
Speaker 1: she was strangled. And I guarantee you it was manual.
27:57
Speaker 1: When I say manual vligator, I mean ligature is with
28:00
Speaker 1: a pair of pantyhose or stocking or a scar. Manual
28:03
Speaker 1: is with your hands. Yes, go ahead, Dodger, Nancy.
28:06
Speaker 19: This is what I have been saying all along.
28:09
Speaker 1: True.
28:10
Speaker 19: The domestic violence, the intimate partner violence that was going on.
28:15
Speaker 19: He slapped her, that was the last thing we saw.
28:18
Speaker 3: We have it on.
28:19
Speaker 19: They have hurt him a knitting to that strangulation. Strangulation
28:25
Speaker 19: happens over time, Okay, the violence becomes more severe. This
28:31
Speaker 19: is what was going on in this situation. My thought is,
28:35
Speaker 19: I don't know, maybe they had another altercation in the van.
28:39
Speaker 12: Y think you say they.
28:41
Speaker 1: Got out of the band warden and he's female warden
28:44
Speaker 1: that said, hey, you need to rethink whether you want
28:47
Speaker 1: to go forward this guy. It's toxic.
28:48
Speaker 11: Do you remember that, Cheryl Nancy?
28:50
Speaker 20: I remember, And that's one of the things that makes
28:52
Speaker 20: me so hard.
28:53
Speaker 1: I mean, now you've got complete strangers coming up to
28:56
Speaker 1: her and saying, hey, little girl, this is bad. You
29:00
Speaker 1: need to get out of this. And now she's dead
29:02
Speaker 1: by manual strangulation.
29:03
Speaker 20: There's two things that happened in that instant, that female
29:06
Speaker 20: officer saying to her, your relationship being toxic, and during
29:11
Speaker 20: that event, right there on the side of the road,
29:13
Speaker 20: her calling her parents, let's.
29:16
Speaker 1: Look back at that Moab August twelfth incident as it's
29:20
Speaker 1: been being called. When finally she revealed that Ryan Laundry
29:25
Speaker 1: grabbed her by the face and I can just see
29:30
Speaker 1: that hand going down to her neck. I mean, can
29:35
Speaker 1: anybody but me visualize this happening to her? I mean,
29:38
Speaker 1: she's basically told us what happened, and you know.
29:41
Speaker 14: What Laundry said. Nancy Laundry said that she lost her
29:44
Speaker 14: balance but was able to scratch his face, just what
29:47
Speaker 14: we were talking about before. So both of them, in
29:50
Speaker 14: some sense give us some of the clues that we're
29:53
Speaker 14: looking for now.
30:01
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Gabby's family begged the court
30:09
Speaker 1: to end police immunity, not for the whole government, but
30:15
Speaker 1: just police immunity in a fifty million dollar lawsuit against
30:19
Speaker 1: the MOEIPD, noting that before she died, Moab police were
30:24
Speaker 1: called to a domestic violence complaint involving the pair. Gabby's
30:30
Speaker 1: family insists responding officers did not take the complaint seriously,
30:35
Speaker 1: The Moai police insists that Gabby Petito, this waif weighs
30:41
Speaker 1: about one hundred and five pounds versus Brian Laundry approaching
30:45
Speaker 1: two hundred pounds, she was the aggressor. Did they miss
30:50
Speaker 1: every classic symptom of battering that she was abused? The denial,
30:57
Speaker 1: the hysterical crying, the desire not to be separated, the taking,
31:03
Speaker 1: the blame herself, explaining away her own injuries, ignoring the
31:10
Speaker 1: nine one one call that had just happened for a
31:13
Speaker 1: witness outside, I believe the Moonflower co Op Cafe saw
31:18
Speaker 1: Brian Laundry hitting her in the face on the street
31:23
Speaker 1: and broad daylight, and still, even with that knowledge, called
31:30
Speaker 1: her the aggressor. Okay, you know what I want you
31:36
Speaker 1: to take a listen to is very very disturbing to me.
31:40
Speaker 1: It start cut four twenty eight is Nate Carlyle at
31:43
Speaker 1: Fox thirteen.
31:45
Speaker 3: Here on what's labeled page two, the captain takes a
31:47
Speaker 3: moment to ponder, would Gabby be alive today if this
31:51
Speaker 3: case was handled differently? That is an impossible question to answer.
31:55
Speaker 3: For his part, Krett told the captain, who worried taking
31:58
Speaker 3: Patito to jail, would in bulk and laundry. So if
32:01
Speaker 3: he's going to go bail her out, is he not
32:04
Speaker 3: going to have more control over her now? Pratts quoted
32:07
Speaker 3: as saying, well, I've said it would adopt the recommendations
32:10
Speaker 3: to improve training and added domestic violence specialist to oversee
32:14
Speaker 3: incidents investigated by its officers.
32:16
Speaker 1: So they're still sticking with They're going down with the ship.
32:23
Speaker 1: They refused to admit, they screwed up, they had laundry,
32:28
Speaker 1: They did nothing, and they let him go and now
32:30
Speaker 1: she's dead.
32:31
Speaker 7: Jump intow what I used to teach domestic violence at
32:34
Speaker 7: police academies in Florida. One of the things that's mandated,
32:38
Speaker 7: certainly in Florida and is now mandated everywhere is to
32:42
Speaker 7: arrest one of the parties. And there's even legislation that
32:46
Speaker 7: prohibits individuals from suing the police if they arrest the
32:50
Speaker 7: wrong person. So back at that time that this happened,
32:54
Speaker 7: they should have arrested either one or both of these
32:57
Speaker 7: individuals and that would have resolved the problem at least
33:00
Speaker 7: for a moment.
33:01
Speaker 1: Tell me about the Moai police and the investigation by
33:06
Speaker 1: the neighboring county. I believe it was Price County.
33:09
Speaker 9: Yeah, it was Price police who did the investigation. The
33:11
Speaker 9: Moab Police department is very small, and then the chief
33:15
Speaker 9: takeaways from the investigation into their handling of the traffic
33:18
Speaker 9: stop or the domestic violence stop.
33:20
Speaker 21: Was that these officers involved need more training and they
33:23
Speaker 21: should go back on probation. And you know, if a
33:26
Speaker 21: small department, they're probably not trained as a lot of
33:28
Speaker 21: the big city departments were used to dealing with. So
33:32
Speaker 21: they're saying, hindsighty's twenty twenty, we had no idea that
33:35
Speaker 21: Brian was a killer. And that's the point that they're
33:38
Speaker 21: sticking to.
33:38
Speaker 1: Well, I agree with that. I agree with them on that,
33:42
Speaker 1: But in this day and age, I mean, women are
33:46
Speaker 1: beaten all across the world. It doesn't matter if you're
33:49
Speaker 1: in a small town or a big city like New
33:51
Speaker 1: York City. It doesn't matter if you dropped out of
33:54
Speaker 1: school in the sixth grader, if you've got your PHID.
33:57
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if you make two hundred thousand dollars
34:01
Speaker 1: a year, or you make thirty thousand dollars a year,
34:03
Speaker 1: or if you have one child, no children, or six children.
34:06
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. Women are abused, beaten, senseless across the board.
34:13
Speaker 1: None of that socio economic distinctions, none of them matter period.
34:19
Speaker 1: That has been proven statistically. So the fact that Moi
34:23
Speaker 1: Police is a small jurisdiction, does that mean the women
34:26
Speaker 1: there aren't getting beaten behind closed doors? No, it does not.
34:30
Speaker 1: And right there on the main street, Michael Luis, we
34:35
Speaker 1: have a witness calling nine one one that Gabby is
34:38
Speaker 1: getting beaten basically on main street in broad daylight. What
34:43
Speaker 1: they couldn't check that out and figure out this is Gabby?
34:48
Speaker 7: Oh.
34:48
Speaker 9: I spoke with quite a few experts on the legal side,
34:51
Speaker 9: in the law enforcement side, and you know, they found
34:54
Speaker 9: the report a little bit lacking. They thought the findings
34:56
Speaker 9: might not have been as as severe as they could be.
35:00
Speaker 1: Okay, let us talk about what you just said, Michael Luiz, Okay, okay,
35:06
Speaker 1: let me get to my notes. I never saw any
35:11
Speaker 1: photos that they took of Gabby's injury to her face.
35:16
Speaker 1: They mentioned it in their BODYCM, but I didn't see
35:20
Speaker 1: any video.
35:21
Speaker 21: Did you They talk about them, Yeah, you're right, they
35:23
Speaker 21: talk about him in the body cam, but there's no
35:25
Speaker 21: documentation of them.
35:27
Speaker 1: So they take pictures of Brian Laundry and his injury,
35:31
Speaker 1: but not Gabby is yes, no, right, Okay. Did they
35:36
Speaker 1: contact the nine one one caller who reported the Brian
35:39
Speaker 1: laundry attack on Gabby? Did they call him? Michael Ruiz?
35:43
Speaker 9: So we found out from this report they went, they
35:46
Speaker 9: circled back with one witness, but that witness was not
35:50
Speaker 9: the ninety one one caller, so.
35:52
Speaker 1: That would be a note. They did not contact the
35:54
Speaker 1: nine one one.
35:55
Speaker 9: Caller, not the one who said he saw the I
35:58
Speaker 9: think the quote I saw the gentleman being the lady
36:01
Speaker 9: is what the nine one caller said.
36:03
Speaker 1: Did they mention Gabby's injuries in their written report.
36:08
Speaker 9: The best of my memory, I didn't see anything about it.
36:10
Speaker 1: I heard is no, they did not. Did they understand
36:14
Speaker 1: state law requirements for a claim of domestic assault Michael Ruis?
36:21
Speaker 9: I would think so because Officer Pratt even said so
36:24
Speaker 9: in his own body cam He said, you know, the
36:26
Speaker 9: reason this law is on the books that we have
36:27
Speaker 9: to arrest one is because down the line someone's going
36:29
Speaker 9: to get killed.
36:30
Speaker 1: The domestic violence domestic assault law in that jurisdiction, it
36:35
Speaker 1: seems like they had skimmed it but didn't really know
36:40
Speaker 1: what they were doing. In fact, in the final findings,
36:46
Speaker 1: they stay the officers misunderstood state law requirements for domestic assault.
36:51
Speaker 1: Did they ever consider or write in their report that
36:57
Speaker 1: Brian Laundry could be entered the potential suspect? Or was
37:02
Speaker 1: it always Gabby.
37:03
Speaker 9: In the initial police report it was Gabby? In the
37:06
Speaker 9: review from Price, the captain who wrote that report said
37:11
Speaker 9: that there was evidence that Gabby was a long term
37:15
Speaker 9: victim of domestic abuse.
37:16
Speaker 1: So in the officer's initial report, at the moment they
37:19
Speaker 1: could have stopped Brian Laundry and maybe prevented Gabby's murder,
37:25
Speaker 1: they never considered Brian Laundry as a potential suspect?
37:28
Speaker 16: Is that correct?
37:29
Speaker 9: From the initial reports? That's how it seems.
37:31
Speaker 1: Did they ever connect either of them with mental health
37:36
Speaker 1: caregivers such as even a volunteer like me at the
37:40
Speaker 1: Battered Women's Center it's a toll free number. I manned
37:44
Speaker 1: the hotline for nine years. Did they ever do that,
37:49
Speaker 1: Michael Ruis?
37:51
Speaker 7: They did.
37:51
Speaker 9: They did bring Brian to a hotel through a charity
37:54
Speaker 9: for domestic victims that they checked him into the hotel
37:58
Speaker 9: through that charity. In the report from Price, we see
38:02
Speaker 9: that they didn't connect them with professionals. They didn't give
38:05
Speaker 9: them documentation.
38:06
Speaker 1: So the answer would be no, would it not. I
38:09
Speaker 1: guess not, Doctor Bethany Marshall. What are the classic symptoms
38:13
Speaker 1: of a domestic violence victim? And don't get me wrong,
38:16
Speaker 1: I know that there are some men that are battered
38:19
Speaker 1: and amused, but they are about one and a half
38:23
Speaker 1: percent of the entire partner battering universe. So let's just
38:29
Speaker 1: get real. Women are the victims. What are the symptoms
38:32
Speaker 1: that Gabby Patito displayed, Doctor Bethany.
38:35
Speaker 12: Well, everything she displayed, I mean protecting the abuser, minimizing
38:40
Speaker 12: the harm done for her self, blame not tailor telling
38:44
Speaker 12: a cohesive history about what had.
38:46
Speaker 1: Been done to her.
38:48
Speaker 12: The fact is that she owns her part in the
38:51
Speaker 12: things in the conflict. She says she's punched them in
38:54
Speaker 12: the arm, but she minimizes that she punched them in
38:57
Speaker 12: the arm because she was so frustrated and he was
39:00
Speaker 12: driving erratically.
39:01
Speaker 1: He was taking her van and her cell phone.
39:06
Speaker 14: Exactly, and that you you put it more beautifully, that
39:09
Speaker 14: I was trying to collect my thoughts on I know
39:11
Speaker 14: he had taken the van, I know he had taken
39:13
Speaker 14: the cell phone.
39:14
Speaker 12: Well, that was that would be the final.
39:15
Speaker 1: Sign nile denial that she is a domestic violence victim,
39:20
Speaker 1: her injuries, the fact that she tried to minimize, as
39:25
Speaker 1: you said, doctor Bethany, the damage to her. I mean,
39:30
Speaker 1: it goes on and on and on, the classic signs
39:33
Speaker 1: that she is a domestic violence victim. Saying would it
39:38
Speaker 1: have stopped Gabby's murder is like reading the teelies. But
39:41
Speaker 1: I know this, It would have been a much better
39:44
Speaker 1: chance that she survived if she had gotten batter woman's counseling,
39:49
Speaker 1: even over the phone with a volunteer at the shelter,
39:55
Speaker 1: even that could have saved her life. But the officers,
40:00
Speaker 1: to make themselves feel better, I guess, keep saying, well,
40:02
Speaker 1: you know, we don't think it would have made a difference. Really, well,
40:05
Speaker 1: you'll never know because you screwed it up. Take a
40:08
Speaker 1: listen to our cup four two seven eight Carlisle Fox thirteen.
40:12
Speaker 5: If I had any discression of this, I would separate
40:15
Speaker 5: you guys from the day and.
40:15
Speaker 9: Just give you warnings they stopped at each other.
40:19
Speaker 5: Well, I lawfully don't.
40:20
Speaker 3: Have discretion here yet. Veteran Moab police officer Eric Pratt
40:24
Speaker 3: and the new officer he was trained by Daniel Robbins
40:27
Speaker 3: dead let Gabby Batito and Brian laundry go The report
40:30
Speaker 3: by a Price Utah police captain says that by law,
40:34
Speaker 3: Patito should have been cited or arrested once officers determined
40:37
Speaker 3: she was the aggressor. The captain sustained or confirmed multiple
40:42
Speaker 3: complaints where Prad and Robbins failed to follow the law
40:45
Speaker 3: in Moab's own policies, including failing to obtain witness statements
40:49
Speaker 3: and properly documenting the roadside investigation.
40:53
Speaker 1: So give me your finals, go ahead, Dell.
40:55
Speaker 7: There's a fifty percent reduction in homicides in domestic violence
40:59
Speaker 7: station is if one of the parties is arrested. That's
41:02
Speaker 7: the statistic that led to all this legislation.
41:06
Speaker 12: Bethany and I would say, if one of the classic
41:08
Speaker 12: signs of abuse is leaving the woman alone in a
41:11
Speaker 12: deserted place without resources, then all three men abused her.
41:15
Speaker 1: In the last hours, a judge has ruled in the
41:17
Speaker 1: favor of Moapp Police Department. Listen, I'm from LA law enforcement.
41:25
Speaker 1: I believe in law enforcement. I support law enforcement. However,
41:32
Speaker 1: what happened that day was wrong. In the last hours
41:37
Speaker 1: of judge rules in favor of Moapp Police Department against
41:41
Speaker 1: the family of Gabby Patito. As I said earlier, it
41:48
Speaker 1: ain't over yet. Goodbye,