The New York Post e-Edition

A Gabby selfie shocker

Bloody pic of doomed gal in phone

By JORGE FITZ-GIBBON

A never-before-seen photo shows Gabby Petito with blood smeared across her face, just weeks before she was found beaten to death on an ill-fated cross-country trip with her thenfiancé and killer Brian Laundrie.

The 22-year-old Long Island native is pictured with blood over her left eye and nose in Moab, Utah, on Aug. 12, 2021, just before she and Laundrie were questioned by local cops who responded to a 911 call about a domestic incident — but did nothing.

The photo was released by attorneys for Petito’s family as part of their wrongful-death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department, filed in November.

The selfie, showing a teary-eyed Petito, was found on her cellphone.

“According to available data, the image was taken at 4:37 p.m., at or before the approximate time of the initial 911 call,” attorneys for her family said in a statement on their website, adding that the injuries indicated that “she was grabbed over the face in such a way that her airways were likely obstructed.”

They also argued that the photo shows that she was not the “predominate aggressor” that day and was “likely strangled and/or suffocated by Laundrie before police arrived on August 12, 2021.”

Petito allegedly showed her injuries to Moab cop Eric Pratt but the family claims he ignored her “and did nothing more to investigate or document the injury.”

“Moab Police failed to listen to Gabby, failed to investigate her injuries and the seriousness of her assault, and failed to follow their own training, policies, and Utah law,” the lawyers said.

Moab police later conceded that cops made “unintentional mistakes” when they questioned a distraught Petito near Arches National Park and let the pair go without any charges.

On Aug. 28, 2021, Petito was bludgeoned and strangled to death by Laundrie, with her remains found in a shallow grave at a Wyoming preserve on Sept. 18.

Laundrie, who drove home alone in Petito’s van to his parents’ home in North Port, Fla., on Sept. 1, later went missing and was found dead in a nearby swamp on

Oct. 20 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Police also found a handwritten confession to killing Petito.

The saga of her disappearance captivated the nation — as did the lengthy manhunt for Laundrie before his body was found amid reports of their volatile relationship.

Petito documented the trip on Instagram, which concealed the tension between the young couple. The new photo exposes the extent of Petito’s turmoil during the trip.

Petito’s parents are now suing

Laundrie’s parents in Florida, accusing them of knowingly withholding information about their daughter’s death.

Gabby, a Blue Point native, last spoke to her family on Aug. 25, 2021. A pair of YouTubers later spotted her 2021 Ford Transit van near Grand Teton two days later.

Her mother, Nichole Schmidt, reported her missing on Sept. 11, several days before Laundrie was identified as a person of interest.

A Moab spokeswoman said the city doesn’t comment on matters of litigation.

BORDER CRISIS

en-us

2023-02-08T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-02-08T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://nypost.pressreader.com/article/282054806190689

New York Post