Gabby Petito case: New bodycam footage released, FBI takes items from Brian Laundrie's home

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Friday, October 1, 2021
New body camera video in Petito case released, FBI searches Laundrie's home
New body camera video in Petito case released, FBI searches Laundrie's homeVictor Oquendo reports on the search for Brian Laundrie in the Gabby Petito case.

NEW YORK -- There is new body camera video from a second officer responding to the 911 call of a domestic dispute between Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie while they were on the road back in August.

"Is there something on your cheek here, looks like - Did you get -- did you get hit in the face?" the officer asked.

Petito looked at visible bruises on her body as the officer questioned her while she sat in the vehicle.

"Well to be honest, I definitely hit him first," Petito said.

"Did he hit you though? I mean, it's okay if you're saying you hit him and then I understand if he hit you, but we want to know the truth if he actually hit you," the officer said.

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"I guess, I guess, yeah," Petito said. "He like, grabbed me with his nail."

Officers later classified the incident as a mental health break and decided to separate the two for the evening.

The City of Moab has launched an internal investigation into how officers handled that stop.

Meantime, newly-uncovered police reports are shedding new light on the case and the search for Laundrie.

According to records obtained by ABC News, officers were called to the Laundrie family home multiple times before Petito was reporting missing.

Police responded to the house in North Port, Florida twice on September 10, and then three times on September 11, which is the day Petito's family reported her missing.

The nature of the calls has not been revealed.

But Petito's father reportedly made all of the calls, concerned about her whereabouts.

ABC News obtained 46 pages of records of the calls that spanned Sept. 10-27.

Gabby Petito disappearance timeline: What we know

Gabby Petito was traveling with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, in a cargo van the two had outfitted as a makeshift recreational vehicle for a months-long cross-country road trip when she mysteriously disappeared.

Laundrie has been missing for nearly two weeks after returning from a cross-country trip without Petito, who was later found dead in Wyoming.

FBI agents returned to the Laundrie's home Thursday, spending time inside the house and inside the camper Laundrie and his parents took on a trip just days before he went missing.

The Laundrie family's attorney says agents collected personal items to "assist the canines in their search."

"I would say the idea they want to continue with a scent dog to find Brian is fairly encouraging," said Brad Garrett, former FBI agent and ABC News contributor. "That means that perhaps they have a location they are focusing on that we don't know about and they wanted a fresh scent, to let the dogs go back and track this new area they could be searching as we speak."

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