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By Shirenna |

Utah 911 caller claims they witnessed Petito’s fiancé slap her

Missing Traveler
This police camera video provided by The Moab Police Department shows Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito talking to a police officer after police pulled over the van she was traveling in with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, near the entrance to Arches National Park on Aug. 12, 2021. The couple was pulled over while they were having an emotional fight. Petito was reported missing by her family a month later and is now the subject of a nationwide search. (The Moab Police Department via AP)

According to audio obtain by Fox News, the person who contacted police in Utah during an domestic incident between Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie told dispatchers that they witnessed Laundrie strike Petito repeatedly despite the police report stating otherwise. The incident was reported on Aug. 12th in Moab, Utah, while the couple was traveling through the area. The witness told police that he was driving by and witnessed the incident taking place and decided to pull over:

“He was slapping her?” the dispatcher was heard asking.

“Yes, and then we stopped. They ran up and down the sidewalk. He proceeded to hit her, hopped in the car and they drove off,” the caller added.

The responding officer located the van Petito and Laundrie were traveling in and pulled them over. During his investigation of the incident the officer interview both parties together and then separated both parties and interviewed them again: “The driver of the van, a male, had some sort of argument with the female, Gabbie,” a responding officer wrote in a police report. “The male tried to create distance by telling Gabbie to go take a walk to calm down, she didn’t want to be separated from the male, and began slapping him,” the report said. “He grabbed her face and pushed her back as she pressed upon him and the van, he tried to lock her out and succeeded except for his driver’s door, she opened that and forced her way over him and into the vehicle before it drove off.” The officer also included in the report that “no one reported that the male struck the female,” as neither Laundrie nor Petito made that statement. From the story, the officer decided it was an mental health issue in which both parties needed to separate for a time so that they could get ahold of their emotions. The officer then helped Laundrie get to a hotel room for the night, while Petito decided to sleep in her van. On Sunday, weeks after the incident, authorities discovered a body matching the description of Petito. Laundrie is now said to be missing. Authorities have now moved their investigation to the Laundrie home and are currently searching for Laundrie as well.