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Petito, age 22, of Blue Point in Suffolk County, was strangled and beaten to death last year in Wyoming by her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, also from Blue Point, but who relocated to North Port, Florida.
Laundrie, labeled a person of interest in the case by the FBI, later took his own life.
When his remains were found in a remote Florida nature reserve, a notebook was also discovered in which he confessed to the crime.
The notice of claim was filed on Friday, Aug, 5 by Petito's parents against Moab City Police and a dozen of its officers.
“Moab City Police Department has been plagued by high turnover, lack of leadership, and dangerous mismanagement for years,” said James McConkie, one of the attorneys representing the Petito family.
In the claim, McConkie says Laundrie murdered Petito shortly after the Moab City Police Department failed to adequately respond to reports and evidence of domestic violence between the couple.
The incident took place on August 12, 2021, after Moab Police received a 911 call reporting Laundrie hitting Petitio.
Police dispatch alerted officers to the report, including the fact that a witness had seen Brian assault Gabby, the claim says.
Two officers located the van the couple was traveling in and pulled it over. During the stop, according to body cam footage, Petito was crying uncontrollably and visibly in crisis. During the encounter, Petito told officers have grabbed her face and told them he "gets frustrated with me a lot."
Laundrie told officers that he and Gabby had been under increasing emotional strain, which led to them arguing more frequently over the previous few days. Brian admitted pushing Petito as she grabbed for her phone.
But instead of following state law of arresting someone or writing a ticket, police separated the two for the night and put Laundrie in a hotel room.
Roughly two weeks later, Laundrie murdered Petito, leaving her body in the woods of Grand Teton National Forest.
In a subsequent review of the Moab police officers’ handling of the incident, an independent investigator concluded that the officers made several mistakes and could not rule out that Gabby’s murder might have been prevented if the officers had handled the situation properly, the claim says.
In the notice to file, Petito's parents, Joseph and Tara Petito and Nichole and Jim Schmidt, have named the police department, numerous officers, and the assistant chief of police for failing to "understand and enforce the law of the State of Utah."
The Petito family recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Laundrie’s parents for alleged “intentional acts” that led to Petito's death.
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