MOAB, Utah – Moab police have unveiled details of a report they took last month related to the late Gabby Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie.
Police described the incident as a “mental health crisis” and no charges were filed against any of them.
According to the police report, the incident was reported on August 12 at 4:30 pm near a convenience store at 39 East 100 North in Moab, in which “men and the women had participated in some kind of alteration ”. Police investigated the incident as disorderly conduct.
A witness told police to “see a man, later identified as Brian Laundrie, and a woman, later identified as Gabrielle Petito, arguing over the phone.” The witness also said, “When Brian got into the van, he saw what it looked like when Gabrielle hit Brian in the arm and then went up through the driver’s window as if Brian had locked him up and was trying to find a way to to enter. “
Moab police stopped the couple’s van in Arches National Park.
Agent Daniel Robbins wrote in the report, “Gabrielle, who was in the passenger seat, was crying uncontrollably.” Robbins said Petito told him he had been arguing with Brian that day and that he was “struggling with his mental health.”
Laundrie told the agent that the couple had been arguing “more than usual” and that their relationship had recently strained after “traveling together for the past 4 or 5 months.” Laundrie also told police they were both struggling with an unspecified medical or emotional condition.
“While arguing near Main Street, he had tried to separate from her so they could calm his emotions,” Officer Robbins wrote in the police report. “She got in her van and Gabrielle had gone into a manic state. Brian said Gabrielle, thinking he would leave her in Moab without flying, went to slap her. When Gabrielle started swinging, Brian he pushed her aside to avoid the slap. “
Police said Laundrie had “some minor visible scratches.”
“After assessing all the circumstances,” Officer Robbins wrote, “I don’t think the situation will escalate to the level of a domestic assault as much as a mental health crisis. I then determined that the most appropriate procedure would be to help separate the parties overnight so that they could restore their mental states without mutual interference.
Another officer, Eric Pratt, wrote that the couple “reported that they are in love and that they got married and that they desperately did not want to see anyone accused of a crime.”
Agent Robbins said Petito grabbed the van while Laundrie got a hotel room to spend the night.
“I instructed both Brian and Gabrielle to take advantage of this time apart to relax their emotions and regain control of their anxiety,” Officer Robbins wrote.
According to the FOX 13 News report, agents instructed Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie to separate at night “and regain control of their anxiety.”
Her mother reported that Petito disappeared on September 11 when Gabby was unable to register for several days. The Florida couple was making a road trip in a converted van that roamed the national parks.
READ: Gabby Petito’s boyfriend named “person of interest” in disappearance
Gabby’s Instagram posts show that the couple was in Utah for several weeks. Gabby’s last physical sighting was at a Salt Lake City hotel and her last Instagram post was made in Ogden, Utah, on August 25th. The couple went to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, which is the last place Gabby’s mother said of her daughter.
Brian Laundrie, her boyfriend, returned home to North Port Florida on Sept. 1, alone, in the van the couple was traveling in.
Police have not charged Laundrie with any crime, but have named him a “person of interest” because he did not cooperate with investigators.
According to reports, Gabby’s family has organized a search party in Wyoming.