Video: Missing woman argued with boyfriend
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Police video shows a Florida woman who disappeared during a cross-country journey in a converted camper van had an emotional fight with her boyfriend in a Utah tourist town before she vanished.
The video released by the Moab Police Department shows that an officer pulled over the van Aug. 12 after it was seen speeding and hit a curb near the entrance to Arches National Park.
Inside were Brian Laundrie and his girlfriend, Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, who was reported missing by her family a month later and is now the subject of a nationwide search joined by the FBI.
Police in North Port, Florida, where the couple lived, say Laundrie is a “person of interest” in her case. He’s not been charged, but he’s also not cooperating.
North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison publicly vented his frustration over his lack of help Wednesday, pleading for Laundrie’s lawyer to arrange a conversation. “Two people left on a trip and one person returned!” the chief ’s tweet said.
The body camera video shows Petito visibly upset when an officer approached them.
“We’ve just been fighting this morning. Some personal issues,” she tells him, adding that she suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder that affects her behavior.
“Yeah, I don’t know, it’s just some days, I have really bad OCD, and I was just cleaning and straightening up and I was apologizing to him saying that I’m so mean because sometimes I have OCD and get frustrated,” she said.
Laundrie says on the video the couple got into a scuffle that began when he climbed into the van with dirty feet and that he didn’t want to pursue a domestic violence charge against Petito, who officers decided was the aggressor.
“I’m not going to pursue anything because she is my fiancée and I love her. It was just a squabble. Sorry it had to get so public,” Laundrie says.
Ultimately, Moab police decided not file charges and instead separated the couple for the night, with Laundrie checking into a motel and Petito remaining with the converted sleeper van.
Petito, 22, and Laundrie, 23, started their drive across the U.S. in July from New York’s Long Island. They intended to reach Oregon by Halloween according to their social media accounts, but Petito vanished after her last-known contact with family in late August from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, authorities said.