A National Park Service ranger who responded to a domestic incident between Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito in Utah last month warned the woman that her relationship with Laundrie seemed “toxic.”
When she arrived at the scene of an argument between Petito and Laundrie, Hulls responded to find them pulled over by a police officer inside the park.
She said she was ‘imploring with [Petito] to reevaluate the relationship’
“I was probably more candid with her than I should’ve been,” Melissa Hulls, the visitor and resource protection supervisor at Arches National Park, said in an interview about her conversation with Petito on Aug. 12.
Police responded after a 911 caller reported seeing a man “slapping” a woman in the face, according to new audio obtained from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office.
“I was imploring with her to re-evaluate the relationship,” Hull said, “asking her if she was happy in the relationship with him, and basically saying this was an opportunity for her to find another path, to make a change in her life.”
The audio contradicts a police report that portrayed Gabby Petito as the aggressor, stating at one point she “began slapping” him after he told her to take a walk to calm down.
An officer wrote “it was reported the male had been observed to have assaulted the female,” but later determined that “no one reported that the male struck the female.”
No charges were filed that day and the incident was classified by police as a “mental/emotional health break.” The couple then reportedly agreed to spend the night separately.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Ziv Ezra Cohen said the police bodycam of the incident shows Petito looking ‘scared’ and ‘overwhelmed’
A forensic psychiatrist has also spoken out to say the footage of the August 12 incident – 13 days before Gabby Petito was last heard from alive – raises ‘red flags’ and suggests she was ‘scared of her boyfriend.
‘She was emoting so much that it was very clear that there had been an incident and there had been a problem of some kind that she was struggling with.’
Cohen said it is difficult to know ‘how extensive the fight was’ but that ‘such an imbalance of the emotional state’ between the young couple ‘does raise a red flag’.
‘She appears to try to blame it on her OCD, and he talks about his muddy shoes. She also says she’s under a lot of stress.’
The psychologist cast doubt on the couple’s efforts to explain away the fight as caused by Petito’s OCD, insisting that the condition is ‘not a risk factor for violence.’
A body matching Petito’s description was found in Wyoming Sunday, while Laundrie is now missing
A body matching Petito’s description was recovered from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming Sunday, with an autopsy scheduled for Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Laundrie is now missing with his parents telling cops Friday they had not seen him since last Tuesday.
Cohen told Fox he also thinks Laundrie’s parents could be in denial about the case after they prevented law enforcement from interviewing their son last week – before reporting him missing Friday and saying they hadn’t seen him in three days.
The FBI tweeted on Monday that it ‘is executing a court-authorized search warrant today at the Laundrie residence in North Port, FL relevant to the Gabby Petito investigation.’
‘No further details can be provided since this is an active and ongoing investigation,’ the FBI added.
Steven Berolino, an attorney for the family, said that the family went looking for Laundrie on Wednesday.
They found his Ford Mustang, which had a police note on it demanding that the vehicle be removed from the area.
Hulls were also wearing a body camera but said she has not looked over the footage.
“It’s hard not to second-guess myself, and wish I said more, or wish I had found the right words to make her believe that she deserved more,” Hulls said.
Petito was reported missing by her family on Sept. 11 after Laundrie, 23, returned to his Florida home without her 10 days earlier.
The FBI said Sunday that remains “consistent with the description” of Petito had been uncovered in Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming.