Brian Laundrie Case: Probe Into Utah Cops Who Responded to Gabby Petito and Fiance's Domestic Dispute 'Close' to Wrapping Up
The investigation into the two police officers who responded to a call involving Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie in Moab, Utah is close to wrapping up.
Moab Assistant Police Chief Braydon Palmer told Fox 13 that they are preparing to wrap up and release the investigation's findings.
Palmer said they have already received the Petito-Laundrie report "back from the investigative entity," and their office is now reviewing the report, findings, and recommendations.
"I'm hoping early to middle of next week for that to be available for release," he noted.
Moab Cops Who Responded to a Call Involving Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie in Utah Are Under Investigation
The Moab Police Department came under intense scrutiny after the release of the footage showing two of their officers stopping and releasing Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito on August 12.
In the first body camera video, Petito was seen crying and telling cops that she slapped Laundrie after an argument. In the second bodycam footage on the same August 12 domestic dispute also released by Moab police, a crying Petito told police officers that Laundrie cut her "with his nail" after she hit him.
"Well he like, grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that's why it looks, I definitely have a cut right here... I can feel it, when I touch it, it burns," she reportedly said as she rubbed her cheek.
The responding officers separated the couple that night, taking Laundrie to a hotel while Petito stayed in the van they traveled in. The police officers concluded that the incident was not a crime but a mental health crisis. Petito was reported missing after a few weeks.
After the police department received backlash, Moab police chief Bret Edge took a leave of absence, and the cops involved had been under investigation for their handling of the couple's dispute.
Moab Police in Utah Allegedly Profited From Gabby Petito's Bodycam Video
Thousands of dollars in fees have reportedly been collected by Moab police in Utah from various media organizations in exchange for Gabby Petito's bodycam footage.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the city collected nearly $3,000 in exchange for the release of body camera footage of officers pulling over Petito and Laundrie outside of Arches National Park.
The amount, totaling around $2,940, was reported to be about three times what the department had expected to collect this year in records fee revenue.
Based on the document obtained by The Tribune, the police department charged a $98 video processing fee to 30 media entities that requested the footage, which seemed to violate Utah law.
Public record law states that agencies can only charge for the "actual costs" of providing a record. City spokesperson Lisa Church did not directly say that the decision to collect a processing fee for the footage was a mistake.
But Church earlier admitted that it fell outside Moab's normal fee schedule and that the city generally tries to provide records requests from media entities for free. She told The Tribune that she did not know how the police department arrived at the $98 fee amount per request.
Church further noted that even if one person were charged a fee, once a certain document is created, "everybody else should not have been charged."
She said the police department released a second video from the same incident days later for no charge. Church noted that the fees that Moab police charged in exchange for the footage would be refunded.
Petito disappeared on a cross-country road trip with Laundrie. The couple was traveling to Oregon when the YouTuber stopped communicating with her family in Wyoming in late August.
Laundrie was named a person of interest by the North Port police in Florida after returning home on September 1 or 10 days before Petito was reported missing by her family.
Petito's body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Campground near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19.
A Teton County, Wyoming coroner said she was strangled to death by a "human being," and the manner of death was homicide.
After a month-long manhunt, the North Port police and the FBI agents found Laundrie's remains in a swampy area of Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on October 20.
The partial skeletal remains were confirmed to belong to him after a review of dental records. According to the autopsy report, Brian Laundrie died of a gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death was suicide.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Joshua Summers
WATCH: Utah Experts Weigh in on Interaction Between Moab Police and Gabby Petito, Brian Laundrie - From FOX 13 News Utah