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Video: Never-before-seen bodycam footage shows distraught Gabby Petito saying that Brian Laundrie hit her during physical altercation
Image source: TMZ video screenshot

Video: Never-before-seen bodycam footage shows distraught Gabby Petito saying that Brian Laundrie hit her during physical altercation

New bodycam footage shows the late Gabby Petito telling a Moab, Utah, police officer that her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, hit her during their Aug. 12 argument.

Previous bodycam footage showed Laundrie painting Petito as the aggressor.

What are the details?

During her interview with police, Petito told a police officer that Laundrie struck her during their fight, but quickly walked back the allegation and said that she hit him first, TMZ reported Friday.

Petito told responding officers that she and Laundrie argued earlier in the morning, and said that she was "stressed out" trying to organize things.

"I was just really stressed this morning trying to get a lot of work done and I was apologizing to him," she said. "I get so stressed out. I have OCD and I was like organizing stuff and sometimes I get this mean attitude when I'm not trying to be mean and I was trying to straighten things out."

She added, "And I was just apologizing, but I guess I said it in, like, a mean tone and he got really frustrated with me, and he locked me out of the car and told me to go take a breather, but I didn't want to take a breather."

"I wanted to get going," she added. "We're out of water."

She then told the officer that Laundrie refused to let her back into her own van, which made her "really mad."

The officer then asked Petito about marks on her face and arm, and said, that it looked "like someone might have hit you in the face."

"Is there something on your cheek here?" he asked. "Did you get hit in the face?"

Petito can be seen fidgeting before she responded, "Um."

The cop continued, "It kinda looks like someone might have hit you in the face? And then over on your arm — your shoulder right here that's new, huh? You have a new mark."

Petito answered, "Yeah, I don't know."

The officer continued, asking to see the other side of her face and asked once more what occurred.

She initially responded by telling the officer that Laundrie's backpack struck her as she struggled to get inside the van.

"It was happening really fast," she said. "I was trying to get back in the car and his backpack got me."

The officer then went on to question her answer, and said that two witnesses previously reported seeing Laundrie slap her.

"Well to be honest, I definitely hit him first," she quickly responded, which she said prompted him to grab her arm.

The cop then asked, "Did he hit you though?"

"I guess," she admitted. "I guess, yeah. But I hit him first."

The officer nodded and asked, "Where did he hit you? Don't worry; just be honest."

"He didn't, like, hit me in the face," she insisted. "He didn't, like, punch me in the face or anything."

The unnamed officer can be heard asking Petito where she got various "marks" on her body, including redness and bruising on her arm and redness and a scratch on the side of her face.

When the officer directly asked Petito if Laundrie had hit her, she responded, "I guess. He, like, grabbed me with his nail, and I guess that's why it looks, I definitely have a cut here. I can feel it, when I touch it, it burns."

A 911 caller outlining what purportedly took place in the hours leading up to Petito and Laundrie's interaction with Moab police previously stated that Laundrie was slapping and hitting Petito during a very public confrontation outside a store.

Authorities discovered Petito's remains near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sept. 19. A medical examiner classified her death as a homicide, and she was laid to rest last weekend.

Laundrie remains on the run.

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Sarah Taylor

Sarah Taylor

Sarah is a former staff writer for TheBlaze, and a former managing editor and producer at TMZ. She resides in Delaware with her family. You can reach her via Twitter at @thesarahdtaylor.