Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Now, I am going to give you my take on the Gabby Petito tragedy. As soon as it broke that Brian drove home in her car, alone, I knew that she was dead. And that's because: it was her car. If they were going to split up, and she was alive, surely, she would have retained the car, since it was hers. The fact that he drove home alone in HER CAR, meant that he did away with her. 

I am going to share some information that I only heard from one source: the celebrated Dr. Drew. 

He said that both Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie were on psychiatric medication, and that both vowed to come off it on their road trip. I don't know where he got that from. I haven't heard it from any other source.  

However, both of them admitted to Moab police at the infamous stop that they both had mental health problems.  Laundrie denied that either of them were on medication. 

Much has been made of the mistake of not arresting Laundrie in Florida. They could have done so. Not for murdering her, since at the time she was just missing, but how about grand theft auto? He was in possession of her car, and there was no reasonable explanation for it. If he tried to claim that she offered it to him, then he would have had to explain the circumstances of that, including their location, etc. They should have arrested him and let him be arraigned. A good judge would have known how to handle him. 

So, that was a huge mistake. But of course, it wasn't going to bring Gabby back because she was dead. So, the mistake that cost Gabby her life was the one made by the Moab police, and they will be living with it for the rest of their lives. 

They received a report that Laundrie was battering Petito, and more than once. And there was no reason to doubt it. When they got to them, they observed that Gabby was distraught and hysterical, and Laundrie they described as hyper. Because Laundrie had some visible scratches, while Petito, apparently, had no visible signs of trauma, they concluded that Petito was the aggressor. That was a mistake. For one thing, she was extremely flushed from the emotional upheaval, and that flushing could have covered up traumatic flushing, say, from a slap.  They may also have been affected by Petito blaming herself, but my Good God, that is classic for a battered woman. 

So, what should the Moab Police have done? They should have realized that she was in grave danger from him. And then, they should have done everything in their purview to protect her. 

They didn't let them drive off together. They assumed that if each had a cooling off period overnight that then it would be OK. So, they arranged for that. But, it was wrong.  They should have realized that the very next day, when they reunited, that the extreme danger to her would resume. 

So, what should they have done? They should have taken them both into custody and kept them separate. They could have charged them with something, if only reckless behavior. And once they got her separated from him, they should have had one or more female officers impress upon her that continuing this road trip with him was extremely ill-advised and dangerous. 

And here's what else they could have done: called her parents. Even though she was a legal adult, if she was behaving erratically and uncontrollably and clearly wasn't thinking straight and was a danger to herself, they could have contacted her parents, and I'm sure they would have flown out there and gotten her. 

In other words: they should have realized that the danger to her was great enough that it warranted pulling every trick in the book to detain her in order to protect her. She needed protective custody. Cops can arrest a person if only for her own good. And even if he knows that the charges won't stick, at least they will bide time. You do what you have to do. And you err on the side of caution. If their gut feeling didn't tell them that she was in great peril being with him, then they were incompetent.