Gabby Petito's family released photos of her bruised face, saying Utah police ignored evidence that Brian Laundrie was abusing her

• Gabby Petito's parents released a selfie of her bruised face from August 2021.
• They said police ignored evidence of abuse during the couple's run-in with authorities.

Lawyers for the family of Gabby Petito on Tuesday released a selfie the slain woman took of her bloodied and bruised face shortly before Utah police officers responded to a domestic violence call involving her and her then-fiancé Brian Laundrie.

The attorneys from Parker & McConkie law firm argued in a press release seen by Insider that Petito had been "violently assaulted" and said officers with Utah's Moab Police Department ignored the evidence of abuse when they responded to the call.

The lawyers representing Petito's parents in their $50 million wrongful death lawsuit alleging Utah police did nothing to stop Laundrie's abuse of Petito said the selfie shows Petito was "likely strangled and/or suffocated" before police responded.

According to data for the image, which was found on Petito's phone during an investigation into her death, her selfie was taken at 4:37 p.m., just minutes before police responded to a 911 call about the couple on August 12, 2021, the law firm said in a statement.

"Gabby took a photograph of her injury, which shows blood across her nose and left eye. Gabby pointed out the injury to Officer Pratt, but he ignored her and did nothing more to investigate or document the injury," the lawsuit filed by Petito's parents in November 2022 said.

Attorneys for Petito's parents argued in their statement that the smeared blood on Petito's face in the photo indicates she was grabbed by the face "in such a way that her airways were likely obstructed."

"Gabby documented the injury and, during the stop, attempted to tell the Moab officers, however, the seriousness and significance this type of assault and injury was completely ignored," the statement said.

According to police bodycam footage of the August 2021 stop, Petito told Moab police that Laundrie "grabbed my face" and "I definitely have a cut."

"The Petito family is heartbroken to see how Moab police officers failed to recognize the danger Gabby was in," attorneys for the family said in the statement.

The city of Moab, Utah, declined to comment to Insider on Tuesday, saying it "doesn't comment on matters related to active litigation."

Petito's parents alluded to this never-before-seen photo in the past when they were gearing up to file suit and said they had a photo showing "a close-up view of Gabby's face where blood is smeared on her cheek and left eye, revealing the violent nature of Brian's attack."

The lawsuit, which was first announced in August 2022, accuses the Moab City Police Department of neglecting to save Petito's life.

Petito's parents — Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt — accused one officer, Eric Pratt, of being "fundamentally biased in his approach to the investigation."

They claimed in the lawsuit that the police officers chose to believe Laundrie over Petito and ignored clear signs of abuse while looking for loopholes in Utah law to avoid helping their daughter.

Petito and Laundrie had set out on a cross-country road trip during the summer of 2021 before Petito went missing weeks into their adventure. Her body was later discovered in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Laundrie then also went missing. His remains were later discovered in the Carlton Reserve in Florida. His death was ruled a suicide.

After his death, investigators released a diary in which Laundrie admitted to Petito's murder. Petito was strangled to death, a coroner ruled.