Gabby Petito's Murder Sparked a Domestic Violence Bill

On Sept. 19, 2021, police announced that they had found the body of a young adult female in Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area near Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. It wasn't long before they identified her as 22-year-old Gabby Petito, an up-and-coming "vanfluencer" who had gone missing almost three weeks prior.

During an apparent crisis that led to Gabby's disappearance and murder, she and her fiancé Brian Laundrie encountered police who were responding to a domestic disturbance.

How the police reacted, or rather barely reacted, caused public outrage and scrutiny after the couple was left to go on their way and Brian murdered Gabby just days later.

Her tragic murder at his hands sparked an important domestic violence bill and some introspection about how law enforcement should handle reports of domestic violence.

In bodycam footage of Gabby and Brian's encounter with police, a distressed Gabby seems unwilling to give too many details to officers. Brian, by contrast, appears calm. As a result, he received most of the police's seeming empathy, and they purchased him a hotel room for the night to "get some space" according to a 2025 Netflix documentary titled American Murder: Gabby Petito.

Gabby, on the other hand, was told she could sleep in their camper van and purchase access to a shower nearby. Police let them both go.

It was a decision we now know led to the tragic murder of Gabby at Brian's hands. Brian, who later died by suicide, admitted to Gabby's murder in a note he left behind.

The entire tragic story prompted the public to put pressure on police to reconsider how they treat reports of domestic violence and to standardize responses to avoid another tragic death.

Florida enacted the Gabby Petito Act in 2024, which advocates hailed as a "step in the right direction." The initial bill died in the legislative process, but a larger companion bill passed and was signed into law in April 2024.

In that bill, it outlines what police must do if they encounter someone they believe or have been informed is the victim of domestic violence. There are 12 questions they are supposed to ask before deciding how to proceed.

Those questions are:

1. Did the aggressor ever use a weapon against you or threaten you with a weapon?

2. Did the aggressor ever threaten to kill you or your children?

3. Do you believe the aggressor will try to kill you?

4. Has the aggressor ever choked you or attempted to choke you?

5. Does the aggressor have a gun, or could the aggressor easily obtain a gun?

6. Is the aggressor violently or constantly jealous, or does the aggressor control most of your daily activities?

7. Did you leave or separate from the aggressor after you were living together or married?

8. Is the aggressor unemployed?

9. To the best of your knowledge, has the aggressor ever attempted suicide?

10. Do you have a child whom the aggressor believes is not the aggressor’s biological child?

11. Has the aggressor ever followed, spied on, or left threatening messages for you?

12. Is there anything else that worries you about your safety and, if so, what worries you?

While nothing will bring Gabby back, the hope is that there will be a system in place to avoid this ever happening again.

It's not uncommon for domestic violence victims to have repeated contact with police, so if the questions work as they should, the goal is that this will catch the violence before it escalates to murder.