Police bodycam footage taken in August 2021, showed Gabby Petito being questioned by police over an alleged dispute with her fiancé Brian Laundrie.

“I never watched the video,” Joe Petito told Weekend Today.

”I’ve only seen bits and pieces of it from interviews like this, I’ve read the transcript, but I can’t watch that,” he said.

The footage shows an officer pulling over a van on August 12, 2021 after it was seen speeding and hitting a curb near the entrance to Arches National Park.

Inside was Brian Laundrie, 23, and his 22-year-old girlfriend, Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, who was reported missing by her family a month later and was the subject of a nationwide search.

The officer heard details of an argument between Petito and Laundrie.

Police decided not to file any charges and instead separated the couple for the night.

Petito was found dead months later.

Petito’s stepmother Tara told Weekend Today she had seen the footage and found it extremely triggering. 

“I just want to reach out and help her,” she said.

“We tell police officers now to use it as a training tool to help train other police officers about strangulation, about warning signs, red flags.

“We’re trying to take our pain and turn it into something.”

Petito’s parents said they remember her as “an amazing person”.

“She had goals and she had dreams. And those were tragically taken from her,” Tara said.

She was a bright light – any time that she entered a room, her smile could just light every light the entire room up.”

Joe Petito said a foundation in Gabby’s name is striving to raise awareness for victims and survivors of domestic violence.