HOUSTON – Friday morning, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office partnered with Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to have several first responders learn about the possible signs of domestic violence.
What they’re saying:
During the training, Jim Schmidt, stepfather of Gabby Petito, who was killed by her fiancé in 2021 by strangulation, spoke about her case.
“She was placed in a position that you could not humanly place yourself in,” Schmidt said.
Before speaking, Schmidt shared with FOX 26 the red flags in Petito’s relationship he believed he missed before her murder.
“Right away, there was love bombing, doting on her, making her feel like she’s the center of attention, which some might think is a good thing, but it was really fast,” Schmidt said.
He then said Petito’s fiancé, Brian Laudrie, started isolating her when their relationship started. The couple moved to Florida, away from Petito’s family, then, Schmidt says, Laudrie separated Petito from the friends she made in Florida, “kind of taking anybody away from her that might recognize that something’s not right.”
“And then, the other forms of coercive control started; the financial abuse, the gaslighting, the mental manipulation, really just breaking down the sense of being,” says Schmidt. “Not every domestic abuse situation is physical violence, but it all starts with that coercive control and the tactics they use. That’s about gaining and maintaining a power of control over an intimate partner.”
Big picture view:
According to the press release sent by the DA’s office, “victims who experience non-fatal strangulation by an intimate partner are 750% more likely to be murdered by that partner in the future.”
“What we have been working towards, and we started on October 1st, which coincides with the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, is we are surging those resources that we have towards prosecuting high risk cases within the domestic violence bureau,” Chief of staff Harris County District Attorney’s office.
Later in the release, they continue to share other statistics about domestic violence.
“The number of domestic violence cases in Texas has shot up by 26% since 2018,” Chief of Harris County DA’s office Bureau Mary McFaden said. “Additionally, even as violent crime continues to fall in Houston, a rising share of homicides that do occur are tied directly to family violence.”
The Source: Information in this report comes from Gabby Petito’s stepfather, Jim Schmidt, and a press release from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.