The parents of Gabby Petito have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab City Police Department.

The family filed a $50 million lawsuit against the department accusing the Moab police of negligence when they responded to an incident involving Petito and Brian Laundrie in the weeks before her death.

The officers let the couple go and Petito's family says that allowed Laundrie to strangle their daughter around two weeks later.

"The purpose of this lawsuit is to honor Gabby's legacy by demanding accountability and working for change in the system to protect victims of domestic abuse and violence," said Petito family attorney James McConkie.

The suit says officers improperly determined Gabby Petito as the primary aggressor in the interaction.

It also alleges that Gabby Petito would still be alive if Moab police had followed Utah statutes on domestic violence.

"We believe that these officers, in this situation, clearly did not follow the law," said Petito family attorney Brian Stewart.

"There are laws put in place to protect victims, and those laws were not followed, and we don't want this to happen to anybody else, and it keeps happening," said Nichole Schmidt, Gabby Petito's mother.

The city has issued a statement denying responsibility for the Blue Point native's death.