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Gabby Petito's dad says every missing person should get the same level of awareness as his daughter

Sep 29, 2021, 01:34 IST
Insider
A makeshift memorial dedicated to missing woman Gabby Petito is located near City Hall on September 20, 2021 in North Port, Florida. Octavio Jones/Getty Images
  • Gabby Petito's father said every missing person should get the same attention as his daughter.
  • "I want to ask everyone to help all of the people that are missing and need help," Joseph Petito said.
  • He added, "This same type of heightened awareness should be continued for everyone."
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Gabby Petito's father said Tuesday that every missing person should get the same attention as the case of his daughter's, which has gripped the nation.

"I want to ask everyone to help all of the people that are missing and need help," Joseph Petito said alongside his wife, Tara Petito, his daughter's mother, Nichole Schmidt and her husband Jim Schmidt during a press conference at their lawyer's New York office.

"It's on all of you, everyone that's in this room, to do that," Joseph Petito said, also addressing the media present. "And if you don't do that for other people that are missing, that's a shame because it's not just Gabby that deserves that. So look to yourselves on why not that's not being done."

The dad explained that the use of social media "has been amazing and influential" in the case of his 22-year-old daughter, whose body was found at a remote campsite in Wyoming on September 19 - eight days after she was reported missing.

"To be honest it should continue for other people, too," Joseph Petito said. "This same type of heightened awareness should be continued for everyone, everyone and that goes for you all too."

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Gabby Petito's body was discovered in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest after her fiancé Brian Laundrie returned home to Florida from the couple's cross-country road trip without her.

Her death has been ruled a homicide, according to a coroner's initial autopsy. Laundrie, who has been named a person of interest in the case, has since gone missing.

During the emotional press conference, the Petito and Schmidt families showed off their new "Let it be" tattoos on their forearms to match the one that Gabby Petito had on hers.

"We did it all together," Joseph Petito said about the tattoos. "We always co-parented Gabby together and that's not going to stop now. We're all in this together."

Nichole Schmidt added, "I wanted to have her with me all the time."

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The families also discussed their creation of the "Gabby Petito Foundation."

"We're just hoping that through our tragedy with losing Gabby, that in the future some good can come out of it, that we can help other people that may be in a similar situation," Jim Schmidt explained.

When asked about Laundrie's parents, the lawyer for the families, Richard Stafford, said: "The Laundrie's did not help us find Gabby. They're sure as not going to help us find Brian."

"For Brian," Stafford said. "We're asking you to turn yourself in to the FBI or the nearest law enforcement agency."

An attorney for the Laundrie family, Steven Bertolino, said Monday that Brian Laundrie's parents "do not know where Brian is."

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"The speculation by the public and some in the press that the parents assisted Brian in leaving the family home or in avoiding arrest on a warrant that was issued after Brian had already been missing for several days is just wrong," Bertolino said.

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