Gabby Petito: Family Gets Matching Tattoos, Calls Attention to Other Missing Persons
The manhunt continues for Brian Laundrie in the wake of the murder of Gabby Petito.
The Petito family is in mourning, seeking justice, closure, and answers.
Gabby’s loved ones are very aware that their daughter has received extraordinary attention, attention not received by countless others.
They are using this painful moment to raise awareness and try to bring something positive out of their own heartbreak.
On Tuesday, September 28, the Petito family held a press conference.
They expressed their gratitude for all of those, from investigators to the media, who have shown such dedication to justice.
Now, they would like to dedicate something to Gabby’s memory.
Gabby’s stepfather, Jim Schmidt, addressed reporters at the press conference.
“We’re just hoping that through our tragedy losing Gabby, that in the future, some good can come out of it,” he expressed.
Schmidt expressed a hope “that we can help other people who may be in a similar situation. What can we do to help people?”
Jim, with Gabby’s mother, Nicole Schmidt, and her father, Joseph Petito, showed the family’s new, matching tattoos.
The tattoos were inspired by designs made by Gabby, who was an artist.
The tattoos read “Let It Be” and “Believe.”
“I wanted to have her with me all the time,” Nicole explained at the press conference. “I feel this helps that.”
Joseph added: “Here’s the end all. We need positive stuff to come through this tragedy that happened.”
He continued: “We can’t let her name be taken in vain. We need positive stuff.”
The family acknowledged the profound role that social media has played in their search.
It was reportedly a tip from a social media user that led authorities to discover Gabby’s remains.
Those remains were then used for a formal determination that she died by homicide.
It is also social media that has helped the family — and the rest of us — understand greater context on what happened before and after her disappearance.
The anecdotes about Brian raging in a restaurant on what may have been Gabby’s last day alive and other eyewitness accounts might not have come out through traditional media.
Additionally, the number of people looking for any sign of Brian Laundrie is owed in part to social media.
But not every missing persons case goes viral as Gabby’s has.
Gabby was a beautiful young white woman with an established social media following and some very conspicuous red flags surrounding her experience.
While she absolutely deserves the attention that her case has received, countless more missing persons deserve the same care and passion.
“Social media was amazing and very influential, but to be honest it should continue for other people, too,” Gabby’s father expressed.
“This same type of awareness should be continued for everyone,” he affirmed.
He asked the media to remember this and to help “all the people that are missing.”
“If you don’t do that for other people who are missing, that’s a shame,” Gabby’s father expressed.
He affirmed that “It’s not just Gabby who deserves that.”
Though the family continues to work out the details of their plans for the Gabby Petito Foundation, the purpose is to help with other cases like Gabby’s.
From 2011 to 2020, at least 710 indigenous women went missing in Wyoming — the same area where Gabby went missing.
We say “at least” because, as we all know, some women are never reported missing. Some women just vanish.
Additionally, men also disappear. Being statistically less likely go missing is not the same as being safe.
We all know that a number of people failed Gabby in her final weeks of life.
The world is grasping for explanations after learning that police seemed to sympathize with Brian and let him go despite a 911 call accusing him of abuse.
The Petito family is trying to focus upon the positive at the moment, instead expressing their gratitude to the FBI agents now working the case.
As for Brian Laundrie, Gabby’s family is asking that he turn himself in to the FBI or to the nearest law enforcement department.
There is a federal warrant out for his arrest, so it should not be difficult for him to end up with the right authorities after he is in custody.
There are millions of people looking at home videos, security camera footage, trail cameras, and more on the off chance that they spot him.
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