The place Are Gabby Petito’s Mother and father Now? Inside Their Lives After Her Homicide

Gabby Petito‘s reminiscence lives on by means of her loving dad and mom.

In the summertime of 2021, Gabby had been documenting life along with her fiancé Brian Laundrie on her YouTube channel because the pair traveled cross-country in a van. However that September, Brian returned residence with out her — and the lacking individual seek for Gabby started. On Sept. 19, her physique was discovered at Grand Teton Nationwide Park in Wyoming, and it was later revealed that she was strangled to loss of life by Brian.

In Netflix’s American Homicide: Gabby Petito, which started streaming on Feb. 17, her dad and mom opened up additional about Gabby’s remaining days. The heartache continues for her household, together with her mother Nichole Schmidt, dad Joseph “Joe” Petito, stepmom Tara Petito and stepdad Jim Schmidt.

“I don’t just like the phrase ‘closure,’ ” Joe instructed PEOPLE in June 2024. “You’re by no means going to get closure over the loss of a kid. There’ll all the time be a gap in your coronary heart that’s by no means going away.”

A number of months later, Nichole echoed Joe’s remarks: “We’re by no means going to really feel like we’ve justice.”

“I believe what hits me is it has been three years now for the reason that final time I heard her voice or seen her, and that is actually arduous,” she instructed PEOPLE in October 2024. “There’s simply nothing we will do to make us really feel higher, however what we will do is proceed on along with her legacy.”

So, the place are Gabby Petito’s dad and mom now? Here is the whole lot to know in regards to the slain YouTuber’s mother, dad and stepparents — together with their battle to maintain her reminiscence alive.

Who’re Gabby Petito’s dad and mom?

Joe and Nichole welcomed their daughter Gabby in 1999 in New York and cut up when she was younger. Nichole later married her husband Jim in April 2005, whereas Joe married his spouse Tara quickly after in July.

When Gabby went lacking in September 2021, her dad and mom and stepparents began a nationwide seek for their daughter. On the time, Joe instructed Newsday that his daughter’s disappearance felt like “drowning together with your arms tied behind you.”

“You possibly can’t describe it,” he mentioned. “There’s nothing you are able to do. You possibly can’t management something.”

Because the search continued for days, Gabby’s household addressed Brian’s dad and mom by way of a letter to the media, pleading for his or her assist within the search of their daughter.

“We imagine you realize the placement the place Brian left Gabby,” the letter learn. “We beg you to inform us. As a dad or mum, how may you allow us to undergo this ache and never assist us? As a dad or mum, how may you place Gabby’s youthful brothers and sisters by means of this.”

What authorized motion did Gabby Petito’s dad and mom take following her homicide?

After their daughter’s tragic homicide, Gabby’s dad and mom filed two lawsuits — one towards the police and the opposite towards Brian’s dad and mom.

In November 2022, Nichole and Joe filed a $50 million wrongful loss of life lawsuit towards town of Moab due to August 2021 physique digital camera footage that confirmed Gabby sobbing to police after being pulled over within the van that she and Brian had been touring in.

Gabby’s dad and mom gave PEOPLE an announcement by way of e-mail on the time, writing, “We noticed the cops deliberately ignoring the information to deliberately cease them from defending Gabby from a harmful man.”

In accordance with the grievance, officers allegedly neglected key warning indicators of home violence that put Gabby at better threat. The grievance additional alleged that police didn’t take a 911 caller’s report they obtained in regards to the couple — wherein the witness claimed to have seen Brian placing Gabby outdoors a market — extra significantly.

“We firmly imagine if the cops did their job accurately, protected Gabby, and supplied her the mandatory home violence sources, she can be alive at this time,” her dad and mom wrote of their assertion.

In November 2024, Nichole and Joe’s lawsuit was dismissed by a choose, one thing they anticipated to occur. “We by no means anticipated that this could be a straightforward course of and look ahead to the Utah Supreme Courtroom upholding the Utah Structure’s unique intent to protect the precise to recuperate for wrongful loss of life claims below these circumstances,” they mentioned in an announcement, per the Related Press.

Gabby’s dad and mom additionally filed an emotional misery civil lawsuit towards Brian’s dad, Christopher, and mother, Roberta, claiming that the Laundries knew that Gabby had died and the placement of her deceased physique.

In February 2024, each households reached a settlement a number of months earlier than the trial. Gabby’s household lawyer launched an announcement on their behalf, saying, “Our hope is to shut this chapter of our lives to permit us to maneuver on and proceed to honor the legacy of our lovely daughter, Gabby,” per WFLA.

The place are Gabby Petito’s dad and mom now?

Greater than three years after their daughter’s loss of life, Gabby’s dad and mom and stepparents have mentioned how their grief has introduced them nearer collectively. In June 2024, Joe opened as much as PEOPLE about their newfound bond, saying, “We lean on one another in the future at a time.”

He added that now that a number of years have handed, “it is a lot simpler to get by means of the day,” however every of them nonetheless has their “arduous days.”

“Then we’ll name up, and speak to at least one one other, and get grounded, after which return,” Joe mentioned. “All of us are in it collectively. And the extra we assist, the extra it makes us really feel higher.”

Tara added that they’ve all change into shut buddies, which was “one thing Gabby all the time needed.”

“She all the time needed us, all 4 dad and mom, to dwell collectively below one roof,” Tara mentioned, including that she talks to Nichole virtually day-after-day.

Nichole additionally remembered Gabby’s want for the 4 of her dad and mom to be nearer, saying, “I believe her spirit shines down now and is so joyful that we’re working collectively and we’re collectively on a regular basis as a result of that is what she needed.”

Though Gabby is now not right here, Nichole, Joe, Tara and Jim have mentioned they nonetheless really feel her spirit.

“She sends us butterflies and rainbows,” Tara instructed PEOPLE in June 2024. “We’ll see her initials. She’ll ship me indicators, and I begin texting them. As I am texting them to Nichole, Nichole is getting the identical indicators.”

Tara added, “She’s all the time with us.”

How are Gabby Petito’s dad and mom honoring her reminiscence?

In an effort to maintain Gabby’s reminiscence alive and honor her legacy, Gabby’s dad and mom created The Gabby Petito Basis — a nonprofit centered on elevating consciousness about home violence whereas additionally lobbying for harder legal guidelines and insurance policies concerning how police reply to reviews of intimate associate abuse and lacking individuals.

“We’ve got to stop this from occurring to different folks,” Nichole instructed PEOPLE in June 2024. “It retains us sturdy. Gabby works by means of us. We will not not do it. We’ve got to maneuver ahead and alter the world collectively.”

Moreover, in 2022, Gabby’s dad and mom donated $100,000 to the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline in an effort to help the group’s work.

Every of the foursome has a task within the basis. Nichole, who was previously a instructor’s assistant, has since change into a full-time volunteer and president of the group created in her daughter’s reminiscence.

Joe, a warehouse retailer chain supervisor, additionally works carefully with the muse specializing of their coverage and laws efforts.

Jim, a fireplace and rescue administrator, focuses on home violence consciousness coaching for first responders. In the meantime, Tara, who previously labored in actual property, now spends her time as the muse’s administrator.

“We are able to solely use Gabby’s story to proceed to assist others, and hopefully save the lives of these impacted by the epidemic of home violence that plagues our society,” her dad and mom wrote an announcement. “If we will save even one life, that is yet another individual saved due to Gabby.”

If you’re experiencing home violence, name the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is obtainable 24/7 in additional than 170 languages.