Gabby Petito’s family invited the public to a funeral for their daughter over the weekend. Hundreds of mourners gathered in Long Island for the service, honoring the young woman who disappeared weeks ago.
But Gabby’s father, Joseph Petito, had two major lessons for the world about how to respond to Gabby’s death. He said during the memorial service that he hoped the world would be inspired by his daughter.
The two lessons were centered around traveling and relationships, two of the major factors that led to her death.
- “If there is a trip you want to take — do it now while you have the time,” he said.
- “If there is a relationship that might not be the best for you — leave it now,” he added.
You can watch a clip from the memorial service here on News Nation Now reporter Brian Entin’s feed, or in the tweet below.
Petito, 22, was reported missing on Sept. 11 after she and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, went on a cross-country road trip. The two made a number of stops along the way, including multiple Utah locations such as Mystic Hot Springs, and Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands and Arches national parks.
But, according to multiple reports, Petito and Laundrie had multiple incidents during their trip. One allegedly occurred at the Merry Piglets Tex-Mex restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, where customers and a manager said they saw ”an incident” at the restaurant with the couple. Customers Nina Angelo and her boyfriend, Matt England, said they saw Laundrie argue with the waitress, according to Fox News.
The most infamous incident came in Moab. The couple reportedly had an argument in, which caught the attention of police.
Melissa Hulls, the visitor and resource protection supervisor at Arches National Park, spoke with the couple during the incident, and she talked to Petito about her relationship.
“I was imploring with her to reevaluate the relationship, asking her if she was happy in the relationship with him, and basically saying this was an opportunity for her to find another path, to make a change in her life,” she said.
“She had a lot of anxiety about being away from him, I honestly thought if anything was going to change it would be after they got home to Florida.”
On Sept. 19, the FBI in Denver said it had found human remains in Wyoming that matched Petito’s description. Two days later, Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue confirmed that the remains were Petito. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Laundrie remains missing. U.S. District Court of Wyoming has issued a federal arrest warrant for Laundrie late last week for “use of unauthorized access device” after the death of Petito.