Joe Petito faced every father’s worst nightmare. His daughter Gabby Petito was first considered a missing person in the summer of 2021 before the darker truth of her murder was uncovered. He is still dealing with the grief of the horrific situation. He is channeling his sadness into action.
Along with his wife Tara Petito, Gabby’s mom Nichole Schmidt and her husband Jim Schmidt, Joe helped found the Gabby Petito Foundation. Its mission is to “support locating missing persons and to provide aid to organizations that assist survivors of domestic violence.” While going through the process of trying to find Gabby, Joe first heard the term “missing white woman syndrome” and hated it. He now understands the somber truth that the media pays more attention to missing white women than missing women of color. The foundation is working to change that.
Gabby and her fiancé Brian Laundrie went on a cross-country trip in the summer of 2021. They were documenting it for YouTube. When Brian came home without Gabby, her parents were concerned. They filed a missing persons report on September 11, 2021, after they could not get in contact with her for a week.
Eight days after the report was filed, her body was found in Wyoming. The coroner ruled her death a homicide and listed the cause as “manual strangulation.” On October 20, Brian Laundrie’s body was found in Florida with a journal confessing to Gabby’s murder. He died by suicide.
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Gabby’s case made national headlines and captivated the nation. Some activists were quick to point out this was because of the “missing white woman syndrome.” White victims of crime get more coverage than persons of color. Joe disliked this term at first, but through his experiences found it to be true.
“There’s a hierarchy when it comes to missing person fliers being shared,” Joe explained to People. “Kids go first, then white women and then women of color.”
He is working to change that with through the Gabby Petito Foundation. It has promoted the work of the Black and Missing Foundation and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Relatives. It has donated $100,000 to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
“We want to help all missing people,” Joe went on to say. “If the media doesn't continue doing this for all the people then that's a shame because it's not just Gabby that deserved that.”
Joe and his family shared the spotlight during an appearance at Crime Con 2024. They hosted Vangie Randall-Shorty who spoke about her son Zachariah’s unsolved 2020 murder. He died in New Mexico on a Navajo reservation with limited resources.
“Their support means so much to me and all the other families like mine,” Vangie told People. “It gives me so much hope.”
Darlene Gomez, an activist and attorney, further breaks down the racial disparity. "Generally, Native American people don’t get justice," she explained. "Because if you look at the numbers of missing murdered Indigenous women and relatives to include boys, men, and children, and our transgender and LGBT community, for Native Americans being such a small population, the numbers of the missing far outweigh that of any other nationality."
Darlene has experienced this firsthand. Her childhood friend Melissa Montoya has been missing since 2021 from the Jicarilla Apache Nation. She finds strength in her community and activism. "Every day, if we can just get one story out, and if we can find justice for one family at a time, that's what I hope for every day," she concluded.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women's shelter domesticshelters.org.
