Day Gabby Petito Was Found Dead Was The 'Worst Of Our Lives': Mom

BLUE POINT, NY — In a scenario part of what many who were captured by her story feared, native Long Islander Gabby Petito was found slain in Wyoming one year ago on Monday.

Now her family is asking the public to share photos of the missing as a way of honoring her, in keeping with the mission that they started to help families searching for their loved ones as they once did.

In a tweet on Monday morning, Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, shared rainbow, sunflower, and butterfly emojis marking the tragic anniversary.

"One year ago, we received the worst phone call of our lives," Schmidt wrote above a photo of Petito wearing a shawl and pulling her hair back.

Petito, of Blue Point, was reported missing on Sept. 11, 2021, by Schmidt in her hometown of Suffolk County after she had not had contact with her for several weeks while on a cross-country trip in a camper van with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie.

Laundrie, with whom Petito she had a tumultuous relationship, returned to his parents' Florida home with her van but without her around that same time.

After an exhaustive search for Petito that included multiple law enforcement agencies, spanning several states, her remains were found near Grand Teton National Park. It is believed that she was killed about two weeks after a very physical, and public fight she had with Laundrie in Utah and it resulted in police separating the couple for the night.

Laundrie was later found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a Florida swamp.

In a notebook recovered by investigators, he claimed responsibility for Petito's death, writing that he strangled her to death because she was in so much pain from falling near their campsite when they were returning home in the dark.

Schmidt went on to ask that her thousands of followers honor her 23-year-old daughter by continuing to share missing person flyers and the "brave stories" of domestic violence victims to "break the silence," adding "and always #BeKind."

She ended with the hashtags for "together we can," "we won't stop," "look for rainbows," "life is short," and Petito's favorite phrase, "let it be," which she had tattooed on the inside of her right forearm.

The story of Petito's disappearance drew international media attention, and news that she had been found dead left followers reeling from the shock. People from all around the world sent words of comfort to her family, some referring to her as "the world's daughter."

Back on Long Island, supporters organized a temporary mural featuring a photo of Petito in front of a pair of angel wings in Colorado was erected at the entrance to Blue Point and well-wishers began to drop off candles, cards, teddy bears, and balloons — even a large pair of angel wings.

Candlelight vigils were held in Blue Point and Selden, as well as in the driveways of homes the Friday before her funeral.

Petito's memorial service needed extra security for crowd control as thousands of mourners filed inside Moloney's funeral home in Holbrook while two firetrucks with a giant heart banner with the latitude and longitude of Blue Point stood guard outside.

In the wake of Petito's death, her family and two friends formed The Gabby Petito Foundation to help victims of domestic violence, as well as the families of missing persons. The organization has donated thousands of dollars to domestic violence advocacy groups and has even helped open a shelter for battered women in Florida.

In the meantime, Petito's family has also lent their muscle to highlighting missing person cases.

Petito's father, Joseph Petito, shared a photo of his daughter and her little brother, both of them smiling and wearing New York Jets jerseys.

"Thank you all for the love and support you have shown our families," Petito wrote. "Please take a moment and share a #missingpersons story to help bring them home safe."

Petito reiterated a point he shared at the news conference for the formation of The Gabby Petito foundation by using the hashtag, #EveryoneDeservesTheSameAttention.

He said he shared the picture because his family are Jets fans and it was taken after a game that the team won.

Schmidt and Petito urged people to share photos of rainbows in an audio chat session on Twitter Spaces on Sunday, telling listeners that the anniversary will be really rough, The Sun reported.

"If you see a rainbow, take a picture," Schmidt said. "Think of Gabby and her light," the outlet reported."

It's a little nudge to remind people, you know, to always stay kind because life is short and you never know," she added.

According to The Sun, during the chat, Schmidt said, "Nobody had any idea what [Petito] was going through."

Petito said that there are signs of domestic violence that can be easily spotted as he made reference to the Utah traffic stop featured on bodycam video and he urged viewers to use the footage as a learning tool to recognize the signs of domestic violence.

"So we can get better," he said. "There's a perfect example right there. We can do better, and we should."

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