The parents of Gabby Petito, whose 2021 murder during a cross-country trip with her fiancé drew international attention, are working to make sure her story helps prevent future tragedies.
On Friday, Nichole and Jim Schmidt stood on the steps of the New Hampshire State House in Concord, joining families of missing and murdered loved ones for a rally that called on authorities to do more to deliver answers. “We’re not residents of New Hampshire, but we stand with these families,” Nichole Schmidt told the crowd. “We had resolution in our case. Gabby was found, and there’s a lot of families who don’t have that resolution. We feel that we can be a voice to help amplify those stories.”
The rally was organized by the Gabby Petito Foundation in partnership with the New Hampshire Coalition of Families of the Missing and Murdered. The event comes as the state’s attorney general announced an expansion of its cold case unit, adding two full-time investigators to address the 129 unresolved cases that remain open.
For Petito’s family, the work has expanded beyond cold cases. Just a day earlier, they joined law enforcement and advocates at Hale Middle School in Stow, Massachusetts, to lead a community conversation on domestic violence. It was a setting far from the Utah desert where bodycam footage in 2021 captured a distressed Petito during a traffic stop with Brian Laundrie, footage that many experts now view as a missed opportunity for intervention.
“We’d just like to let the community know that domestic violence is a problem, and if you think it’s not in your community, then you have a lot to learn,” Nichole Schmidt said during the forum. With her were Stow Police Chief Michael Sallese, Lt. Kellie Barhight, and Domestic Violence Service Network director Jacquelin Apsler. Together they emphasized the need for early education about healthy relationships and proper training for officers handling domestic violence calls.
Panelists discussed “love-bombing” and other manipulative tactics, noting how Laundrie had gradually isolated Petito, persuading her to sell her car and quit her job. Nichole Schmidt spoke of the dangers of social media, which can create a false impression of happiness while masking deeper problems. “She looked happy. From the outside, we even thought she looked happy,” she said. “Gabby’s relationship hit every single domestic violence target you see — the red flags were all there, and none of us were educated enough to see them.”
Barhight, reflecting on the Moab police response, said bluntly: “They failed her completely.” Nichole Schmidt added that officers too often arrest the victim, rather than the abuser. “The blame shouldn’t be on the victim,” she said. “To be honest, I wish Gabby had been arrested in that situation, because she would be here today.”
For Jim Schmidt, the lesson was about accountability. “Rather than being reactive, it’s important to hold one another accountable,” he said.
At the forum’s close, two teenagers asked how to report troubling behavior. Chief Sallese’s answer was simple: tell a trusted adult, and don’t be afraid to call out harmful behavior. It was a reminder that Petito’s legacy may rest not only in how her story raised awareness, but in how it continues to spark conversations in classrooms, homes, and communities nationwide.
