Joe Petito
Appearances
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
I was in Wyoming out there looking for her, and there was a news reporter who had said, hey, just an FYI, there's some camera footage coming out of Moab from when they were there. And so I remember texting back home, not knowing fully what it was.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
I said, I'm going to bring our daughter home no matter what. I'm not leaving there until I have her.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
If there wasn't four of us, I don't think we would be where we are today. We all have different strengths. We all have weak moments.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
You just go into like a hyper mode and all we were thinking about was getting the word out to try to find her and doing what we had to do to try to assist in that. And we had no idea that it was going to take the entire world by storm. And our focus was just on her at that point.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
You know, she was a kid after all. I still remember the first time I saw her. I could tell you exactly what she was wearing. She had these pigtails. And she comes like bouncing out and it was the brightest blue eyes, the biggest smile you've ever seen. And that was the way she was ever since she was little all the way on up. Larger than life, she was just always happy and just... Physically tiny.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
A million things racing through your mind at that point. You just have no idea.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
There is really a vast difference. Minorities do not get shared the same as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white girl. They have family, they have friends, and they just want them found. Indigenous women go missing and are murdered at rates 10 times higher than the rest of the country. And it was, how can we help? What can we do to help elevate your voice?
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
And we had no idea that it was going to take the entire world by storm.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
It just seemed like everybody came together as one because they had a mission to find her.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
I was out in Wyoming there, and they were getting a tremendous amount of tips. And so people started recognizing, hey, I was in that area around that time. So they started going back and looking at their own photos and their own videos.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
He was a year older, so he had graduated and gone on and then Gabby continued through and it wasn't until after she graduated that they reconnected. And that's when we started to hear more about Brian and kind of came to the realization that they were going to be more than just friends.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
But it's such a vast area out there. And that was just like that missing piece of sight. They were in the right place. And if they didn't have that, we'd still be looking today.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
They could pinpoint exactly where that van was, and I want to say within a day of that is when they found her.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
I can remember every waking moment of that day, September 19th. Meeting with my FBI agent in the morning, kept getting phone calls asking about certain things. And finally I got a phone call. They asked where I was, if I was close to the hotel. I said, yeah, I'm a few blocks away. They said, you need to meet us there now. And at that moment I knew it wasn't good.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
They came in and they said, we found remains consistent of your daughter. We won't know until we do a forensic autopsy. But you have to call your family. And there was another girl missing around the same time who fit her description. And I remember I was crying. And I said, you have to be sure. Like, I have to be sure if I'm making this phone call remains consistent. What does that mean?
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
It could mean it's not her. I said, you have to give me something more than that. And they did. They showed me pictures. And I confirmed it was... Our daughter. I don't know how we did that.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
I said, I'm 2,000 miles away. I don't have my family with me. I can't hold her. I can't hold my other children. I said, I'm going to bring our daughter home no matter what. I'm not leaving there until I have her. And... Yeah. I lost a big part of myself, part of us, our family that day.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
There's so many people that we know that have been searching for their loved ones for 5, 10, 20 plus years. And they always have that thought in the back of their mind that maybe they're still alive.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
Less than 90% of the people charged with felony strangulation in this country are ever charged and convicted of strangulation.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
I mean, respectful, always came in, shook her hand, was nice, just quiet. He was just a quiet, quiet person.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
I get messages all the time from people saying, I didn't realize I was in a bad relationship or potentially violent relationship until I saw her story. I saw it, I got help, and I safely got out. And if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here today.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
She wanted to do a beach wedding and all this stuff. And then COVID happened and it kind of stalled all of those plans. We're like, listen, we're not, can't travel. Your grandparents aren't going to travel. So she kind of like put it on the back shelf for a while there.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
Because it was crazy because we would go camping. We had a small little travel trailer. And when she was younger, she hated it. There was bugs. There was sand. There was dirt. And she wasn't really big into it. And as she started getting into that type of stuff, I'm like, is this the same person? And so when she showed us the setup, you know, we have this cooler that, you know, it plugs in.
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
It's 12-volt. You can turn it into a freezer. Here's our portable sink inside. This is how the sink works. Here's a portable shower that catches rainwater. And I'm like, you're doing all this?
20/20
Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out
Solar power to heat it and all this crazy stuff. So kind of thought of everything.