Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Gabby Petito’s dad pays tribute to daughter who ‘touched the world’ as thousands send condolences

Joseph Petito posted a touching tribute on Twitter

Helen Elfer
Monday 20 September 2021 02:17 EDT
FBI holds press conference on Gabby Petito after finding human remains

The father of missing 22-year-old Gabby Petito, whose body is believed to have been found earlier today, has posted a tribute to his daughter on Twitter.

The picture showed Ms Petito beaming as she stood in front of a mural of colourful angel wings, with a bag slung over her shoulder.

Joseph Petito captioned the post with a broken heart and the words: “#GABBYPETITO she touched the world”.

Condolences poured in in response as the news broke across the world that a body, likely to be Ms Petito’s, had been discovered in Grand Teton National Park.

In a press conference on Sunday, the FBI sent condolences to Ms Petito’s family as they shared the news that the body matched the description of the missing van-life blogger, who disappeared at the end of August.

Although they have not yet announced any forensic confirmation around the identity of the body, the FBi said Ms Petito’s family had been informed.

Ms Petito had been blogging about her cross-country adventures in a campervan with her fiance Brian Laundrie. Mr Laundire returned home from their trip alone at the beginning of September and refused to speak with police.

He has been named a person of interest in the investigation, and his family has since announced that he is missing. Police have launched a search for Mr Laundrie and on Saturday confirmed that it was a missing persons investigation and that he is not currently wanted in connection with a crime.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in