Gabby Petito's Family Gets Matching Tattoos in Her Honor

By Libby Birk

Members of Gabby Petito's family revealed new matching tattoos they got in her honor. During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, in which the family spoke fondly of the late 22-year-old and thanked law enforcement for working to locate her, Gabby's parents, Joe Petito and Nicole Schmidt, displayed the new tattoos, which mirror those designed and worn by Gabby before she died. One is a script inscription of "Let It Be" she had on her arm. Another reads "Believe." See the family displaying their tattoos in the photo below.

Although Gabby's family declined to answer questions about her fiancé Brian Laundrie during the press conference, the Petito family's lawyer Richard Stafford said that Laundrie's family did not aid efforts to locate Gabby and asserted that they would also help law enforcement locate their son. "The Laundries did not help us find Gabby; they're sure as not going to help us find Brian," Stafford said. He also said that the family was seeking justice for Gabby's homicide and asked Laundrie to turn himself in.

The family also spoke about their newly formed Gabby Petito Foundation, meant to honor Gabby's memory and help with other missing persons cases. "We need positive stuff to come from the tragedy that happened. We can't let her name be taken in vain," her father, Joe, told reporters. "So anything that we can do to bring that up and help people, that's what we want to do."

"Our focus is still on mourning Gabby and honoring Gabby. The FBI is doing everything they can and we have our full faith in them," Gabby's stepfather, Jim Schmidt, said on Tuesday.

The couple was on a cross-country trip when Gabby disappeared. Her body was found eight days ago in Wyoming with the FBI confirming the cause of death was homicide. The FBI continues to search for Laundrie, who is considered a person of interest and was initially uncooperative in the investigation. Laundrie, 23, returned home to Florida from the cross-country trip without her in their 2012 Ford Transit van.

Police have been searching for Laundrie in a dense swampland in Florida. The FBI issued an arrest warrant for him, charging him with unauthorized use of a bank card for allegedly withdrawing sums of money around the time Gabby went missing. The FBI visited the home of Laundrie's parents on Sunday and removed personal items belonging to him, Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolini said.

Gabby's family and friends gathered for a memorial service Sunday on Long Island. The service drew hundreds of people after the family opened it up to the public. "We've received letters, emails, cards, from all over the world. From Australia, from Europe; we had people from Italy. We had people at the funeral that came from as far away as Texas, as Florida, as California. People from all over the country have called and sent their well wishes," Stafford said on Tuesday. 

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