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Murder In Moscow: Gabby Petito's Father Shares A Message With The Families In Moscow · Beyond The Horizon

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the program. Gabby Petito's dad has reached
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  Speaker 1: out and he has shared a bit of advice with
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  Speaker 1: the Idaho victims' families. And this is something that Gabby
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  Speaker 1: Petito's family has been adamant about ever since her death.
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  Speaker 1: They said that they were going to use her death
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  Speaker 1: to try and do good in the world. And so far,
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  Speaker 1: so good. They've done a lot of good work as
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  Speaker 1: far as bringing attention to other people who are missing.
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  Speaker 1: bringing attention to the fact that domestic violence is a
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  Speaker 1: huge problem, and getting some bills, at the very least,
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  Speaker 1: put before the Congress and state of different houses around
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  Speaker 1: the country. Namely, Bill 117, which has now made its
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  Speaker 1: way through the legislature, and hopefully that bill gets signed
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  Speaker 1: into law. But the Petito family, from the very beginning,
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  Speaker 1: said that they weren't going to let Gabby's legacy die.
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  Speaker 1: And seeing them do stuff like this is pretty cool.
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  Speaker 1: Because this is a club that none of us ever
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  Speaker 1: want to be a part of, right? Losing a child?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I can't even begin to imagine. I have
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  Speaker 1: four dogs and no children. But if something happens to
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  Speaker 1: my dogs, I freak out. I can't imagine what it
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  Speaker 1: would be like being a parent and losing a child.
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  Speaker 1: It has to be the most crushing thing that you
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  Speaker 1: can ever experience. And that's why I have a ton
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  Speaker 1: of respect for any of these families that try to
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  Speaker 1: keep their loved one's legacy alive by doing good. Today's
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  Speaker 1: article is from Newsweek and the headline, Gabby Petito's father
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  Speaker 1: shares advice to Idaho victims' families. This article was authored
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  Speaker 1: by Chloe Meyer. The bereaved dad of murdered Gabby Petito
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  Speaker 1: has spoken out to offer words of comfort and and
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  Speaker 1: advice to the families of the slain Idaho students who
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  Speaker 1: were killed by an intruder as they slept. Joe Petito,
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  Speaker 1: whose daughter was just 22 when she was killed as
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  Speaker 1: she traveled around the country with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie,
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  Speaker 1: is sadly able to understand better than most the grief
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  Speaker 1: of the parents whose children were also in their early
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  Speaker 1: 20s when their lives were tragically stolen. And not the
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  Speaker 1: exact same scenario but most certainly the same horrific results.
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  Speaker 1: The bereaved dad made the comments on the Banfield show
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  Speaker 1: on NewsNation on Monday night. He was appearing on the
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  Speaker 1: program to discuss his support for a campaign designed to
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  Speaker 1: help protect victims of domestic violence when he was asked
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  Speaker 1: about the murders in Idaho. Four students, Kaylee Gonsalves, Madison Mogan,
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  Speaker 1: Zanna Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death in
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  Speaker 1: their beds last November in the college town of Moscow.
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  Speaker 1: Suspect Brian Koberger, then a 28-year-old PhD student at Washington
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  Speaker 1: State University, was later arrested and is now set to
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  Speaker 1: stand trial accused of committing the atrocity. When asked what
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  Speaker 1: he would say to the bereaved relatives in that case,
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  Speaker 1: Petito sighed heavily and replied that having people to talk
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  Speaker 1: to and setting up a great support network were key.
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  Speaker 1: He explained that he relied on his wife, Tara Petito,
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  Speaker 1: his ex-wife, Nicole Schmidt, Gabby's mom, and her husband, Jim Schmidt.
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  Speaker 1: It has previously been revealed that the two couples moved
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  Speaker 1: in together with their other children as they mourned their
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  Speaker 1: loss together, and the pain that these people felt was
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  Speaker 1: so severe. that they needed the support of each other
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  Speaker 1: to just get by. So they moved in together, two couples,
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  Speaker 1: you know, exes we're talking about, mind you, move in
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  Speaker 1: together so that they can support one another throughout this
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  Speaker 1: whole entire crazy, disgusting ordeal that is their new reality.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm sure Gabby would have loved to hear that.
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  Speaker 1: Host Brian Enten had begun his line of questioning by saying,
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  Speaker 1: I've covered a lot of tragedies lately, including what happened
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  Speaker 1: in Idaho, among a bunch of others. Unfortunately, and I
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  Speaker 1: just think of you guys and what you went through
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  Speaker 1: and how you've kind of come out of it on
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  Speaker 1: the other side. I know that doesn't make the pain
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  Speaker 1: go away, but you're trying to help others with the
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  Speaker 1: work you're doing. And I know you talk to these
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  Speaker 1: other families. What do you say to these families that
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  Speaker 1: go through these sorts of things? And I would think
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  Speaker 1: that the Petitos, it's sort of cathartic for them to
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  Speaker 1: do this, right? It's like they're moving the ball along
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  Speaker 1: with Gabby's legacy. Gabby might not be here anymore, but
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  Speaker 1: it's because of her that the Petitos are now doing
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  Speaker 1: what they're doing. And because they're doing the things that
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  Speaker 1: they're doing, hopefully we'll get movement with some of these
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  Speaker 1: bills like we see in Utah with 117. So the
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  Speaker 1: best way to honor someone's legacy is to continue to
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  Speaker 1: keep their memory alive and to continue to do great
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  Speaker 1: deeds in their name. Joe Petito told Enten, I'm fortunate.
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  Speaker 1: I have a great support system with Tara, Nikki, Jim,
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  Speaker 1: friends and family as well. But we talk all the
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  Speaker 1: time and that is really important. And we try to
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  Speaker 1: stress that to people that we talk to, making sure
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  Speaker 1: that they're not alone and that they have the support
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  Speaker 1: and all the stuff they need to navigate through these waters.
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  Speaker 1: He seemed lost for words for a moment as he
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  Speaker 1: sighed and shook his head. These are, you know, painful,
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  Speaker 1: hard ways to navigate. So when you have a group
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  Speaker 1: of people that gather, holding each other up, that helps
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  Speaker 1: a tremendous amount. He then paid tribute to his own
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  Speaker 1: support network, calling them top-notch amazing. And that goes for
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  Speaker 1: any sort of death in the family or tragedy, right?
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  Speaker 1: You have to have people around you that are going
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  Speaker 1: to support you. It's very difficult when you lose a
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  Speaker 1: loved one in any circumstance. Now try and imagine what
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  Speaker 1: it would be like to have one brutally murdered like
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  Speaker 1: this and just snatched from life at such a young age.
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  Speaker 1: Newsweek has reached out to Petito by email for further
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  Speaker 1: information and comment. After discussing the Idaho case briefly, Petito
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  Speaker 1: and Enten then went on to discuss Bill 117, which
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  Speaker 1: has now made its way through the Utah legislature and
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  Speaker 1: will require police in the state to complete a lethality
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  Speaker 1: assessment form when dealing with domestic violence cases. A series
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  Speaker 1: of questions must be asked about the aggressor in order
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  Speaker 1: to determine the risk of death for the victim that
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  Speaker 1: officers are dealing with in each situation. And while I
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  Speaker 1: think this bill is a great idea, I really hope
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  Speaker 1: that Utah puts the money into training their police officers correctly.
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  Speaker 1: These men and women who are out here trying to
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  Speaker 1: uphold the law, they might have all the weapons of
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  Speaker 1: war in the world, but they don't have the proper
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  Speaker 1: training when it comes to domestic violence situations. So let's
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  Speaker 1: give them the proper tools that they need. We wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: send a SWAT team into a house raid without a
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  Speaker 1: bulletproof vest, right? So why are we sending police officers
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  Speaker 1: to deal with domestic violence situations without the tools necessary
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  Speaker 1: to deal with it? Questions that need to be asked
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  Speaker 1: include whether the aggressor has threatened to kill the victim previously,
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  Speaker 1: if weapons have ever been used during attacks, as well
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  Speaker 1: as finding out crucial information about the attacker, such as
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  Speaker 1: whether they control the victim's lives and have ever been
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  Speaker 1: suicidal themselves. All seems like legitimate questions to ask, right?
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  Speaker 1: But we needed the legislature to put a bill through?
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  Speaker 1: That couldn't be something that the departments just demanded? When
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  Speaker 1: asked whether he thought his daughter may still be alive today,
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  Speaker 1: if such a bill had existed before her death, he said,
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  Speaker 1: we do feel that way. He added that he hopes
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  Speaker 1: one day to see the initiative rolled out across the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the U.S. And I think that's a great idea. Look,
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  Speaker 1: how many times do I say the whole defund the
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  Speaker 1: police thing was ridiculous? Now, look, I don't want weapons
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  Speaker 1: of war on our streets either, unless we're talking about,
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  Speaker 1: you know, big dangerous cities. But you got to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that these police are trained correctly. And if that
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  Speaker 1: means having a specialist on staff that deals with domestic violence,
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  Speaker 1: then so be it. But let's make sure these men
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  Speaker 1: and women who are out here performing their duties, that
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  Speaker 1: they're properly trained to deal with the situations that they're
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  Speaker 1: going to encounter. And if a bill nationwide will require that,
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  Speaker 1: then I'm on board with it. Police body worn camera
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  Speaker 1: footage revealed that officers had interviewed Gabby Petito during her
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  Speaker 1: trip with Laundrie after witnesses claimed they had seen her
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  Speaker 1: being beaten by him. And just think about that for
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  Speaker 1: a minute. They get these calls into 911 and you
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  Speaker 1: have the witnesses saying that Gabby is being beaten by
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  Speaker 1: Brian Laundrie. And then the officers show up, Officer Pratt
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  Speaker 1: and his boy, and they don't do anything about it. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: Gabby has a bruised eye. She's obviously in distress. but
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  Speaker 1: Brian Laundrie doesn't go to jail somehow. But the officers
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  Speaker 1: involved opted not to arrest Laundrie and seemed to take
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  Speaker 1: Gabby Petito's word for it when she claimed the incident
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  Speaker 1: was her fault and she was the one who instigated
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  Speaker 1: the violence. Her family is currently suing the Moab Police
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  Speaker 1: Department in Utah for the way that they handled the interaction.
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  Speaker 1: And before that new picture and video were released, with
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  Speaker 1: Gabby having the damaged die, I thought it would be
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  Speaker 1: a difficult task for them to win this lawsuit. But
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  Speaker 1: with that picture being in existence, that might change things.
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  Speaker 1: They are also suing Laundrie's parents, alleging they knew where
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  Speaker 1: the body was buried and had failed to disclose that information. Laundrie, 23,
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  Speaker 1: was the key suspect in Gabby Petito's murder, but he
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  Speaker 1: went on the run and killed himself before he could
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  Speaker 1: face justice in a trial. And that was a damn shame,
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  Speaker 1: wasn't it? I would have loved to see this ball-headed, barefooted,
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  Speaker 1: melon-munching goofball do a life sentence behind bars. That would
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  Speaker 1: have been the worst fate that Brian Laundrie could have
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  Speaker 1: ever had. But unfortunately, like way too many scumbags out there,
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  Speaker 1: this dude was able to avoid justice and ended up
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  Speaker 1: just killing himself. But Gabby Petito's parents, they're not going
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  Speaker 1: away anytime soon. And they plan on continuing with their mission.
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  Speaker 1: And they plan on continuing to honor their daughter's legacy
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  Speaker 1: by doing good. All right, folks, that's going to do
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  Speaker 1: it for this one. All of the information that goes
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  Speaker 1: with the episode can be found in the description box.