Joe Petito biography: 10 things about missing persons advocate from Vero Beach, Florida

Who is Joe Petito?

Joseph “Joe” N. Petito is an American man from Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida, United States. He and Nichole M. Durivou Schmidt are the parents of Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, who was engaged to Brian Laundrie.

Joe is married to Tara Petito. Nichole is married to James “Jim” Schmidt.

In 2019, Gabby moved to Laundrie’s family house in North Port, Florida where they lived his parents Christopher John “Chris” Laundrie and Roberta Maria Vinci Laundrie. According to Nichole, Chris and Roberta treated Gabby like their own daughter.

Brian murdered Gabby before taking his own life. Here are 10 more things about her father:

1. He is an advocate for missing persons.
2. He is the vice president of the Gabby Petito Foundation while Nichole is the president, Tara is the secretary and Jim and Richard Stafford are board members.
3. He is Danielle Marie Petito‘s brother.
4. He is a sports fan.
5. He previously lived in Louisville, Kentucky, USA and in Portland, Texas, USA.
6. Aside from Vero Beach, Petito has lived in other parts of Florida including Naples and Port Orange.
7. He has lived in different parts of New York, USA including Farmingville, Commack, Holtsville, Brentwood and Selden and in different parts of New Jersey, USA including Cliffside Park and Freehold.
8. He was in a relationship with Nichole before he married Tara and Nichole married Jim.
9. He worked as a Home Depot sales manager.
10. He and Tara have two sons together.

TIMELINE

1999

• On March 19, 1999, Nichole gave birth to their daughter Gabby in Blue Point, New York.

2005

• On July 21, 2005, he and Tara got married.

2010

• In 2010, he joined Time Warner Cable as a direct sales supervisor.

2012

• He took to Twitter on January 24, 2012 to pay tribute to football player and coach Joe Paterno, who died on January 22, 2012.
• In a tweet on July 31, 2012, he thanked Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White and said the UFC is a company that listens to what the fans want.
• On September 3, 2012, he also took to Twitter to pay tribute to actor Michael Clarke Duncan, who died that day.

2014

• On May 5, 2014, he took to Twitter to share a photo of Gabby with Tara. He shared another photo of Gabby with a caption, “Stop getting older. I can’t stand ur growing up.”

2015

• On November 11, 2015, he and his children visited Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida.
• On November 21, 2015, he took to Instagram to share a photo of one of his sons who just received orange belt in jiujitsu.

2016

• On April 19, 2016, he took to Instagram to share a photo of Gabby and his two sons. In the caption, he wrote, “My reasons for anything and everything.”
• On September 4, 2016, he took to Instagram to share a photo of himself with Gabby, his two sons and his sister Danielle.
• In December 2016, he and Tara took a sushi making class.

2019

• On May 26, 2019, he took to Instagram to share a photo of him with Tara and Gabby.

2020

• In July 2020, his daughter Gabby was engaged to Brian.

2021

• In June 2021, he and Tara moved from Selden to Vero Beach in part to be closer to Gabby.
• On July 2, 2021, his daughter Gabby started a cross-country trip with Brian. They travelled across the U.S. in a white 2012 Ford Transit van. 

2021

• On August 21, 2021, Gabby contacted him via FaceTime while she and Brian were in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah and he placed an Uber Eats order for her because she did not have WiFi due to power outage.
• On August 27, 2021, his daughter Gabby was killed by Brian and on August 28, 2021, Brian allegedly admitted the crime to Chris and Roberta, who then allegedly planned to help their son leave the U.S.
• On September 11, 2021, Nichole reported their daughter Gabby missing to the Suffolk County Police Department. 
• On September 19, 2021, his daughter Gabby was found deceased at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest on the east boundary of Grand Teton National Park in Teton County, Wyoming, USA. He took to Twitter to share a photo of Gabby. In the caption, he wrote, “she touched the world.”
• In the “Dr. Phil” episode that aired on September 20, 2021, he was interviewed by Dr. Phil McGraw about Gabby’s disappearance.

2022

• On January 7, 2022, he and Nichole donated $15,000 through the Gabby Petito Foundation to help build a SafeSpace domestic violence shelter in Indian River County.
• On March 10, 2022, he and Nichole filed a civil lawsuit seeking damages of at least $100,000 against Chris and Roberta.
• On November 3, 2022, he, Nichole, Tara and Jim announced a wrongful death lawsuit he and Nichole filed against the Moab Police Department during a press conference at the Utah Law and Justice Center in Salt Lake City.
• On November 17, 2022, Judge Hunter W. Carroll awarded him and Nichole $3 million in a lawsuit against Brian’s estate, which was estimated to be about $20,000.

2023

• From September 23-24, 2023, he, Nichole, Tara and Jim served as speakers at Crimecon 2023: Orlando in Orlando where they donated $15,000 to the Black and Missing Foundation.
• In October 2023, he represented the Gabby Petito Foundation for the SafeSpace charity event Walk a Mile in Her Shoes.

2024

• On February 21, 2024, he, Nichole, Chris and Roberta reached a settlement in a lawsuit. The terms are confidential.
• On May 30, 2024, he, Tara, Nichole and Jim were speakers at Crimecon 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
• On June 14, 2024, he attended the Gabby Petito Foundation’s “Touch the World” golf and dinner event at the Willow Creek Golf and Country Club in Mount Sinai, Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York.
• On November 20, 2024, Utah’s 7th District Court Judge Don Torgerson dismissed the wrongful death lawsuit he and Nichole filed against the Moab Police Department.
• On November 29, 2024, he announced his participation in “Faces of the Missing”, a Backlot Productions and Boundless Films television series about unsolved missing persons cases that received little media coverage.
• In December 2024, he told CNN that he wanted “Faces of the Missing” to combat the police classification of runaway for people who are reported missing.

2025

• In February 2025, he will turn 46.