Gabby Petito's grieving father shares heartbreaking tribute on anniversary of her death

Gabby Petito's father has shared an emotional tribute to his daughter on the third anniversary of her death.   

Petito, 22, was killed by her fiancé Brian Laundrie on a cross-country road trip in 2021 that ended with her disappearance.

Laundrie, 23, returned home to Florida without her - spurring a search that ended with Petito's corpse being found on the edge of Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. 

It was determined she had been strangled a few weeks earlier, with the date of death of her disappearance being August 27, 2021. An warrant was issued for Laundrie and his remans were found at campsite weeks later, following an apparent suicide.

Petito's father brought attention to the grim occasion Tuesday by writing to his more than 90,000 followers on Instagram.

'Three years ago this evening you were taken from us,' the 45-year-old father wrote in a post that showed him and his late daughter enjoying a spa treatment.

'We can't stop crying when we think of you,' he continued. 'There is no waking up from this nightmare. 

'We push forward for you and all those you have inspired and nothing can make us stop. I ask anyone who reads this, please share a #missingperson flyer today.'

Words of consolation would pour in on the comments, as onlookers who followed the head-line grabbing case so many years ago showed their support. 

'Thinking of your family,' one person wrote. I can't believe it's three years already.'

'You are doing everything you can, and she would be so proud,' added another. I'm so sorry for this horrible pain you feel daily.

'Thoughts and prayers to you and your family!' someone else said.

'She won't ever be forgotten.'

Joseph previously penned tribute to his only daughter last August 27,  with a photo of her posing in front of a waterfall, 

'If her story touched you, I ask you to share a #MissingPerson flyer, he wrote at the time. 'Help get someone home safe to their loved ones that are missing them.'

Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, has also asked the public to shine a light on domestic violence.

Both parents have said Laundrie posed an 'emotional and mental threat' to their daughter in a lawsuit filed against the Moab Police Department, after an officer pulled the couple over after a spat two weeks before Petito's disappearance. 

Filed in Utah's Seventh District Court, the suit cited transcripts of an interview between the officer folled a call from Petito that claimed she was being attacked by her 23-year-old boyfriend and seeks damages in excess of $50 million.

It names officer Eric Pratt as a defendant, charging that both he and his department did not uphold their duties as peace officers by failing to an arrest, despite Pratt later telling other cops Laundrie raised 'more red flags than a Chinese communist rally.'

A Utah statute requires all officers to make an arrest or issue a citation in all domestic incidents.   

Pratt, at the time, told other investigators that he viewed Laundrie as a threat, but still cut him loose, the filing showed.

'I thought he was an emotional threat to her,' the officer, who still works at the force, allegedly told a Price police captain during an independent review of the incident, which launched due to the lack of arrest. 'I thought he was a mental threat to her.'

Transcripts of the interview produced by Petito's parents further revealed how Pratt failed to adhere to proper police policy by cutting Laundrie loose - despite telling Price Police captain Brandon Ratcliffe the suspected killer showed 'red flags.' 

Pratt allegedly told Ratcliffe that Laundrie was 'a weird, not healthy dude that 'looked unsavory,' the lawsuit claims.

Body camera footage of the incident had already showed that Petito was visibly shaken throughout the encounter with Pratt, telling him and officers Laundrie had grabbed her face while gesturing toward her neck.

A picture shared by lawyers for Gabby's family also showed the bruising Petito sustained before the traffic stop.

The wrongful death suit has been in the works for more than a year, and last month, lawyers for Petito's family asked a Utah judge to allow it to continue 

as her parents rip into the Moab Police Department for minimizing scrutiny over their alleged failures during an August 2021 traffic stop just two weeks before her murder as a money grab. 

Lawyers for Moab asked the judge to throw out the case in April, arguing that police were protected by government immunity. 

'Petito’s murder is an undeniable sorrow,' attorneys for the department wrote in that filing.

'Laundrie’s crime was undisputedly depraved, but the judicial system is not a substitute for a GoFundMe campaign,' they wrote. 'Heartbreak is not enough.' 

The Petito family's team subsequently filed an opposition brief in July saying the wrongful death claims against the government are protected under the Utah Constitution, and Joseph issued his own personal response as well.

'Moab still doesn’t get it,' he told Fox News. 'This case has never been about money. 

'It has always been about seeking accountability and fighting for change that will save lives. When law enforcement fails to follow the law, fails to protect, and refuses to learn from its mistakes, like the Moab police department, it puts us all at risk.' 

The case is still making its way through the Utah courts.