Gabby Petito Foundation Fundraiser Set At Tampa Topgolf

TAMPA, FL — The Gabby Petito Foundation is hosting a fundraiser Thursday night at Topgolf in Tampa.

Tee Off 4 Hope will run from 7 to 10 p.m. and feature an auction, food, drinks, and Longest Drive and Beat the Pro contests. The fundraiser is cohosted by the JustHelpOut Foundation.

The Gabby Petito Foundation was founded by the parents of Gabby Petito, who was killed at the hands of her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, while on a cross-country road trip visiting national parks.

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The foundation supports locating missing persons and providing aid to organizations that help domestic violence victims.

Petito and Laundrie, aspiring travel vloggers, spent the summer of 2021 traveling together, visiting national parks throughout the western United States in Petito’s white van.

She was last seen alive in August 2021. Her mother, Nichole Schmidt, reported her missing Sept. 11, 2021.

Petito’s parents have since filed a civil lawsuit against Laundrie’s parents and the family attorney, Steven Bertolino, for intentional infliction of emotional distress. They claim the Laundries and their attorney knew that their daughter was dead and where her body was during a national search for her.

After strangling her to death, Laundrie left her body at a campsite in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest, where it was found nearly a month later on Sept. 19, 2021.

Laundrie returned in her van to his parents' house in Florida, where the couple had been living before embarking on their road trip. Multiple law enforcement agencies across the country undertook a massive investigation into her disappearance, while Laundrie refused to speak with them.

He later took his own life, shooting himself in the head in a Sarasota County park in September of that year.

His remains and a handwritten confession to killing Petito were found in October 2021. He left his confession in his notebook, claiming he strangled her out of mercy after she fell into a ravine and was injured.

Related:

• Laundrie Texted Friend About 'Fun' Trip After Murdering Petito: Report
• Laundrie Attorney, Bertolino, Seeks Settlement In Petito Suit
• 'I Ended Her Life': Laundrie Confessed In Notebook To Killing Petito
• Laundrie's Mom Offered To Bake Cake With Shiv For Son
• 'Burn After Reading' Letter Explained By Laundrie's Mother