Gabby Petito and Dylan Round’s parents back in Idaho with a message about domestic violence
Chris Nestman
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — In a forum at the College of Eastern Idaho, it was all ears as the parents of Gabby Petito and Dylan Rounds shared messages about the signs and symptoms of domestic violence.
“You know, domestic violence, it has a pattern, and patterns are predictable and what’s predictable is preventable,” said Nichole Schmidt, the mother of Gabby Petito and president of the Gabby Petito Foundation. “What happened to Gabby didn’t have to happen, and so we’re trying to prevent that from happening to others.”
The Schmidts shared their story about Gabby, how she met her fiance and eventual killer, Brian. They also discussed who she was and the slow changes that happened to her before tragedy struck.
The Schmidts say some of those changes are red flags they want people to know about.
“Just knowing that you could potentially save one life and if you can just save one life, then everything is worth it,” said Jim Schmidt, Gabby’s father. “Whatever the heartache, and discomfort we have over going through it and reliving the worst day of our lives over and over again, we can battle through it if we can save even just one person.”
The Schmidts were invited by Candice Cooley, mother of Dylan Rounds who similarly advocates for domestic violence education awareness via the Dylan’s Legacy foundation.
In addition to today’s forum, law enforcement from around the state met at College of Eastern Idaho for training on digital forensics, a major method that helped solve the cases of both Dylan Rounds and Gabby Petito.
For information specifically about domestic violence and the messages from the Schmidts you can visit the Gabby Petito Foundation HERE.
For more information about about the Dylan’s Legacy Foundation, you can go HERE.