Gabby Petito

Joseph Petito conducted outreach to build support for bill that would streamline missing person reports nationw-wide, congress aide says.

It would also connect NamUs with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center to create a more comprehensive missing persons and unidentified remains databases, and also streamline local law enforcement's reporting process. "NamUs is a very important tool utilized by law enforcement, coroners, and medical examiners to help bring loved ones home or identify the unidentified. In a previous interview, "Here is a huge step forward." Her remains were later found near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The law would authorize and ensure funding for the National Missing Persons and Unidentified Persons System, which was created in 2007 by the Department of Justice to provide a missing persons/unidentified database to which the public can contribute and access. It would also require the justice department to issue guidelines and best practices on handling missing persons and unidentified remains cases "to empower law enforcement, medical examiners and coroners to help find the missing," Murphy's office said. "Mr. Billy's Law was introduced to address the challenges and help ensure tens of thousands of families whose loved ones go missing each year do not experience the same hurdles faced by the Smolinskis, according to Murphy's office. "We, as parents of a child who was missing and left murdered out in the wilderness, believe everyone deserves the same resources to help find their missing loved one," he said, adding that his wife, Tara, as well as Petito's mother and stepfather, Nichole and Jim Schmidt, "have met and spoken with many leaders on missing persons cases and this bill in our opinion is long overdue." A congressional aide told Patch Monday that the slain Long Islander's father, Joseph Petito, who started a foundation in her name to help families with missing loved ones and also domestic violence victims, worked on outreach to Republican offices to help build support for the bill. — The parents of Gabby Petito are lauding the recently introduced bi-partisan law, Help Find The Missing Act, or Billy's Law, which would make it easier for loved ones to add their missing family members to the national registry.