Thursday, April 17, 2025
Nassau County officials joined the Gabby Petito Foundation on March 19 to announce a fundraiser at Miller’s Ale House in Levittown to benefit the foundation and support domestic violence awareness and prevention.
The announcement, held at the restaurant, took place on what would have been Gabby Petito’s 26th birthday.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman was joined by Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, County Legislators John Ferretti and Thomas McKevitt, District Attorney Anne Donnelly, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, Gabby Petito’s grandmother Mary Wickman, and other elected officials.
On Thursday, March 20, the Levittown restaurant will host a fundraiser where 20 percent of all food sales will go to the Gabby Petito Foundation, a nonprofit that supports organizations assisting missing persons and aiding victims of domestic violence.
“We have so many businesses here in Nassau County who want to do the right thing,” Blakeman said. “They're good corporate citizens, and they always chip in on things that are important.”
The foundation is named after Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old Blue Point resident who went missing in August 2021 while on a cross-country road trip with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie.
The case made national headlines when Laundrie returned to his parents’ home in Florida and did not discuss her whereabouts. After an extensive search, Petito’s remains were discovered on Sept. 19 in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest. Laundrie left his parents’ home on Sept. 13 and was reported missing four days later. On Oct. 20, his remains were found in Florida’s Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. An autopsy confirmed he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. According to the FBI, Laundrie allegedly admitted to killing Petito in a notebook found near his remains.
Wickman said domestic violence remains a daily conversation in her family, adding that one in three women are victims.
“This is 2025, what are we doing?” Wickman said. “We have to change this. We have to change it through awareness, through education, through new laws. It's just unthinkable that this is what's still happening. We need to stop asking, ‘Why didn't she leave?’ We need to start saying, ‘Why didn't he stop?’”
Blakeman urged those experiencing domestic violence to seek help, providing the county’s domestic violence hotline at 516-542-0404 for non-emergencies. In immediate danger, individuals are encouraged to call 911.
“We will help you,” Blakeman said. “We will get you whatever you need to be able to cope with the issues that you have with domestic violence.”
Donnelly also encouraged victims to reach out, emphasizing her office’s commitment to assisting those in need.
“We have many, many ways to help women get out of situations they may feel like they can't or feel like their hands are tied in some ways,” Donnelly said. “So please don’t be afraid.”
Blakeman announced that Nassau County will light the Theodore Roosevelt Legislative and Executive Office Building in Mineola purple, the color chosen by advocates to raise awareness of domestic violence.
For more information about the Gabby Petito Foundation, visit it’s website at gabbypetitofoundation.org.
