The father of missing van-life girl Gabby Petito paid tribute to his daughter hours after the discovery of her possible remains in Wyoming on Sunday.
Joseph Petito took to Twitter on Sunday to post a picture of his daughter, who had disappeared following a cross-country trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie.
'She touched the world,' the post said with a picture of Petito's daughter between a pair of angel wings.
The remains of a body matching his daughter's description were found at the Spread Creek campground in Bridger-Teton National Forest on the eastern edge of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sunday afternoon, federal agents said.
'As every parent can imagine this is an incredibly difficult time for the family, and friends, our thoughts and prayers are with them. We ask that you all respect their privacy as they mourn the loss of their daughter,' said Charles Jones, supervisory senior resident agent for FBI Denver .
Joseph Petito, father of missing van-girl Gabby Petito, posted a picture of his daughter on social media with the caption 'She touched the world'
Joseph Petito, who pleaded for help to find his daughter after she disappeared on a van trip with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, mourned the death of his daughter Sunday
The FBI said the body found in the national park is 'consistent with a description' of Petito, but said a full forensic identification has yet to be completed. A cause of death will be determined at the autopsy on Tuesday.
'Full forensics identification has not been completed to confirm 100 percent that we found Gabby, but her family has been notified of this discovery,' Jones added.
Petito was reported missing on September 11 after being last seen on August 24. Her fiancé Brian Laundrie returned home to Florida on September 1 without her, and refused to cooperate with authorities and was reported missing himself on Friday.
'Your tireless work and determination helped bring Gabby home to her parents. The family and I will be forever grateful,' Richard Benson an attorney for Petito and Schmidt said in a statement.
Laundrie remains on the loose after vanishing from his parents' home in North Port, Florida, last week.
Joseph Petito did not hear from his daughter since she disappeared in August
The possible remains of Petito's body was found at found at the Spread Creek campground in Bridger-Teton National Forest on the eastern edge of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sunday
Petito was traveling with her fiancé Brian Laundrie (right) in a white van from their Florida home
U.S. Park Rangers block access in front of the Spread Creek area of the Bridger-Teton National Forest
Teton County Search & Rescue seen leaving the Spread Creek area of the Bridger-Teton National Forest
Laundrie's family offered their condolences after the discovery of her body.
'The news about Gabby Petito is heartbreaking. The Laundrie family prays for Gabby and her family,' lawyer Steven Bertolino said Sunday in a statement issued on the family's behalf.
The Laundries have remained 'in the background' throughout most of the investigation, under the advice of their attorney.
On Sunday morning, Petito's parents shared a video on their 'Find Gabby' Facebook page from YouTuber 'Red, White & Bethune' that caught a Ford Transit Van with Florida plates that the posters believe to be the vehicle that Petito and Laundrie had used to travel the country.
The video was taken on August 27 at around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground.
'We have this video, so does the FBI,' wrote the family on the Sunday morning post. 'We believe this is the van for multiple reasons.'
'It's a very important piece of information as it pretty much starts the timeline,' Petito's mother, Nicole Schmidt, told MailOnline. 'This new video of the actual van being seen on the 27th appears legit. That was the last location the van might have been seen. It's a huge piece of the puzzle.'
'It's essential and there might be more videos out there that people haven't even realized they have yet,' she added. 'If people were recording videos or just taking pictures, they need to start looking through their stuff.'
Petito's parents shared a video on their 'Find Gabby' Facebook page early Sunday morning from YouTuber Red, White & Bethune', that caught a Ford Transit Connect Van with Florida plates that the posters believe to be the vehicle that Petito and Laundrie had used to travel the country. The video was taken on August 27 at around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground, where police were searching for the missing girl, and where the remains were found Sunday
Petito's mother, Nicole Schmidt, (pictured at a press conference) has slammed Laundrie saying 'he's not missing, he's hiding' after Laundrie, who is a person of interest in her daughter's disappearance, vanished
Jenn Bethune, who runs the 'Red, White & Bethune' channel, told MailOnline she discovered the video on Sunday, Sept. 19 around 12am and submitted the footage to the FBI ten minutes after finding it.
She also said that she was amazed by Schmidt's resilience in the face of the tragedy.
'Even though it's not the best outcome, I'm happy that Gabby is home,' she told DailyMail.com. 'Nicole is absolutely amazing. Her strength is so apparent.'
Gabby’s mother told MailOnline that she is 'not entertaining' a TikTok video that’s been widely circulated in which a young woman describes picking up a man she believed to be Brian on the 29th.
'The timeline seems way off. Maybe she thought it was him, but I just know the timeline is off. The van left there the night of the 27th or early on the 28th. The van was in Florida on the first. It’s not possible for it to have been there on the 29th.'
Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker said she
