The father of Gabby Petito, the young woman killed while road-tripping across the U.S. in a van with her fiancé, appeared Wednesday with state legislators in Albany to support a bill that would protect victims of domestic violence.

Joseph Petito, a founder of the Gabby Petito Foundation, joined Sen. Lea Webb, Assemblymember Sarah Clark and others Wednesday in calling for passage of legislation that would require law enforcement officials to include a lethality assessment in standard domestic incident reports.

Introduced by the two legislators, the measure would have officers responding to domestic violence calls evaluate the potential for serious harm or fatality, help identify high-risk situations and connect survivors with resources.

The legislation (S2280A) recently passed unanimously in the state Senate.

“This will save lives,” said Joseph Petito. “This is a victim-first program.”

Gabby Petito disappeared in August 2021 while taking a cross-country trip with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. She captured parts of the trip on a video blog.

But her body was found the following month in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, and investigators determined she was strangled to death. Identified as the primary suspect, Laundrie was found dead shortly after.

Webb said Petito's death helped inspire the legislation, which she said would prevent victims of domestic violence from slipping through the cracks by giving officers a proven tool to assess danger and connect victims with critical support services.

While Broome, Dutchess and Westchester counties already have local lethality assessments, the legislation would require all law enforcement agencies in New York to incorporate the lethality assessment into domestic incident reports.