‘Missing white woman syndrome’: The harsh truth revealed by the case of KP Petito in the United States
5 min read- Sam Cabral
- BBC News, Washington
When Gabby Petito returned home from a trip with her boyfriend, the press and social media in the United States did their best to cover up what happened.
The 22-year-old girl had been missing for several days, while her boyfriend refused to speak to police and later went missing without a trace.
Last Sunday, Petito was found dead in Wyoming State National Park.
Millions of Americans have closely followed the case, and its developments have been described in great detail in the press and on social media.
Each new piece of information has been expanded and analyzed by detectives, professionals and amateurs.
In the midst of a relentless flow of conspiracy theories and assumptions, there were numerous clues, some of which helped the authorities to locate Petito’s body.
At the same time, many Americans wonder why their cases have not received the same attention as the disappearance of family members.
Thousands of them have gone missing, especially non-whites, whose cases have received little or no attention.
Researchers refer to this phenomenon as the “Missing White Female Syndrome” and for decades, Michael N., an assistant professor of criminal law at Louisiana University in Lafayette. Genius explains.
Genius reads the relationship between the missing and the press.
She argues that the press uses a “warning story approach” that is profitable for the industry and especially about victimized white women who reinforce social prejudices on social media.
“Young, beautiful, middle-class white women in general are incredibly newsworthy when bad things happen,” she told the BBC.
In his research, Janice found that social media acts similarly to traditional journalism in these cases, so posts about these whites get more likes, are shared, and generally generate more involvement than people of other races.
The BBC tells three as yet unanswered stories of the missing.
Greg e Dawn Day
Greg Tag no longer has “good days”, “OK days”. He wants to hear his kids laugh again.
In July 2012, her 28-year-old daughter, Dan, was found floating face down in the canals of Fremont County, Wyoming.
Then, almost four years later, their other son, Jeff, 28, died.
“Greg believes his two sons were killed,” said Lynette Gray Bull, a friend of the Day family and director and founder of the NGO “Not Our Native Daughters”.
The organization seeks to raise awareness of the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women in North America.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, tribal women die ten times higher than the national average.
In Wyoming alone, more than 700 Native Americans have gone missing in the last decade. Some have seen their cases resolved by the authorities or taken seriously.
“I was sitting with families I could not answer,” said Gray Bull, a member of the state task force on missing and murdered Indians. “It’s a great burden to carry these stories and voices.”
He said Day sent the clue and wrote a personal letter to the Fremont County Attorney General this year. However, like many, he did not get justice and received little help.
“The main thing for us natives is that they will always ignore us,” Gray Bull told the BBC.
“The statistic in my head is that I belong to a race that is more persecuted, raped, murdered and sexually abused than anyone else who lives in this country. Why aren’t our cases focused on?”
Daniel Robinson
2nd David Robinson is a war veteran who has been looking for his youngest son 24 year old Daniel for three months.
Daniel was born without his left arm, but that did not stop him from living normally: from playing football to playing the trombone. He was a fan of collecting gems from an early age, he turned his hobby into work, studied geography and graduated with honors from Charleston University (South Carolina).
His father remembered him fondly and as a “one who unites all.”
Daniel finally left his workplace in Arizona in his blue-gray Renegade jeep.
A local farmer found the vehicle in a ditch two months ago, but that case has cooled.
David believes his son is alive and has moved to Arizona.
Bucky said police used ATVs to search difficult areas, drones and dogs, but those efforts were not enough, David says.
He says he conducted his own search operations with more than 200 volunteers non-stop for seven weeks.
The family has also created a petition to support the fundraising campaign and their efforts, but David fears that precious time has been wasted.
The great interest in the demise of KP Petito caused him mixed feelings.
“It’s to make news across the country, for the FBI and other agencies to work on this case, that’s all I wanted for my son,” he says.
“The sad thing is, the family had to mourn the end of (his death), but they could feel a little bit that the case was over. I have nothing to do with it,” he adds.
Lauren Cho
When her ex-girlfriend Lauren Cho came out of the motor home where the two of them were, Cody O’Reilly saw that she was upset about something, but didn’t pay much attention.
“I did not want to intrude then, but of course I would have wanted to do it now …” he told a local newspaper. High-desert star In July.
Cho, 30, known to his friends as “L,” was a soprano singer in his teens and later a music teacher.
Desiring a fresh start, he quit his job in the winter and joined Oral on a motor home trip across the country from New Jersey.
According to press reports, Cho planned to start a business with a food truck as soon as he reached Bombay Beach, California.
On June 28, while at a mutual friend’s property in Yucca Valley, California, Cho left the motor home without phone, food or water.
“In 10 minutes, it evaporated,” O’Reilly said.
Search and rescue operations could not find her.
The Pedito case sparked new interest in Zhou’s disappearance.
On the “Find Lauren Cho” Facebook page, its executives wrote: “In principle, we noticed some similarities to the general information about the two cases.
“Someone knows something,” they added.
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