Almost 1,800 People Are Reported Missing Each Day In The US

By: Kylie Hapuarachchi

Every day people are reported missing. Sometimes these people are never to be seen again. It is the harsh reality we live in.

In 2021 alone, thousands of women have gone missing. One case that still has America on the hunt is Gabby Petito.

She was a 22-year-old woman who had been on a cross country road trip with her fiance, Brian Laundrie. During this time Brian Laundrie seemingly returned to his home in Long Island without his fiancé.

He would not speak of what had happened which had police keeping tabs on him for being the main suspect.

Unfortunately, Petito’s body was discovered and Laundrie had gone missing. No one knows his whereabouts, but all are pointing a finger towards him for the death of Petito.

Through the weeks following this case Petito has had the media publicize her death while there are other women that have gone missing and have no media coverage on their cases.

There also comes this idea of how the media seems to play in these missing persons cases. They call it the “missing white woman syndrome”.

This syndrome was created by social scientists and media commentators to explain the disparity of when white women have a violent crime done to them versus when another race does.

It is this unruly phenomenon that neglects other races when they go missing.

In Wyoming, where Petito’s body was found, only 15% of indigenous women homicide victims get newspaper coverage compared to the 51% of white women that get coverage.

Petito’s case has grown throughout the country in the hunt for the main suspect Laundrie; however, a thought comes to mind about the hundreds of women cases that go unheard.

It even comes to shock when one hears how many Black girls and women go missing and not a word is uttered about them. The claim goes that those women must have run away without a proper investigation of their whereabouts.

Even with knowledge that there may have been a past with domestic violence, certain cases within minority groups get ignored.

Domestic violence is sadly very prevalent to women. 1 in 4 women are abused by their partner, which includes, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse etc.

People assume that it is easy to leave their abuser, they victim blame without understanding the background of the relationship.

There was a study that had found that Black women that were living with their partners were six times more likely to experience domestic violence. This study is never mentioned in the media.

In Asian women the statistics show that 55% of Asian women have faced some sort of domestic abuse from their partner.

This small piece of information is never included in showing how other races may have to deal with domestic abuse as well.

White woman syndrome is a way of saying that certain races are given more time in the eye of the media. It is this unspoken idea of privilege that examines the truth that women of other races are not cared about.

Cases such as Shanann Watts, Laci Peterson, Susan Powell are all white women that have had their cases broadcasted throughout the states. Everyone in the country knew about what had happened to them.

However, there are cases like Mariah Edwards, Dynasty Alexander, Lauren Cho and Asia Wilbon that have never had their names broadcasted the same way. All four of these victims are also missing people and should have the same joint effort in trying to either locate them or find their murderer.

These women are of different backgrounds yet the effort to either find them or their murderer should be the same as the cases that surround white women. 

It should not be this never-ending cycle of thousands of missing persons cases each year with little to no coverage on a majority of them.