In the summer of 2021, the heartbreaking disappearance of 22-year-old Gabby Petito captured the nation's attention. Her case dominated headlines, fueled widespread social media engagement, and prompted a “nation-wide search” from law enforcement and the FBI. While Petito's case helped bring much-needed awareness to the issue of missing people, it also underscored systemic issues in how such cases are prioritized and investigated in the U.S. Thus, critics have argued that Petito’s privilege – being a young, white, and conventionally attractive woman – played a key role in the intense media coverage and swift law enforcement action, a privilege that many other missing people, especially women of color, do not receive.
As was the case of Miya Marcano, a 19-year-old Caribbean-American college student from Florida, who was reported missing less than a month after Petito’s case gained national prominence. Although both cases shared similarities in age, Florida residency, and tragic murder-suicide outcomes, Marcano’s case was not as publicized as Petito's and unfortunately suffered a familiar fate as many missing women of color – that is, being overshadowed by a missing white woman.
Missing White Woman Syndrome
According to experts and advocates, the juxtapositions between the two cases underscore what late journalist Gwen Ifill’s coined as ‘Missing White Woman Syndrome’, a term used to describe how the media has historically and disproportionately focused on the missing person case of white women and girls. In contrast, Communications and African American Studies professor, Dr. Kaye Wise Whitehead argued that "When [women and girls of color] go missing: the world, the country, does not get alarmed and does not get concerned".
Missing Black Woman Crisis
Black women and girls are disproportionately affected by violence, trafficking, and systemic neglect, which leads to high rates of disappearance. Research data further crystallize this alarming reality. According to a 2023 report from the National Crime Information Center, 40 percent of missing persons are mostly black yet black people make up only 13 percent of the nation’s population and according to 2022 data by the FBI, black women represented 18% of missing’s persons cases. In addition, not only do many of these cases go underreported and unnoticed by law enforcement and the media but when they are noticed and reported on, these women and girls fall victim again to racialized and gendered stereotypes. However, many families do fight back. On the second anniversary of her death, members of Marcano’s family filed a lawsuit against the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, accusing them of carelessness and displaying racial indifference in her case.
True-Crime Popularity
Furthermore, the intersection between missing persons cases and pop culture has the potential to cause a resurgence in public interest into certain cases, especially those that remain unsolved. However, some critics have argued that violence against women is often trivialized in the true-crime genre, especially in a contemporary culture that many experts say have normalized sexual assault against women. In addition, much like mainstream news coverage, most of these shows play right into the missing white woman syndrome which also leaves women and girls of color out of the collective memory. The Petito case is especially one that has tapped into the true crime genre's growing popularity. Most recently, the Netflix documentary “American Murder: Gabby Petito” reached number one in Netflix’s Top 10, maintaining the public interest in the case. To date, the Marcano case has not received the same level of attention.
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