Almost everyone has heard of the disappearance of travel vlogger Gabby Petito. She disappeared in early September during a cross country road trip with her Fiancé Brian Laundrie in their van. Brian returned to his home in Florida a few days after her disappearance was announced. He quickly fled, with sources close to him saying he left without his phone or wallet on September 13th. Police issued an arrest warrant and have been searching a 25,000 acre nature reserve in Florida. Gabby’s body was found on September 19th, but the corner says that her body had been left in the wilderness for 3-4 weeks before it was discovered. Gabby was only 22 years old. The case had gained major national news coverage and an outcry on social media.
There had been multiple reports of people witnessing or having to break up domestic fights between the couple in the weeks leading up to her death. On August 12th a police officer had to stop a physical altercation between the two of them that had escalated from a verbal fight. In the last week of August, Gabby had been in contact with her family through FaceTime and messages. Her last text message to her family was sent on August 30th, although they do not believe it was her who sent it.
Her cause of death was revealed as manual strangulation on October 12th, by Dr. Brent Blue of Teton County. Dr. Blue goes on to say “Unfortunately this is only one of many deaths around the country of people who are involved with domestic violence, and it’s unfortunate that these other deaths did not get as much coverage as this one”. He is commenting on the fact that many men and women of color have gone missing recently and have received a fraction of the coverage that this case has received.
People of color go missing at a much higher rate than white people. Yet they tend to receive barely any coverage. Th missing people cases that tend to receive the most attention are those of white women. Although this case gained a lot of attention and helped to find Gabby’s body, many people began to shed light on the fact that there are currently missing people of color who are presumed to be missing in the same area as Gabby was. People on social media began to call for attention to these cases and other cases of missing people of color that have not received enough online attention either. In the last decade, 710 Indigenous people have gone missing in Wyoming, the same state in which Gabby was killed.
Our hearts are with Gabby’s family and friends as they navigate this difficult time. But our hearts should also be with families of missing people of color who are struggling to get any attention from the media or help with their cases.