Photo Courtesy of Glamour UK
According to Statista as of March of 2021, there are currently 209,375 women under the age of 21 missing in the United States. Oddly, this number of missing women is the lowest it has been since the year 1990.
It has also been observed that while nearly half of all missing persons cases in 2020 were minorities, the media covers cases of white missing persons over those of minorities.
People go missing for many reasons. Some of these might include kidnappings, homicides, runaways and in some situations people leave on purpose to escape abuse.
Chances are, you’ve probably heard the name Gabby Petito a time or two. Petito was a missing 22-year-old white woman this year who disappeared traveling on a cross country trip with her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend, who was previously her fiance, is named Brian Laundrie. The two left for their cross country trip this June. Both Petito and Laundrie had a following on social media and consistently posted about their travels.
However, their social media posts came to a sudden halt at the end of August. Petito abruptly stopped communicating with her family and no longer showed any activity on her social media.
On August 12 the pair was seen in Moab, Utah. Officers from the scene describe them as having “engaged in some sort of altercation.” According to police officers, the two were engaged in a physical altercation following an argument of theirs.
An officer from the scene, Eric Pratt, said, “Both the male and female reported they are in love and engaged to be married and desperately didn’t wish to see anyone charged with a crime.” Neither Petito or Laundrie filed charges against one another.
An officer suggested that the two seperate for that night, also describing Gabby’s behavior as “confused and emotional.” The officers concluded after this altercation that the situation wasn’t domestic abuse as much as it was a mental health crisis.
Laundrie flew home to Tampa, Florida, five days after this dispute to “obtain some items and empty and close the storage unit to save money as they contemplated extending the road trip” said his attorney, Steven Bertolino.
On August 23, after six days of being gone, Laundrie returned to Salt Lake City, Utah to rejoin Petito.
After the initial incident, the pair was seen once more in Jackson, Wyoming. On August 27, just four days after the two were reunited, they were seen once again in a quarrel outside of a restaurant.
Although there is no footage of this incident, a witness said she saw Petito in tears while Laundrie was visibly angry. This is believed to be the last time Petito was seen alive.
On August 30, the Petito family received their last text message from Gabby. However, they don’t believe that the text was sent by her. The text read, “No service in Yosemite.”
Gabby was reported missing by her family, who lives in New York, on September 11. Immediately, the blame of Petito’s disappearance went to her boyfriend.
Just when this case couldn’t get crazier, Brian Laundrie was reported missing by his family on September 14. The police spokesperson from Brian’s home city of Tampa, said “We’ve been trying all week to talk to his family, to talk to Brian, and now they’ve called us here on Friday, we’ve gone to the home, and they’re saying now they have not seen their son.”
As of September 14, authorities started the search for both Brian and Gabby. However, on September 19 remains were found of a body consistent to Gabby’s description in Teton County, Wyoming.
A week later on September 21, the remains found were confirmed to be those of Gabby Petito. The conclusion of the performed autopsy was ruled as a homicide.
As of today, October 8, 2021, the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie are still unknown and there is a warrant out for his federal arrest in the US District Court of Wyoming.
Why do you think this case received so much media attention while the other 209,374 missing women in the United States didn’t?
Reference: CNN
