Young, white, and attractive—missing persons of these three traits tends to be the deciding factor in whether their case is covered by news outlets or thoroughly investigated by police. While the disappearance of a white influencer may garner unprecedented amounts of media attention, the thousands of cases of missing Indigenous women remain ignored and in the dark. A missing white child may be immediately filed as missing and endangered, yet their black counterpart will be labeled as a runaway. The general population has an unprecedented amount of access to the details of both cold cases and missing persons cases, whether it be in the news, on social media, or in an episode of a true crime podcast. However, even though racial minorities in America are going missing at excessive rates that are not proportionate to their overall numbers, there is little attention being paid to these cases. In a similar fashion, law enforcement agencies fail to address minority missing persons cases. The disproportionate number of missing persons cases involving people of color are a result of a profound lack of media attention and police inaction, both of which are facets of America’s systemic racism.

Despite their minority statuses in the United States, black and Indigenous persons make up a hefty portion of missing persons numbers. The National Crime Information Center’s 2020 report on missing and unidentified persons revealed that 34 percent of all missing people are black, despite making up only 14 percent of the U.S. population (“2020 NCIC Missing Person”). Jada L. Moss, an attorney at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, reports that “in 2016, African-American missing persons cases appeared amongst the remaining older and open cases four times as often as the cases of White and Hispanic missing persons” (Moss 740). Native Americans are at comparable risks of disappearances. While accurate, consolidated, nationwide data on missing Indigenous persons is impossible to access—according to Sovereign Bodies Institute, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to circulating knowledge about missing Native American women, “78% of the missing persons cases documented [by Sovereign Bodies] are not in NamUs, the federal missing persons database” (“Zuya Wicayuonihan”)—Indigenous persons are at comparable risks of disappearances. Sovereign Bodies reported that “in November 2019, Montana and Nebraska Indigenous girls represented 37% and 13% of all missing girls, respectively, even though Indigenous people as a whole represent 6% and 1% of statewide populations” (“Zuya Wicayuonihan”). Black and Indigenous persons are going missing and remaining so at excessive rates, and both news media coverage and police attitudes should be held accountable.

Missing White Woman Syndrome, a term first used by bloggers and journalists that is now beginning to enter academia, encompasses the underrepresentation of minority missing persons in the media. Zach Sommers, a litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and respected criminologist, defines Missing White Woman Syndrome, shortened to the acronym MWWS, as “the idea that young White women and girls who go missing—especially stereotypically attractive blonde women and girls who come from privileged backgrounds—are more likely to be covered in the news than missing persons of other demographics” (Sommers). In an October 2021 article for Bloomberg Law, Sommers applies the phenomenon to the case of Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old woman who went missing in Wyoming in the fall of 2021. Petito checked all the necessary boxes; she was young, white, and attractive, and the media was fast to latch onto her case. News agencies, big and small, published daily articles about Petito and the police investigation into her disappearance. Sommers explains, “it was not the unique case characteristics that led to the enormous interest in Petito’s case, but rather who she was and what she looked like” (Sommers). While Petito’s case is tragic, it also highlights the racial discrepancies of news coverage by online news and television broadcasts.

MMWS is a contentious idea in America’s current political climate, but a recent empirical study performed by Sommers provides evidence that it is a real and serious phenomenon. The 2016 study was conducted in the form of a two-step statistical analysis, in which Sommers compared the analysis of missing persons reports published by four different online news sources, one national and three based in large cities with different racial compositions, with missing persons statistics provided by the FBI. Sommers found that “white women specifically seem more likely to receive any news coverage and benefit from higher coverage intensity” (311). Not only were white woman receiving greater media attention—making up more than 49 percent of the total number of articles examined by Sommers—but news outlets were more likely to repeatedly report on specific cases of white women, as was the case with Gabby Petito. Sommers found that black missing persons represent less than 13 percent of the news articles, yet FBI data reveals that black people make up more than 35 percent of all missing persons (301). In a 2017 NPR article, Gene Demby explains that “[FBI data] doesn’t disaggregate Latinos from white people, which suggests that the total number of missing white people could be inflated in the data” (Demby). While the racial disparity within the content published by news agencies is already apparent, it is likely even greater than the data that is provided by the FBI given the lack of differentiation between Hispanic and white missing persons.

Further evidence supporting the existence of inequal coverage within the media was provided by Seong-Jae Min and John C. Feaster in a 2010 article for the Communication Research Reports journal. According to their research, which focused on missing children as portrayed in television news, while 19.5% of the sampled news reports covered black children, the official FBI dataset reported that 33.2% of missing children are black. Min and Feaster reported that “in accordance with previous research, which has found disproportional news coverage for minorities, African American missing children cases were significantly underrepresented when compared to national statistics” (Min and Feaster 213). The inequalities represented by both Sommers and Min and Feaster provide compelling evidence that there is a systemic tendency for the media to underreport on black missing persons. In an interview for a 2021 Associate Press News article, Carol Liebler, a communications professor at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, explained that “implicit bias in favor of both whiteness and conventional beauty” and a “lack of newsroom diversity” are both factors that play into the underrepresentation of racial minorities in the media (qtd. in Whitehurst  et al.). A disappearance case is heavily dependent on its perceived newsworthiness, which explains why a story such as Petito’s received such widespread attention.

News media has the powerful ability to sway public interest and has undeniable effects on how police approach certain missing persons’ cases and how quickly these cases are solved. Sommers suggests that there is a direct correlation between media coverage and the increased speed and success of open investigations by police (Sommers 313). In an article for the Orlando Sentinel, Ernie Allen, the president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, says that media coverage both increases the odds that someone with information will come forward and puts pressure on the police to heighten their investigative efforts (Kassab), a reality that is not the case for the minority missing persons cases that are chronically lacking in public awareness. Sara Sun Beale, a Law Professor at Duke University, corroborates the significant influence the media has on public opinion, explaining that “data collected from hundreds of experimental simulations and surveys have confirmed the media’s ‘agenda-setting’ effects,” which refers to “the media’s ability to direct the public’s attention to certain issues” (442). Sun Beale goes on to reference a 1992 Austin, Texas study which found “significant correlation between elevated public concern about crime and crime stories in the local newspapers, and an even higher correlation when the stories appeared on the front page” (445). Given the overrepresentation of white missing persons in online and television news, the public may perceive these cases to be of greater importance. Furthermore, minorities are more frequently painted by news outlets as criminals than as crime victims (459), so it is logical to conclude that the public is less sympathetic to missing persons of color. Overall, the minimal coverage that minority missing persons receive negatively shifts public perception and the likelihood that these cases will be prioritized.

The apathy that is displayed by news media is also present in the conduct of law enforcement agencies. Police forces  frequently mismanage missing persons cases involving Indigenous persons, exacerbating the excessive rates at which members of this group disappear and remain missing. A 2020 report released by Sovereign Bodies Institute states that police misconduct and inadequate or a complete lack of police resources are heavy contributors to the lack of relevant action being taken to solve Indigenous missing persons cases. The report cited the incessant misclassification of missing persons reports, the racial misclassification of missing persons, and a profound lack of publicly available information, and explained that “62% of cases [of missing Indigenous women] were missing from all official databases and, depending on which database, between one third and half of the Indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people who were entered were misclassified racially” (“To’ Kee’ Skuy’” 102). The same report says:

The majority of contributing factors that lead to the broken relationships we have described are basic, and well within existing capacity to address. These factors include lack of cultural awareness or competency, lack of sensitivity to victims and their families, poor or nonexistent communication with families and survivors, chronic lack of cases being brought to justice, and addressing past and ongoing violence perpetrated by officers. (“To’ Kee’ Skuy” 105)

Not only are police failing to accurately classify and record missing persons and the facts of their cases, but they are engaging in lackluster communication with tribal communities and their respective police departments. In investigations as volatile as a missing persons case, in which the first 72 hours are the most critical, it is essential that law enforcement agents take immediate and vigorous action. However, it appears that Indigenous women are not extended this courtesy.

While AMBER Alert was created to locate and rescue missing children, its stringent guidelines exclude many missing children of color, rendering it an example of systemic inequality within the criminal justice system. Jada L. Moss examines historical uses of the AMBER Alert system and explores how it severely disadvantages black children. In a 2018 article for the William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice, Moss explains that AMBER Alerts will only be issued in cases where a minor has been abducted and is believed to be in a high-risk situation (752). This criterion excludes an overwhelming number of missing black children, who are more likely to be listed as runaways by police and therefore would not be eligible for an AMBER Alert. The listing of missing black children as runaways is also used by police as a loophole to avoid adhering to state laws enacted to deter the mandating of waiting periods before a person can be filed as missing. Moss explains that “a person labeled as a ‘runaway’ may be an exception to this law, and would thus allow law enforcement to delay response and investigation into a potential missing person’s case” and that “this has frequently been the case of many missing children of color” (752).  The term “runaway” in cases of missing minors tends to be a misnomer, implying that the individual is not a victim and instead is responsible for their situation. Minority children who go missing from foster care systems labeled as runaways are at specific risks of disinterest and disengagement from law enforcement. Pamela Strassberg, an Associate Clinical Director at a youth residential treatment center in Albany, New York, recounts her experience with local police when reporting missing youth in a 2021 interview. She explains that local police do not typically follow up on a runaway youth report made by the treatment facility unless the child has a parent or guardian who also contacts the police. Strassberg goes on to describe that

Most children living in foster care in NYS have lower socioeconomic status and a greater percentage of foster care youth are Black and Latino(a). I believe this impacts the police response to the missing person status of children in the foster care system. The police may believe that the youthful runaways made the choice to go missing. Therefore, they are more responsible for their own fates. However, many of the run away foster care youth have significant trauma histories, as well as mental health and substance abuse is sues which make them more vulnerable to human traffickers. (Strassberg)

Both police and the public are less sympathetic to a runaway than an abductee, even though the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children classifies runaways as “highly vulnerable” (“Endangered Runaways”). Due to the reduction in the perceived newsworthiness of these cases, news agencies are deterred from reporting on them, resulting in a lack of public pressure for law enforcement to launch an adequate investigation.

Some may claim that media representation does not impact public opinion nor police productivity, or even that there is no discrimination present in the actions taken by law enforcement in their approach to missing persons cases. For example, Sun Beale suggests that the media may have minimal effects on the public based on extrinsic factors such as selective exposure to certain brands of media and intrinsic factors like selective perception and retention (441), and Sommers contends that more studies are needed to say conclusively whether media has the ability to increase the likelihood that an investigative case is solved (313). Yet an examination of 350 empirical studies for the 2014 publication The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory has led authors Maxwell McCombs and Lei Guo to conclude that “to a considerable degree, the public accepts [the] agenda of the media as its own agenda of the most important issues of the day” regarding both national and local news across a variety of topics, including the environment, crime, and presidential elections (252). The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children encourages positive media attention due to the increased likelihood that a witness may come forward with evidence and the elevated pressure by the public for police to investigate the case (Kassab). Furthermore, the mishandling of minority missing persons cases is demonstrated by discriminatory criminal justice policies such as the AMBER Alert system, the racial misclassification of Indigenous persons, and the frequent labeling of missing black children as runaways. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that news media has a powerful influence on how the public perceives crime. The decision by journalistic agencies to underreport on missing persons of color is a disrespect to victims and their families, and the apathy displayed by law enforcement continues to cost black and Indigenous people their lives.

Organizations like Black & Missing Foundation and Sovereign Bodies are doing their part to raise awareness on the issue of missing black and Indigenous persons who are being ignored by the media and chronically understated by law enforcement agencies. Black & Missing provides families of missing persons with the help and support they need, and Sovereign Bodies has created the largest and most comprehensive database of missing Indigenous women in North America, sourcing their data from historical tribal archives, databases, news articles, social media, and direct outreach with communities, among other resources. Reactionary measures taken against discriminatory law enforcement policies, such as the RILYA Alert, a supplement to the AMBER Alert system that is meant to minimize the discrimination seen in AMBER Alerts, are also helping to increase public attention. Regardless, more should be done, and not just by nonprofits. News media has a moral obligation to report factual stories that are representative of entire populations, and narrating stories of black and Indigenous persons of color would be a step toward equity.  Discrimination within law enforcement agencies towards missing persons can be combated through anti-bias training, the reallocation of resources, and greater competency overall. The accessibility of the media, and the increased awareness of the racial discrepancies of missing persons cases following the tremendous response to Gabby Petito’s disappearance, are both advantageous to the fight for a more equitable future.

Works Cited

“2020 NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics.” FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 4 Mar. 2021, https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/2020-ncic-missing-person-and-unidentified-person-statistics.pdf/view. Accessed 15 November 2021.

Demby, Gene. “What We Know (and Don’t Know) about ‘Missing White Women Syndrome’.” NPR, NPR, 13 Apr. 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/04/13/523769303/what-we-know-and-dont-know-about-missing-white-women-syndrome. Accessed November 15, 2021.

“Endangered Runaways.” National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/runaways. Accessed 15 November 2021.

McCombs, Maxwell E. and Lei Guo. “Agenda-Setting Influence of the Media in the Public Sphere.” The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory, edited by Mark Fackler and Robert S. Fortner, Wiley, 2014, pp. 249–268., https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118591178.ch14. Accessed 18 November 2021.

Kassab, Beth. “Why Media Coverage for Missing Persons Is Important.” Orlandosentinel.com, Orlando Sentinel, 6 Apr. 2019, https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-beth-kassab-why-media-coverage-for-missing-persons-is-important-20120105-story.html. Accessed 15 November 2021.

Min, Seong-Jae, and John C. Feaster. “Missing Children in National News Coverage: Racial and Gender Representations of Missing Children Cases.” Communication Research Reports, vol. 27, no. 3, 2010, pp. 207–216., https://doi.org/10.1080/08824091003776289. Accessed 15 November 2021.

Moss, Jada L. “The Forgotten Victims of Missing White Woman Syndrome: An Examination of Legal Measures That Contribute to the Lack of Search and Recovery of Missing Black Girls and Women.” William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice, vol. 25, no. 3, 2019, pp. 737–62, scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/vol25/iss3/9. Accessed 15 November 2021.

Sommers, Zach. “Missing White Woman Syndrome: An Empirical Analysis of Race and Gender Disparities in Online News Coverage of Missing Persons.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 106, no. 2, 2016, pp. 275–314., https://doi.org/https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol106/iss2/4. Accessed 16 November 2021.

Sommers, Zach. “Missing White Woman Syndrome: How Do We Fix It?” News.bloomberglaw.com, Bloomberg Law, 19 Oct. 2021, https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/missing-white-woman-syndrome-how-do-we-fix-it. Accessed 16 November 2021.

Strassberg, Pamela. Personal Interview. 24 November 2021.

Sun Beale, Sara. “The News Media’s Influence on Criminal Justice Policy: How Market-Driven News Promotes Punitiveness.” William and Mary Law Review, vol. 48, no. 2, 2006, pp. 397–481., https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol48/iss2/2. Accessed 16 November 2021.

To’ Kee Skuy’ Soo Ney-Wo-Chek’ Year 1 Progress Report: MMIWG2 of Northern California. Sovereign Bodies Institute, 2020. https://www.sovereign-bodies.org/_files/ugd/6b33f7_c7031acf738f4f05a0bd46bf96486e58.pdf. Accessed 15 November 2021.

Whitehurst, Lindsay, et al. “Petito Case Renews Call to Spotlight Missing People of Color.” AP NEWS, The Associated Press, 25 Sept. 2021, apnews.com/article/media-social-media-arizona-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-2fe13213df563f1560dede872890b8f2. Accessed 15 November 2021.

Zuya Wicayuonihan: Honoring Warrior Women. Sovereign Bodies Institute, 2019. https://www.sovereign-bodies.org/_files/ugd/6b33f7_27835308ecc84e5aae8ffbdb7f20403c.pdf. Accessed 16 November 2021.