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Introduction

Over 600,000 people go missing every year in the United States alone. Nearly 40% of them are people of color. Our society is one that was built around attractive white people. The media and news outlets focus their reports on issues that reaffirm the belief of white supremacy and societal beauty standards. When someone goes missing, their appearance matters. The chances of finding a fit, pretty, white woman who is missing is higher than the chances of finding a woman of color, especially one who may be considered “unattractive”. This year, the country was laser-focused on the disappearance of Gabby Petito. She was a pretty, young, blonde, and adventurous white woman who was an influencer and traveled in a van across the country with her fiance, Brian Laundrie. She went missing in late August, but we all know how her story went. She was tragically murdered by her own fiance, who then killed himself. Everyone knew that she would be found. Her disappearance garnered national media attention as people sat at home during September, following the daily updates of the case. The issue is not that Gabby received the attention that she did, the issue is why doesn’t the media maintain that same amount of coverage for other missing persons? The answer is right in front of our faces. When a person of color goes missing, people begin to think that that person did something in order to meet that fate. While on the other hand, when a white woman goes missing, she becomes humanized and relatable, someone with a family and a future. White privilege and pretty privilege go hand in hand. Society tells us that all white women are pretty, and all pretty women are white. What about the other 50% of the U.S. population? The thing that I’m sitting here and wondering as I write this is, what is a missing person supposed to look like? 

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While looking for Brian Laundrie, authorities discovered six other bodies. Lauren “El” Cho, a Korean woman, was one of them. She was born in New Jersey on December 20, 1990.  She taught as a music teacher at a high school in New Jersey to move to California in 2020. She had a dream of repairing an old school bus and converting it into a food truck since she had a passion for baking. Her ex-boyfriend saw her leave her Airbnb in June of 2021 to go for a walk, but she was never seen again. She didn’t take anything with her, she didn’t bring her phone, wallet, or food. This means that she planned on coming back. Friends remained adamant on finding Lauren, but months went by without any sign of her. In October, three months later, authorities made a discovery of human remains while looking for Brian Laundrie. The ironic thing is that she was found in the same area where she was reported missing, while authorities were scouring the country for Laundrie. It’s sad that it took the search for Laundrie to finally discover Lauren’s remains. Law enforcement never took action, but why? Sure the cases are very different, there’s no argument there, but Lauren Cho was still human. She was a beautiful woman with ambition and dreams. She had a future and a family. Why didn’t they care? I’ll tell you why, it’s because she doesn’t look like the type of woman that the media cares about. She was Asian, not white. She was under “mental distress” at the time so maybe they believed she had the intent of committing suicide. Does this mean that she’s not worth looking for? What about her family who waited at home and remained hopeful that their daughter, sister, and aunt would be found safe? They now have closure, but I can’t imagine the pain of waiting for three months for an answer that only came as an accident. Authorities didn’t mean to find Lauren, they just stumbled upon her. They gave up on her. The media didn’t show us the talented artist, musician, and loyal friend, they showed us a woman who was “upset” and left willingly. It is rumored that someone may have picked Lauren up from her Airbnb, so have they done any investigation into that? I know that they’re waiting for a toxicology report though… Lauren Cho didn’t look like the type of woman who needed to be rescued or found, she was a woman who was forgotten. Hopefully one day, her family will receive all the answers that they need. 

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Jelani Day, a black man, had dreams of becoming a doctor and attended Illinois State University as a graduate student looking to get his master’s in speech pathology. He was extremely close to his family and contacted his mother every day. On August 24, 2021, he didn’t attend his classes and a meeting with a professor, which was very unlike him. The professor knew Jelani’s character well enough to know that something was wrong, so she reported him missing. When no one in his family had heard from him by August 25, they filed an official missing persons report. Jelani was seen on surveillance footage at 7:20 am on campus wearing a blue button up shirt and black pants. He was then seen on another surveillance camera at 9:20 am at a dispensary in a completely different outfit. There’s a little bit of confusion online because Jelani was supposed to go back to school later that day, so why did he change his outfit? Some theorize that he knew he wouldn’t be going back to campus. Then again, it’s normal for students to change after class and wear a few different outfits throughout the day. Bloomington police met with Jelani’s family, but really had no sense of urgency. They figured that he left willingly and wasn’t a top priority; that was until his car was found. Two days after he was last seen, his car was found 60 miles away from Bloomington in a wooded area of Peru, Illinois. The clothes that he was last seen wearing were found in the car. Now, police were beginning to say that the circumstances around his disappearance were suspicious. His cell phone, wallet, and LICENSE PLATES were nowhere to be found. Does that not sound so sketch? Why would the license plates be removed from his car? Jelani’s mother said that he had no business being in Peru, and that it was incredibly random for him to be there. The police on the case have been letting down Jelani’s family since the beginning. On a Friday, two days after Jelani went missing, the detective on the case told Jelani’s mother, Carmen, that unless he heard anything, he would be heading home for the weekend and be talking to her again the next week. I didn’t know that detectives take the weekend off? Isn’t time of the essence when someone goes missing, especially under suspicious circumstances? Because Carmen refused to sit around and wait for detectives, she took matters into her own hands. She raised awareness for Jelani all across social media and started a Gofundme. Jelani’s family conducted their own searches with the help of strangers. On September 2, his wallet and a lanyard that might have been his was found. A tragic discovery was made by police on the morning of September 4. Jelani’s body was found in the Illinois river, only a mile away from where his car was found. Carmen has been disrespected constantly by authorities and even the coroner. She has been begging for coverage on her son in the wake of the Gabby Petito case. She wonders why her son hasn’t received the same amount of attention by telling the public, “my son is important”. Those words are just gut-wrenching. A mother is in pain and asking for answers that she may never receive. Even after getting a private autopsy on Jelani’s body, Carmen still doesn’t know what happened to her son. Authorities and the media have failed them. Carmen has been doing more investigating than the detectives assigned to the case! A college student is missing, and he's not important. Is it because he’s black? Maybe it’s because he was buying marijuana the day he disappeared. He is still human, he has a family, and they need answers. It has been four months, and his family is still fighting for justice. What happened to Jelani day, a graduate student and future doctor?

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Conclusion

In this paper, I talked about two cases that are beginning to gain more media coverage because of the time frame of the disappearances. The only reason why they’re receiving more attention is because they happened so close to the Gabby Petito disappearance. There are countless cases out there that aren’t receiving the attention that they should. People of color go missing every day, but the media only cares to talk about white people. Missing people do not have to look a certain way. They are human, they have family, and they have futures. They deserve recognition and answers. 

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Works Cited

Carol Liebler, opinion contributor. “'Missing White Woman Syndrome' Goes beyond Media Coverage.” TheHill, The Hill, 29 Sept. 2021, https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/574474-missing-white-woman-syndrome-goes-beyond-media-coverage.

Fitzsimmons, Tim. “Remains Found in California Desert Identified as Lauren Cho, Missing New Jersey Woman.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 28 Oct. 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/remains-found-california-desert-identified-lauren-cho-missing-new-jersey-n1281275.

Frey, William H. “The Nation Is Diversifying Even Faster than Predicted, According to New Census Data.” Brookings, Brookings, 16 July 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/research/new-census-data-shows-the-nation-is-diversifying-even-faster-than-predicted/.

Kendall Rae, director. Grad Student Jelani Day: Mysteriously Found in Illinois River? What Really Happened?! YouTube, YouTube, 23 Nov. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKWMi4z4Jj4. Accessed 17 Dec. 2021.

Robertson, Katie. “News Media Can't Shake 'Missing White Woman Syndrome,' Critics Say.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Sept. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/business/media/gabby-petito-missing-white-woman-syndrome.html.