Media Fascination With The Petito Mystery Looks Like Racism To Some Native Americans

The FBI has confirmed that remains found in Wyoming Sunday are the body of 22-year-old Gabrielle Petito. The mystery around the death of the photogenic young white woman with a carefree social media presence has been headline news across the country.

And that’s frustrating to people who say the media ignores an epidemic of missing and murdered Native American women in the state.

Since 2000, Indigenous people have made up 21% of homicides in Wyoming, even though they are only 3% of the population. That’s according to a state report released in January.

Cara Chambers, chair of the task force that released the report says only 30% of Indigenous homicide victims had any media coverage. That number is closer to 51% for whites.

I get that she has a slight level of celebrity but those numbers are why the way this story has been covered disgusts me.