All missing person cases should be treated equally

Ayoung woman’s remains were found in the California desert earlier this month. Lauren Cho went missing in June, after allegedly being upset and walking away from a resort near Palm Springs, leaving behind her personal belongings.

Her ex-boyfriend reported the 30-year-old New Jersey resident missing three hours after her disappearance. At least someone was concerned that she disappeared under circumstances that wouldn’t be considered normal.

In contrast, Gabby Petito, 22, of Florida, went missing in September. She disappeared from Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest and news of her disappearance dominated newspaper headlines and the Internet until her remains were found about a month later.

What makes the handling of these two situations so different? Some might say “nothing,” but all we heard about for a month was Petito’s disappearance.

Cho’s disappearance didn’t seem to get nearly as much attention. In fact, it didn’t seem to get much attention at all until her remains were found.

Was it because Petito was younger? Was it because she was known to have had domestic issues with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie? Was it because she was known on social media?

Cho was a bit older and as far as we know, was not involved in any type of domestic violence situation when she disappeared. Also, she went missing in an area with desert terrain, compared to a forest.

But those reasons don’t seem as important as the fact that Petito was a white woman and Cho was not.

Since Petito’s disappearance, there’s been outcry from many on social media about how her case was being handled compared to women of “color” who had disappeared.

Those pointing out the unequal treatment weren’t wrong. Many Indigenous women have disappeared in Wyoming, but little to nothing is heard about them.

Social media and news outlets need to do a better job in ensuring equal coverage of all disappearance cases. One shouldn’t get preferential treatment over another because of race, gender or any other reason.

None of that should matter when law enforcement is searching for a missing person. All cases should be treated equally — and that applies to media coverage, too.