Two docs break true crime mold by spotlighting women of color
Off the top of your head, try to recall the names of the women behind the most notorious missing persons cases. They’ll likely include Elizabeth Smart, Gabby Petito, Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway — all tragic disappearances that garnered national media attention.
But in that same time frame, hundreds more young women went missing whose names — such as Keeshae Jacobs, Henny Scott, Akia Eggleston — did not make the morning talk shows or the nightly news, likely because they were Black women or women of color. It’s a phenomenon referred to as “missing white woman syndrome,” in which the disappearance of white women is swarmed by law enforcement and the media, while disappearances of Black women and women of color tend to generate far less attention, despite occurring at a higher rate.
Two documentaries — HBO’s recent four-part “Black and Missing,” streaming on HBO Max, and Oxygen’s featurelength “Murdered and Missing in Montana,” streaming on Peacock and Oxygen.com — break the true-crime mold of chasing names from the headlines and instead highlight cases of Black and Indigenous women, respectively, who’ve gone missing. Each production explores why law enforcement and the national media pay far less attention to a disappearance when the victim is Black or a person of color, and how much of the apathy is rooted in systemic racism.
“Black and Missing” follows the founders of the Black and Missing Foundation, sisters-inlaw Derrica and Natalie Wilson, as they push the police and news media to help the families of missing women find their loved ones. The series, from Geeta Gandbhir and journalist Soledad O’Brien, explores how racial bias has contributed to a lack of action from law enforcement and the media when a Black woman goes missing.
Shot over three years, the cameras trail Derrica, a former law enforcement officer, and Natalie, a master at public relations, as they push to raise awareness about the stark realities of human trafficking, inform the community about how to deal with the police if something should happen to a loved one and educate whomever they can about the inequity that exists around locating missing people of color.
“Murdered and Missing in Montana” explores the unsolved cases of Indigenous women who’ve gone missing. The murder rate is 10 times higher than the national level for women living on reservations and the third-leading cause of death for Indigenous women.
Attorney, investigative journalist and former criminal prosecutor Loni Coombs focuses on the cases of Henny Scott, Kaysera Stops Pretty Places and Selena Not Afraid — three women whose deaths on and around the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Reservations remain a mystery. Along with former Montana Sheriff Phylliss Firecrow, Coombs exposes the similarities between the three cases, stressing the urgency to solve them before more women and children fall prey.
All missing persons cases are critical. Now, true-crime television is finally changing its stance by paying attention to those who were formerly overlooked.