Families of missing and murdered Native women ask: ‘Where’s the attention for ours?

Gabby Petito's case highlights the power of media attention but for Indigenous communities it also emphasizes the lack of attention given to missing and murdered Native people

The case of missing 22-year-old Gabby Petito came to a tragic conclusion this week when the FBI reported her body had been found in a US national park in Wyoming. And just as they had been during the frantic search for the young woman, news organizations and social media platforms across the US were buzzing with the terrible update.

The saga highlighted the incredible power of media attention to showcase a missing person's case and help it reach some type of timely resolution, no matter how dire, though the search for Petito's killer continues. But for many in the Indigenous community, it also further emphasized the lack of attention and resources too often given to the scores of missing and murdered Native people in Wyoming and the rest of the country.