Gabby Petito made headlines in the worst way possible, through her death. And since then, because of her presence on social media - specifically YouTube - as she and her boyfriend attempted to document a carefree "van" lifestyle, citizen activists and citizen sleuths have been trying to help law enforcement solve the mystery. I watched dozens of these videos, much of them repetitive without much new to say. It helps to use the filter "last hour" to make your way through some of these.
A criticism that I think is unfair is that Gabby got all the media attention because she's a blond, blue eyed White woman. While I do suspect that Black missing people might not get the same attention as White in some places, the reason this story - one of an easy half million missing people a year in the United States - grabbed our attention was:
That the couple did seek attention in the first place. Like others who document their van life hoping to gain a following and enough interest to get paid by YouTube, the couple set out to depict their travels to National Parks.
The irony of their happy together photos and the reality that there was domestic violence taking place. (The Titanic was not the only steamship that sunk but we are riveted by that story because this was the ship that was marketed as unsinkable.)
Our ability to inspect the photos and judge. I think they did have many a happy moments together. I think it's difficult to fake such happiness in photos. We are all examining photos and making judgements about what has been Photoshopped or otherwise altered, be it happy photos or UFO photos.
Perhaps the racist idea that White women are so advantaged that they don't have domestic violence issues in relationships. (I've been told to my face that I'm advantaged for being born White and I think that's ignorant. People who say such things don't know the history of an individual or that White people come from various ethnicities and cultures. It would be like thinking all Native Americans have the same ethnicity or culture.)
The knowing that if this couple had therapy or learned anger management, the outcome could have been so different.
I'm writing this a few days ahead of some of the information that will be forthcoming such as the cause of death in actuality, the timeline, and the whereabout of boyfriend Brian. At this time I'm open minded enough to think it is possible that Brian, who is being tried and convicted in the media, might not have killed his girlfriend.
C 2021 Christine Trzyna
