Missing white woman syndrome is a term used by somesocial scientists[1][2][3] and media commentators to denote perceived disproportionate media coverage, especially on television,[4] ofmissing-person cases toward white women and girls as compared to cases involving male subjects orwomen of color. Supporters of the phenomenon posit that it encompasses supposed disproportionate media attention to female subjects who are young, attractive, white, and upper middle class.[5][6][7] Although the term was coined in the context of missing-person cases, it is sometimes used of coverage of other violent crimes. The phenomenon has been highlighted in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and other predominantly white countries, as well as South Africa.[8][9]
Despite the popularity of the term "missing white woman syndrome", there have been few empirical studies examining the subject.[1][10] A 2016 study found that black missing persons received a disproportionately low share of news coverage when compared to their rate of missingness.[1] This study also found that once a missing persons case appeared in the news, white girls' and women's cases received more intense coverage than cases involving missing persons of other demographics.[1] In addition, in a later 2019 study, gender was a significant factor in media coverage of missing person cases. This study found that female victims receive more coverage overall, and national and out-of-state attention is even more skewed towards representing women. The 2019 study also found missing person cases involvingWhite people received more media attention than those involvingBlack people.[10] However, the authors also reported that non-blackwomen of color (such asAsian andLatina women) are just as over-represented as white women in news coverage, suggesting that the misnomer of "missing white woman syndrome" is rather a function of the under-representation ofblack women in media cases.[11] Analysis has also found that missing women are twelve times more likely than missing men to receive attention in Louisiana, despite men and women going missing at similar rates nationally.[12]
The phenomenon has led to a number oftough-on-crime measures, mainly on thepolitical right, that were named for white women who disappeared and were subsequently found harmed.[13][14] In addition to race and class, factors such as supposed attractiveness, body size, and youthfulness have been identified as unfair criteria in the determination of newsworthiness in coverage of missing women.[15] News coverage of missing black women was more likely to focus on the victim's problems, such as abusive boyfriends, criminal history, or drug addiction, while coverage of white women often tended to focus on their roles as mothers, daughters, students, and contributors to their communities.[16]
American news anchorGwen Ifill is credited with originating the phrase at theUnity: Journalists of Color journalism conference in 2004.[7][17][18] At the conference, she said: "I call it the missing white woman search syndrome. If there is a missing white woman we're going to cover that every day."[18]
Charlton McIlwain defined the syndrome as "white women occupying a privileged role as violent crime victims in news media reporting", and posited that missing white woman syndrome functions as a type ofracial hierarchy in the cultural imagery of the U.S.[19]Eduardo Bonilla-Silva categorized the racial component of missing white woman syndrome as a "form of racial grammar, through whichwhite supremacy is normalized byimplicit, or even invisible standards".[1]
In 2003, theSan Francisco Chronicle published an article detailing the disparity between the coverage of theLaci Peterson case, and that of Evelyn Hernandez, a Hispanic woman – both of whom disappeared in 2002.[20]
A report that aired onCNN in 2006 noted the differences in the level of media coverage given to missing white women (such as Laci Peterson andNatalee Holloway), when compared to the level of coverage given toLaToyia Figueroa, a pregnantblack Hispanic woman. Figueroa disappeared inPhiladelphia in 2005, the same year Holloway disappeared.[21]
A 2010 study of news coverage of missing children found that black missing children cases were significantly underrepresented, when compared to national statistics. Missing black girls were significantly underrepresented in national news reporting. The coverage of death cases for black boys was significantly greater than expected. Coverage of non-black female kidnapping cases was greater than expected.[22] A subsequent study found that children fromminority groups, especially black children, were more likely to remain missing for longer periods of time.[23]
A 2013 study that addressed media coverage of missing children, focusing on sex, but not race, found that "the results revealed that gender and age play only a minor role in deciding which abduction incidents are covered by newspapers, as well as the extent to which they are reported on. Specifically, newspapers dedicated more words to female victims than male victims, and reported more on younger children (aged 11 and under) than older children (aged 12 and over) when they were the victim of a nonfamily abduction."[24]
In 2015, a report was published that re-examined the results from Min and Feaster's 2010 study about media coverage of missing children and confirmed that the media coverage of white missing persons was disproportionate compared to non-white people, but found that the coverage of women was not as biased as the 2010 study concluded.[25]
In 2016, Zach Sommers, asociologist atNorthwestern University, published a study explaining that while there is a sizable body of research that shows that white people are more likely than people of color to appear in news coverage as victims of violent crime, there is relatively little when it comes to missing persons cases.[1] Sommers cross-referenced the missing persons coverage of four national and regional media outlets against theFBI's missing persons database and found that black people were disproportionately less likely to appear in the news when compared to their rates of missingness; he also found that among those missing persons who appeared in the news, the coverage was much more intense (i.e., more articles were written) for white women and girls than other demographic groups.[26][1]
ProfessorEduardo Bonilla-Silva theorised that the subtle standard of placing a premium on white lives in the news helps to maintain and reinforce aracial hierarchy with white people at the top. For example, black women are perceived as members of both a marginalized racial group and a marginalized sex group.[1] Crucially, though, black women have an "intersectional experience [that] is greater than the sum ofracism andsexism". In other words, like white women, black women are subject to sexism, but the form of that sexism differs for black women because of the compounding effects ofracial discrimination, with missing white woman syndrome argued to be a pertinent manifestation of this social phenomenon.[26][1] Some sociologists have argued that the tone of media coverage for black female victims differs markedly from coverage of white female victims in that the former are more likely to be blamed for purportedly putting themselves in harm's way, either knowingly or unknowingly.Victim blaming in this context reinforces the notion that black female victims are not only less innocent, but also less worthy of rescue relative to white women.[1] Other observers note the lack of publicity given to black female victims ofpolice brutality in news coverage, attributing the silence to a tradition of "sexism andpatriarchy" in American society.[1]
Kym Pasqualini, president of theNational Center for Missing Adults, observed that media outlets tend to focus on "damsels in distress"—typically,affluent young white women and teenagers.[27]
In a 2016Esquire article about thedisappearance of Tiffany Whitton, journalistTom Junod observed that white women of lower social status, such as Whitton, a 26-year-old unemployed drug addict who was on parole, do not get much media attention, as "media outlets are ruthlessly selective, and they tend to prefer women who are white, pretty, and, above all, innocent". Her mother stated that producers of shows likeNancy Grace told her they weren't interested in her daughter's case.[28] Dr. Cory L. Armstrong wrote inThe Washington Post: "The pattern of choosing only young, white, middle-class women for the full damsel treatment says a lot about a nation that likes to believe it has consignedrace andclass to irrelevance."[7]
In 2017, a research paper from theUniversity of South Florida studied media coverage and found "disparities in coverage were seen based on race and age. In addition, the narratives of the reports were framed as cautionary tales, and victims were seen as active participants in their disappearance."[29]
According to a 2019 study, missing person cases involving both white women and white men received more media attention than those involving black women and men.[10] However, the authors also reported that non-black women of color (such as Asian and Latina women) were just as over-represented as white women in news coverage of missing persons, suggesting that "missing white woman syndrome" is mainly a function of the under-representation of black women in media cases.[30]
Between 2007 and 2020, theNational Crime Information Center (NCIC) database maintained by theCriminal Justice Information Services Division of theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) saw an annual average of 664,776 missing person files entered into its database.[31][32] In its 2020 compilation of NCIC missing andunidentified person files (which included 543,018 and 8,284 files respectively for the year), the FBI found that of the missing person files for whom the person's race and sex were known, 321,830 (or approximately 61.3%) werewhite orHispanic,[a] 182,529 (or approximately 34.8%) wereblack, 10,776 (or approximately 2.1%) wereAsian, and 9,571 (or approximately 1.8%) wereNative American, while 264,760 (or approximately 50.5%) were male, 159,029 (or approximately 30.3%) were white or Hispanic women, and the only racial category withmore female files than male was Native Americans. For the 80,442 active missing person files at end-of-year, 48,710 (or approximately 60.6%) were white or Hispanic, 28,201 (or approximately 35.1%) were black, 2,035 (or approximately 2.5%) were Asian, and 1,496 (or approximately 1.9%) were Native American, while 44,048 (or approximately 54.8%) were male and 20,990 (or approximately 26.1%) were white or Hispanic women.[33]
In comparison, white and Hispanic people accounted for 61.6% and 18.7% respectively of the U.S. population in the2020 United States census (or 80.3% combined), while black people accounted for 12.4%, Asian people accounted for 6%, and Native Americans accounted for 1.1%.[34] In its 2020 Demographic Analysis, theUnited States Census Bureau estimated that the male-to-femalesex ratio in the United States ranged from 98.1:100 to 98.2:100.[35] Only 13 states require that local police departments enter missing or unidentified person files into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.[36] Additionally, in its 2019Uniform Crime Report, the FBI found that 54.7% ofmurder victims in the United States for whom their race was known were black and that 78.3% for whom their sex was known were male,[37] while approximately 14% of the U.S. population as a whole was black in the Census Bureau's 2019American Community Survey and the Census Bureau estimated that the U.S. population retained the female majority in its sex ratio.[38][39][b]
TheWyoming Urban Indian Health Institute published a study in 2020, led by professor Emily A. Grant, which found marked differences in news coverage of missing and murdered Native Americans compared to coverage of white people who were murdered or missing.[17] Missing Native Americans in Wyoming were less likely to be profiled in media unless they were found dead compared to being profiled while still missing; news stories tended to feature more negative information about the lives of Native Americans; and such articles were less likely to feature a photo of the missing person if they were Indigenous.[40]
According to a 2008 study published inThe Law and Society Association,Indigenous women who go missing in Canada receive 27 times less news coverage than white women; they also receive "dispassionate and less-detailed, headlines, articles, and images".[41]
In January 2006, theLondon Metropolitan Police Commissioner,Ian Blair, accused the media ofinstitutional racism in its reporting of murders. He contrasted the reporting of the death of the male white lawyerTom ap Rhys Pryce with the murder of the male Asian builders' merchant Balbir Matharu. He said "murders in minority communities do not seem to interest the mainstream media". He said that thedeath of Damilola Taylor, a 10-year-old black boy, was clearly an exception to this. He said he had been surprised at how much coverage themurders of two 10-year-old white girls in Soham had received.[42][43][44]
University of Leicester Criminology Professor Yvonne Jewkes cites themurder of Milly Dowler, themurder of Sarah Payne, and the Soham murders as examples of "eminently newsworthy stories" about girls from "respectable" middle-class families and backgrounds whose parents used the news media effectively.[45] She writes that, in contrast, thekilling of Damilola Taylor, a 10-year-old boy fromNigeria, initially received little news coverage, with reports initially concentrating upon street crime levels and community policing in London, and largely ignoring the victim. Even when Damilola's father flew into the UK from Nigeria to make press statements and television appearances, the level of public outcry did not, Jewkes asserts, reach "the near hysterical outpourings of anger and sadness that accompanied the deaths of Sarah, Milly, Holly, and Jessica".[45] According toBBC News, the killing of Damilola Taylor had shocked the UK.[46]
Two cases of missing white girl syndrome that have been given as contrasting examples: themurder of Hannah Williams and themurder of Danielle Jones (both were white). It was suggested that Jones received more coverage than Williams because Jones was a middle-class schoolgirl, whilst Williams was from a working-class background with astud in her nose and estranged parents.[47] Another explanation for the difference in the coverage has been given: the eroticisation of the victim by news reports about a sexual relationship between Jones and her murderer, her uncle.[48]A 2023 report by Missing People said cases of missing Black and Asian people are less likely to be solved.[49]
Sandile Memela, chief director forsocial cohesion at South Africa'sDepartment of Arts and Culture, noted amidst theOscar Pistoriustrial that there existed substantial differences between how media outlets reported on the murders ofReeva Steenkamp andZanele Khumalo; two South African models, respectively white and black, who had been murdered by their boyfriends under nearly identical circumstances.[50] Memela asserted that the discrepancy between the media coverage of the Steenkamp and Khumala murders amounted to "structural racism" within South African society, and stated: "As a country we seem to have chosen to ignore the agony, pain and suffering of the Khumalo family for no other reason than that they are black."[50]
On September 11, 2014, the South African news networkSABC3 aired an investigative report which raised concerns around the "Missing White Woman Syndrome"; where the death of Steenkamp was juxtaposed with the death of Zanele Khumalo.[8]
Biased media coverage with similar characteristics to missing white woman syndrome has also been observed in situations that do not involve missing people.[citation needed]
Social commentaries pointed to media bias in the coverage of soldierJessica Lynch versus that of her fellow soldiers,Shoshana Johnson andLori Piestewa. All three were ambushed in the same attack during theIraq War on March 23, 2003, with Piestewa being killed, and Lynch and Johnson being injured and taken prisoner. Lynch, a young, blonde white woman, received far more media coverage than Johnson, a black single mother, and Piestewa, an IndigenousHopi single mother from an impoverished background, with media critics suggesting that the media gave more attention to the woman with whom audiences supposedly more readily identify.[51][52]
Lynch herself leveled harsh criticism at this disproportionate coverage that focused only on her, stating in a congressional testimony before theUnited States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
I am still confused as to why they chose to lie and tried to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were, in fact, legendary. People like Lori Piestewa andFirst Sergeant Dowdy who picked up fellow soldiers in harm's way. Or people like Patrick Miller andSergeant Donald Walters who actually fought until the very end. The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes and they don't need to be told elaborate tales.[53]
In October 2013, a girl estimated to be about four years of age was found in the custody of aRoma couple inGreece and was presumed to have been abducted. The story about the "blonde angel" and the search for her biological parents received international media coverage. A Romani rights activist commented on the case to say "imagine if the situation were reversed and the children were brown and the parents were white".[54][55][56] The child was later identified as Maria Ruseva. Her biological mother was a Bulgarian Roma who gave Maria up for adoption.[57]
Critics have also cited excessive media coverage of murder trials where the defendant is female, white, young and attractive, and included them along with missing white woman syndrome instances in an all-encompassing narrative nicknamed the "woman in jeopardy" or "damsel in distress" genre. In such cases, the media will focus on the accused, rather than the victim as in Missing White Woman Syndrome cases, and they will be more ambiguous about their guilt than in other criminal cases regardless of evidence. Cited examples includeAmanda Knox,Jodi Arias andCasey Anthony.[58]
Several laws have been created in the aftermath of disappearance cases, and are sometimes informally named after the missing person. Commentators have observed that disappearances of white women give rise to such laws more often than missing non-white women or missing men. Such laws in the United States includeSarah's Law,Lori's Law (named after Lori Hacking),Megan's Law (Megan Kanka),Jessica's Law (Jessica Lunsford), andCaylee's Law (Caylee Anthony).[59]
The following missing-person cases have been cited as instances of missing-white-woman syndrome by media commentators. The commentators stated that these missing persons garnered a disproportionate level of media coverage relative to non-white, or less-wealthy, or male missing persons.
| Date of disappearance or death | Name | Description | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 27, 1992 | Kimberly Pandelios | A 20-year-old woman who disappeared after leaving to respond to a model-wanted ad at theAngeles National Forest. The case was publicized in a 1995 episode ofUnsolved Mysteries. | [60][61][62] |
| September 24, 1992 | Dail Dinwiddie | A 23-year-old college student who disappeared after attending aU2 concert. She remains missing. | [60][63] |
| October 1, 1993 | Polly Klaas | A 12-year-old girl who was found murdered.Her murderer was convicted and sentenced to death. | [60] |
| November 16, 1995 | Linda Sobek | A 27-year-old model and formerLos Angeles Raiderscheerleader who disappeared while on assignment. Salacious details of the case were printed in the national media. Her murderer was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. | [60][64][65] |
| May 25, 1996 | Kristin Smart | A 19-year-old college student disappeared on campus ofCalifornia Polytechnic State University. Her disappearance resulted in state legislation, including the Kristin Smart Campus Security Act.[66] | [67] |
| December 25, 1996 | JonBenét Ramsey | A 6-year-old girl who was killed in her family's home. | [60] |
| June 23, 1997 | Kristen Modafferi | An 18-year-old college student who disappeared from theSan Francisco Bay Area, and as of 2023, remains missing. Her disappearance, just 3 weeks after her 18th birthday, helped to establish Kristen's Law and theNational Center for Missing Adults. | [60] |
| June 27, 2000 | Molly Bish | A 16-year-old girl who disappeared after being dropped off at her lifeguarding job. Her remains were not found for three years, despite extensive searching and publicity. | [60] |
| July 1, 2000 | Sarah Payne | An 8-year-old girl who was abducted from a cornfield while playing with her siblings. Her death led to the government allowing limited access to the sex offender registry. | [45] |
| June 18, 2001 | Danielle Jones | A 15-year-old girl murdered by her uncle; her body has never been recovered. | [45] |
| May 1, 2001 | Chandra Levy | A 24-year-old intern disappeared while she had an affair with married representativeGary Condit. | [60] |
| January 10, 2002 | Rachel Cooke | A 19-year-old college student who disappeared while jogging inGeorgetown, Texas. Her disappearance was publicized nationally, but she is still missing. | [60][68] |
| February 1, 2002 | Danielle van Dam | A 7-year-old girl who disappeared from her bedroom. | [60] |
| March 21, 2002 | Amanda "Milly" Dowler | A 13-year-old girl who disappeared after school. Her remains were found after an extensive six-month search, and the case played a significant role in theNews of the World phone-hacking scandal. | [45] |
| June 5, 2002 | Elizabeth Smart | A 14-year-old girl, missing for 9 months after being incaptivity. Her captor was sentenced tolife in prison. | [5][58] |
| August 4, 2002 | Jessica Chapman | Two 10-year-old girls murdered while returning from a shopping trip. | [45] |
| Holly Wells | |||
| August 29, 2002 | Audrey Herron | A 31-year-old woman and mother of three who disappeared after leaving work. | [60] |
| December 24, 2002 | Laci Peterson | A 27-year-old pregnant woman murdered by her husband Scott Peterson. The case led to the implementation of "Laci and Connor's Law", which defines violence against a pregnant woman as violence against two separate legal subjects (the mother and the unborn child).[69] | [70] |
| March 23, 2003 | Jessica Lynch | A 19-year-oldPrivate First Class injured and taken prisoner at theBattle of Nasiriyah. | [5] |
| November 22, 2003 | Dru Sjodin | A 22-year-old student who was found murdered. Her murderer was convicted, and the case prompted theDru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry. | [60][71] |
| February 1, 2004 | Carlie Brucia | An 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a car wash and later murdered. The surveillance video showing the kidnapping gained nationwide attention. | [60] |
| March 27, 2004 | Audrey Seiler | A 20-year-old college student who was found alive after an extensive search; it was later revealed she had fabricated the incident. | [60][72] |
| May 24, 2004 | Brooke Wilberger | A 19-year-old student who was abducted and murdered. Her murderer revealed the location of her body and was convicted. | [60] |
| July 19, 2004 | Lori Hacking | A 27-year-old woman murdered by her husband. | [21][70] |
| February 24, 2005 | Jessica Lunsford | A 9-year-old girl abducted from her home and later murdered. Her death led to more restrictive monitoring of sex offenders, known asJessica's Law. | [73] |
| April 26, 2005 | Jennifer Wilbanks | A 32-year-old woman who fabricated her disappearance to avoid marriage. | [2] |
| May 30, 2005 | Natalee Holloway | An 18-year-old American high school graduate who disappeared inAruba. Her disappearance resulted in an internationalmedia sensation, the coverage contributed to the term "missing white woman syndrome" being brought into greater public awareness.[74][75] She was declaredlegally dead on January 12, 2012. | [21][70] |
| September 5, 2005 | Taylor Behl | A 17-year-oldVirginia Commonwealth University freshman who disappeared and was later found dead. Her murderer was convicted. | [21] |
| October 7, 2006 | Michelle Gardner-Quinn | A 21-year-old undergraduate at theUniversity of Vermont who disappeared and was later found dead. Her murderer was convicted. | [76] |
| February 9, 2007 | Tara Grant | A 35-year-old woman murdered by her husband. | [77] |
| May 3, 2007 | Madeleine McCann | A 3-year-old girl who disappeared from her parents' hotel room during a family holiday in Portugal. Described byThe Daily Telegraph as "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history". The case remains unsolved. | [78][79][80] |
| June 16, 2008 | Caylee Anthony | A 2-year-old girl reported missing in Florida by her grandmother after 31 days. After her mother was controversially acquitted of her murder, several American states passed or proposed versions of "Caylee's Law", making it a felony for parents to fail to report their children missing to authorities. | [81][82] |
| January 24, 2009 | Marta del Castillo | A 17-year-old Spanish middle-class high school student who disappeared inSeville,Andalusia. Despite extensive searches and the conviction of her killer, her body has never been found. | [83][84] |
| February 9, 2009 | Haleigh Cummings | A 5-year-old girl kidnapped from her father's trailer inSatsuma, Florida.[85] | [81] |
| October 5, 2009 | Aisling Symes | A 2-year-old girl who disappeared from her home inAuckland, New Zealand. She was feared abducted; shortly after, her body was found in a drain near her home a week later. It was determined that she was the victim of accidental drowning, after wandering off from her mother's side while she was carrying out household chores. Tim Hulme, writing forThe Sunday Star-Times, surmised that age was a much greater factor than race or class in the extensive media coverage the case garnered. | [86] |
| April 13, 2011 | Holly Bobo | A 20-year-old nursing student who disappeared from her home inDarden, Tennessee. Her remains were found in September 2014. Two men have been charged with her murder and kidnapping. | [6] |
| June 3, 2011 | Lauren Spierer | A 20-year-oldIndiana University student who disappeared after a night of drinking. She remains missing. | [87] |
| August 3, 2013 | Hannah Anderson | A 16-year-old California high school student who was kidnapped by a family friend after cheerleading practice. She was found in Idaho after a weeklong national search. | [1] |
| September 13, 2014 | Hannah Graham | An 18-year-oldUniversity of Virginia student who was kidnapped and murdered by an acquaintance. Her remains were found approximately five weeks after her disappearance. | [88] |
| August 22, 2016 | Diana Quer | An 18-year-old girl from a wealthyMadrid family who disappeared while vacationing inA Pobra do Caramiñal,Galicia. | [89] |
| November 2, 2016 | Sherri Papini | A 34-year-old woman fromRedding, California, faked her abduction in order to spend time with her ex-boyfriend.[90] | [91] |
| July 16, 2018 | Mollie Tibbetts | 20-year-old who disappeared while jogging near her home inBrooklyn, Iowa. Her body was discovered over a month later on August 21. | [92][93] |
| October 15, 2018 | Jayme Closs | A 13-year-old girl was abducted from theBarron, Wisconsin home of her parents, both of whom were killed during the incident. She escaped her captor 88 days later. | [94][95] |
| December 1, 2018 | Grace Millane | A 22-year-old British tourist from a wealthy family who disappeared while visitingNew Zealand. Her body was discovered in a rural area ofAuckland just over one week after she went missing. A man was subsequently convicted of her murder.[96] | [97][9][98] |
| March 3, 2021 | Sarah Everard | A 33-year-old white British middle-class woman who disappeared after leaving a friend's house inLondon. On March 10, police searching woodland atGreat Chart inKent found human remains. Two days later, it was confirmed to be the body of Everard. | [98][99][100] |
| September 11, 2021 | Gabby Petito | A 22-year-old American woman fromSuffolk County, New York, who was reported missing while traveling across theUnited States with herfiancé. Her family lost contact with her in late August when she was in or nearGrand Teton National Park inWyoming. | [98][101] |
| September 2, 2022 | Eliza Fletcher | A 34-year-old kindergarten teacher from an upper-class family who disappeared while jogging inMemphis,Tennessee. Her abductor and killer was identified and imprisoned. | [67] |
| January 1, 2023 | Ana Walshe | A 39-year-old Serbian-American woman fromCohasset, Massachusetts, who disappeared early in the morning on New Year's Day. | [31] |
| January 27, 2023 | Nicola Bulley | A 45-year-old British woman fromSt Michael's on Wyre,Lancashire disappeared while she was walking her dog. | [102][103] |
There is no polite way to say it, and it is a fact of television news. Media and social critics call the wall-to-wall coverage that seems to swirl around these events, 'Missing White Woman Syndrome'. That was the phrase invoked by Sheri Parks, a professor of American studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, during our interview yesterday.
Charlton McIlwain, professor New York University: White women occupy a privileged role as violent crime victims in news media reporting.
[Tom Foreman, CNN Correspondent (voice-over)]: Natalee Holloway, Lori Hacking, Taylor Biehl, the list goes on and on. When pretty white females are killed or disappear, media storms follow. So much so that critics have coined a phrase for it. [Parks]: Like everybody else, I call it the missing white woman syndrome.