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- Dec 17, 2004
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Bump. This one is bothering me a lot. I can't help but feel that she would be getting a lot more attention if she were a petite blond.
I can tell you in 15 years of tracking cases in MD, this case is getting a lot of attention. I've seen many cases where there's no press attention at all such as the two boys missing from Elkton. Other cases struggle to stay in the news like the Hoggle children.
Some cases dominate the news not because they are petite blonds, but it has a lot to do with two things. One, who gets behind the case (advocates). The Lacey Peterson case got so much attention not cause she was pregnant and missing. Maryland has one of those, Brittany Decker, and it's hardly gotten any news over the years. What made this case get attention was two powerhouses that got behind her. Lacey was from the town that Chandra Levy's family was from. There also a large missing person organization called the Carol Sund Foundation that got behind this. It wouldn't have made much news if they hadn't of. You'll find that a good bit of the petite blond cases have families that rallied behind them non-stop.
Hannah Graham wasn't a petite white female. That got so much attention cause the students and university got behind it. Hannah within a day or so had a $100,000 reward up, volunteers coming out by the 1000s, and non-stop news coverage. At the very same time, there was two toddlers missing (and still are) from Maryland. They got attention for a week, family hardly got any donations, and I can tell you cause I've been involved with this, the searches were almost down to nothing within two weeks. Also at the same time, another case dominated the news more than the two toddlers. A break came in a very old cold case and it was on the news for weeks. However, the Lyon sister was the biggest disappearance in MD so it wasn't surprising.
The biggest bias I've ever seen was in Virginia. A white teenager from a wealthy area in Northern Virginia wrecked her Dad's car and took off. Within hours, this case was all over the news and stayed in the news for weeks. Even America's Most Wanted ran a segment by the end of the weekend. At the very same time, there was an active Amber alert for a boy missing an hour away in Frederickburg. Barely an mentions in the news. Even the Fredericksburg post was reporting about the girl's disappearance constantly and barely mentioning the boys. He was 11, from an impoverished area, and had no advocates while the girl had the whole community behind her. When she was found, it was all over the news. When he was? A couple blurbs on the news.
Phylicia Barnes was a black female who disappeared in Baltimore. That case wouldn't have gotten much news had the family not sat outside the tv stations.
The other thing that will guarantee press coverage is a scandal. Lacey's case would have stayed in the news with that. Chandra Levy's case wouldn't have been much had it not been a chance for the media to slam a Congressman. Emily Cagal and Robyn Gardner got a ton of media attention because of their lifestyles. Unfortunately, you'll find that the media will report on someone's drug addiction, mental problems, divorce, criminal record, much more than they will cover the actual disappearance. If you doubt that, just google the Hoggle children and you'll see almost every article will discuss more about the mother's mental illness than the children.