A pregnant woman missing for over a week. A two-year-old left home alone. A town mobilized in the search for the woman, feared dead.
Provocative facts come to light: A cop was suspected of killing her. The cop, who is black, has a penchant for white women. The pregnant woman was white, and she was involved with the cop, who’s married to someone else. The murdered woman carried the cop’s baby, and the cop is the father of her two-year-old son. The cop has at least three children by three different women.
The cop has a criminal record, but he was still on the force. One of his baby’s mothers says the cop once stalked her and broke into her home. Cable news networks live on this stuff.
The cop, Bobby Cutts, was arrested for the murder of Jessie Davis and her unborn baby. A woman named Myisha Ferrell was arrested for hindering the investigation. Lots of online chatter about immoral lifestyles, the interracial factor, “unborn fetus” v. “unborn baby,” and on and on.
The only reason I’m blogging about the Jessie Davis-Bobby Cutts case is to contrast it with the story of a woman missing since Memorial Day weekend. Her story isn’t provocative, and it hadn’t gone national until a day or so ago. Stepha Henry was in South Florida, down from New York, and was last seen leaving a club with a group of people. Her family’s on the case, but somebody needs to help them get national attention. Spread the word.
A Miami Herald reporter scheduled to appear on an MSNBC talking head show to talk about the missing Henry got bumped for Paris Hilton coverage. It’s sad, but the misadventures of slutty heiresses sell.
Some say the “white woman in distress” syndrome, or some variation on the theme, is in full effect. They tend to get more media coverage than black women in distress. News outlets can’t cover every single missing woman story; only the titilating tales or man-bites-dog dramas get national press. Ratings, baby. And there’s no point claiming race doesn’t matter. I believe it makes a big difference to talking head show producers. If more white people watch the shows, why not cover what interests them? Then again, class and fame are factors, too. I mean, if Miss Oprah went missing…
Fortunately, America’s Most Wanted covered Stepha Henry’s story.
More on the Davis case and the Henry case at Google News.
Remember the dimwit “bride” who faked her kidnapping and had half the country mobilized looking for her sorry butt? 
