Missing white woman syndrome is a term used by some social scientists and media commentators to denote perceived disproportionate media coverage, especially on television, of missing-person cases toward white females as compared to males, or females of color. Supporters of the phenomenon posit that it encompasses supposed disproportionate media attention to females who are young, attractive, white, and upper middle class. 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.
Joran Andreas Petrus van der Sloot is a Dutch murderer who was convicted in the 2010 killing of Stephany Flores Ramírez in Lima, Peru. He first came to public attention as the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2005.
Peter Rudolf de Vries was a Dutch investigative journalist and crime reporter. His television program Peter R. de Vries, misdaadverslaggever covered high-profile cases and set a Dutch television viewing record. For decades he was famous in the Netherlands for his works in unsolved crimes. He also became internationally renowned for his programme covering the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. In 2005, he founded his own political party which was disbanded soon after.
Natalee Ann Holloway was an 18-year-old American high school graduate from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba on May 30, 2005. Her disappearance resulted in an international media sensation, especially in the United States. The prime suspect, Dutch national Joran van der Sloot, has made conflicting statements over the years about his involvement, including a confession to killing her. Holloway's remains have not been found.
Alcàsser is a municipality in the comarca of Horta Sud in the Valencian Community, Spain.
The murder ofRocío Wanninkhof was a controversial Spanish murder case which occurred on 9 October 1999. Wanninkhof, a 19-year-old Dutch-Spanish woman, disappeared in Mijas, Málaga, Spain, a town located on the Costa del Sol. Three weeks later, Wanninkhof's stabbed and partially decomposed body was found. Amidst popular pressure and a media circus characterized at times as a "public lynching" of the accused, a jury trial convicted 52-year-old María Dolores "Loli" Vázquez, the ex-girlfriend of Wanninkhof's mother Alicia Hornos, for the murder, even though there was no evidence relating her to the crime.
Lilia Luciano is a journalist, filmmaker, podcaster and public speaker born and raised in Puerto Rico. She is currently a national correspondent and anchor at CBS News based in New York and host of the iHeart Radio podcast, El Flow. Before CBS News she worked as the investigative reporter at ABC 10 in Sacramento and was the chief investigative correspondent on Discovery Channel's Border Live. Her coverage of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas earned her and her CBS News team an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage in 2023.
Caylee Marie Anthony was an American toddler who lived in Orlando, Florida, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony, and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 15, 2008, Caylee was reported missing in a 9-1-1 call made by Cindy, who said she had not seen the child for thirty-one days. According to what Cindy told police dispatchers, Casey had given varied explanations as to Caylee's whereabouts before eventually saying she had not seen her daughter for weeks. Casey later called police and falsely told a dispatcher that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny on June 9. Casey was charged with first-degree murder in October 2008 and pleaded not guilty.
Elizabeth Ann Holloway is an American speech pathologist and motivational speaker. She became widely known in the international media after her teenage daughter, Natalee, disappeared while going on a high school graduation trip to Aruba in 2005. Subsequently, Holloway became a speaker on the topic of personal safety. She founded the International Safe Travels Foundation—to educate the public to help them travel more safely— and the Natalee Holloway Resource Center to aid families of missing persons.
Desirée Hernández Folch, Miriam García Iborra, and Antonia Gómez Rodríguez, collectively known as the Alcàsser Girls, were three teenage girls from Alcàsser, Valencia, Spain, who were kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered after hitchhiking to visit a nightclub in the nearby town of Picassent on 13 November 1992. The case became notorious in Spain because of the brutality of the crimes, the highly-criticised police investigation and the resulting media coverage.
Travis Victor Alexander was an American salesman who was murdered by his ex-girlfriend, Jodi Ann Arias, in his house in Mesa, Arizona while in the shower. Arias was convicted of first-degree murder on May 8, 2013, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on April 13, 2015.
On September 26, 2014, forty-three male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College disappeared after being forcibly abducted in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico, in what has been called one of Mexico’s most infamous human rights cases. They were allegedly taken into custody by local police officers from Iguala and Cocula in collusion with organised crime, with later evidence implicating the Mexican Army. Officials have concluded there is no indication the students are alive, but as of 2024, only three students' remains have been identified and their deaths confirmed.
The Aguilar de Campoo case refers to the disappearance of Virginia Guerrero Espejo and Manuela Torres Bouggefa, two teenaged girls, on April 23, 1992. Guerrero (14) and Torres (13) were last seen hitchhiking from the municipality of Reinosa, Cantabria, to their hometown of Aguilar de Campoo, Palencia. Their disappearance remains unsolved.
On January 24, 2009, Marta del Castillo Casanueva, a Spanish high school student, disappeared and was presumably murdered in Seville, Andalusia. Del Castillo's disappearance was considered a case that "impacted Spanish society" and received significant coverage by the Spanish media.
Asunta Yong Fang Basterra Porto was a Chinese-born Spanish girl whose body was found in Teo, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, on 22 September 2013, shortly before her thirteenth birthday. The coroner determined that she had died by asphyxiation and had been given at least twenty-seven lorazepam pills on the day of her death, more than nine times a high dosage amount for an adult. The investigation into the death became known as the Asunta Basterra case.
Nerea Barjola Ramos is a Spanish social scientist and feminist activist. She is known for analysing the media coverage of the Alcàsser Case as a reaction to feminist activity in Spain in early 1990s, arguing that it responded to recent gains of the feminist movement by portraying them as inherently connected to violence against women.
On 9 April 2022, Debanhi Susana EscobarBazaldúa, an 18-year-old law student disappeared from Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Thirteen days later on 22 April, her remains were found in a cistern of a motel in General Escobedo, a municipality of Monterrey metropolitan area. The body had visible signs of violence.
Beatriz Ofelia de León Reyes is a lawyer who served as the first female president of the Supreme Court of Guatemala (2005–2006).
