News
September 27, 2021
The Collegian: 3
Gabby Petito’s disappearance garners national attention The 22 year-old woman’s remains were recently discovered, with her still-missing boyfriend a person of interest. Anna Johns Satire Editor National attention placed a spotlight on the case of Gabby Petito, 22, after she was reported missing on Sept. 11 after a crosscountry road trip with boyfriend Brian Laundrie, 23. Her disappearance sparked social media discussion which helped accelerate her case: her remains were found in Wyoming on Sept. 19, and as of the following Tuesday, a coroner determined the manner of death as a homicide, according to BBC News. In June, Petito and Laundrie began their road trip in her white van, planning to visit national parks across the western United States. She posted frequently on her social media about their trip and kept in frequent contact with her family until all communication abruptly stopped in late August. On Sept. 1, Laundrie returned to his family home in Florida with the white van he shared with his girlfriend; notably, he came home alone and did not alert her family or the police regarding Petito’s absence. Weeks before her disappearance, tensions between the couple seem to have spiked. On Aug. 12, police in Moab, Utah received a call from a witness who observed a domestic violence incident. The caller said he saw the couple fight over a phone and saw
Laundrie slap Petito before they returned to their van. When a police officer pulled them over and separated the two, the body camera footage depicts a stark difference in their behavior: Petito sobbed hysterically, seeming unable to compose herself, while Laundrie smiled and laughed with officers. “She’s just crazy,” he jokingly said to the officers after they asked if she took medication for her anxiety. At the suggestion of the officers, Petito and Laundrie separated for the night, and Laundrie’s hotel was paid for by the police, which was something the department often did for domestic abuse victims. The next day, they continued their trip. The details surrounding Petito’s homicide are unclear, but police have labeled Laundrie a person of interest. According to CNN, an arrest warrant against Laundrie was is-
parents claim they have not seen him since Sept. 14 when he set off to Florida’s Carlton Reserve, leaving behind his phone and wallet. Authorities continue to search this swampy 24,000-acre nature reserve for his whereabouts: helicopters, drones, dogs, divers and officers in specialized all-terrain vehicles have been deployed for several days. The area is difficult for conducting any search, as 75 percent of the search area is underwater, and alligators have presented a safety issue. National attention not only keeps the search for Laundrie ongoing but has also propelled greater awareness of other missing persons cases such as Jelani Day, Lauren Cho and Daniel Robinson. Day’s body was found on Thursday, but the locations of Cho and Robinson remain unknown; the prior
“National attention ... has also propelled greater awareness of other missing persons cases ...” sued Wednesday over alleged fraudulent use of someone’s credit card between Aug. 30 and Sept. 1, withdrawing more than $1,000 from the account; though the indictment does not say to whom the card belonged, the use of the card during the period of Petito’s disappearance spurs more suspicion toward Laundrie from those following the case. Regardless, this arrest warrant allows the police to pursue him while further exploring his involvement in Petito’s homicide. Though a warrant has been issued, the Associated Press reports that Laundrie’s
was last seen in Yucca Valley ,California while the latter in Buckeye, Arizona. Petito’s case has highlighted several wrongdoings from police misconduct in situations of domestic violence to the disproportionate reporting of missing people of color. Because Petito was a young, conventionally attractive white woman, her story fits into the phenomenon of “missing white woman syndrome,” coined by journalist Gwen Ifill. Within this narrative, missing white women are portrayed as innocent victims, their disappearance or murders draw-
courtesy Wikimedia Commons This image is the last known photo of Gabby Petito.
ing days of news coverage attention while similar cases with victims of color are often ignored. Social media coverage helped find Petito’s body in Wyoming relatively quickly; other victims in the same state have not had such luck as 710 cases of missing Indigenous people have been reported in the past decade, according to NBC. Their stories have been largely untouched. With Laundrie missing, findings regarding her disappearance continue to develop with intense media coverage, and others hope to utilize this national awareness to shine light on other untouched missing persons cases.
McGirt v. Oklahoma challenged again by Oklahoma AG Two new petitions seek to move major crimes committed against Native Americans into the jurisdiction of the state. Justin Klopfer News Editor On Sept. 17, Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor filed two petitions with the Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn their ruling in the 2020 case, McGirt v. Oklahoma. The petitions involve specific crimes committed by non-Native Americans against Native Americans on tribal lands. Attorney General O’Connor believes these cases come under the jurisdiction of Oklahoma’s courts, not federal courts.
ply when the perpetrator is Native American. One of the recent petitions filed seeks to put a case involving a non-Native drunk driving and killing Native Americans into the jurisdiction of Oklahoma. Critics of the court’s ruling point out the criminals that Oklahoma courts have been unable to prosecute, such as Shaun Bosse. Bosse is not Native American, but his victims were and his crimes were perpetrated on tribal land. This brought Bosse out of Oklahoma’s jurisdiction and into the federal courts, though Bosse is now on Oklahoma’s death row after an appellate court ruled McGirt didn’t apply retroactively. Attorney General O’Connor has said that McGirt has led to a “criminal justice crisis” in Oklahoma with state-level prosecution impossible for many criminals. Some activ-
“Only one flipped vote would be needed to reverse the decision ...” The McGirt v. Oklahoma case ruled 5-4 that the state of Oklahoma didn’t have the right to prosecute major crimes by Native Americans in eastern Oklahoma, as per the Major Crimes Act of the Indian Appropriations Act. The crimes must be tried by either tribal or federal courts. The total land this places under federal jurisdiction is just short of half the state’s land. Jimcy McGirt committed crimes on the Muscogee Reservation, which was never legally disestablished. For this reason, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Oklahoma didn’t have the right to prosecute McGirt; he had to be tried in federal court. The Supreme Court ruling only specifically mentioned the Muscogee Reservation, but has been successfully used for crimes in various tribal areas. About a month after the Supreme Court decision, McGirt was sentenced in federal court to another life sentence. In the original McGirt case, the perpetrator of the crime was a Native American. However, in several newer applications of the Supreme Court decision, non-Native perpetrators have been charged for crimes against Native Americans. Attorney General O’Connor believes this is not the proper application of the ruling; it should only ap-
ists, however, saw the McGirt ruling as an important step for Native American rights, as it establishes a degree of sovereignty for various tribes. After the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was in the majority in the McGirt case, and the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court has a much more conservative tilt than it did in July 2020. Only one flipped vote would be needed to reverse the decision, and this replacement may represent the necessary vote. One major impact of the ruling is the overturning of death sentences. Several of Oklahoma’s death row inmates have had their convictions overturned in accordance with McGirt v. Oklahoma, usually replaced by life sentences at the federal level. The Biden administration has not yet used the death penalty in federal courts after Trump brought back federal executions from a 17-year hiatus, though Biden has encouraged the Supreme Court to reinstate capital punishment for Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Most of the city of Tulsa is located within the Cherokee and Muscogee reservations. As of writing, crimes committed by or against Native Americans in this area are not within the jurisdiction of Oklahoma’s courts.
courtesy Ok.gov John O’Connor was appointed Attorney General by Governor Stitt in July 2021.
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tucollegian@tucollegian.com editor in chief
Piper Prolago managing editor
Zach Short news editor
Justin Klopfer sports editor
Logan Guthrie variety editor
Julianne Tran commentary editor
Adam Walsh satire editor
Anna Johns photo & graphics editor
Amy Polovich
business & advertising manager
Madeleine Goodman social media & web manager
Maddie Walters copy editor
Ji Aldada The original Supreme Court case was decided in July 2020.
courtesy Wikimedia Commons
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