Baynes explores how the media create a Missing White Women brand, "an echo effect across a variety of media platforms that actually sell these women’s tragic stories." (Interestingly, he cites People magazine as the "jump off" point between tabloid and "legitimate" news, because it is owned by Time Warner, which also owns CNN.) He links the phenomenon back to the Perils of Pauline, a serialized silent film with weekly cliffhangers in which its white heroine hung off actual cliffs. Baynes says that "the anxiety over white women resonates in our culture," perhaps because white women are put on a pedestal while women of color have historically been "exoticized and exploited." Baynes quotes Catherine McKinnon on "the white women stereotype":

The creature is not poor, not battered, not raped (not really), not molested as a child, not pregnant as a teenager, not prostituted, not coerced into pornography, not a welfare mother and not economically exploited. She doesn’t work. [...] she manipulates white men’s very real power with the lifting of her very manicured little finger…She flings her hair, feels beautiful all the time...can’t do anything, doesn’t do anything, doesn’t know anything…

Baynes argues that American culture feels the need to protect (or pretend to protect) such artificially pristine women, especially from "the threats of men of color." And this desire for protection equals ratings! Baynes cites speculations that the "soap opera" of the missing white woman allows us to escape from scary real news, like the war in Iraq. There's little question that focusing on Natalee Holloway rather than Abu Ghraib makes us dumber (unless of course we're her family, or the cops investigating her case). It probably also makes us more racist. So is the solution a return of the Fairness Doctrine? Do we need the FCC to step in and enforce important news? How will they decide what's important? And, raised on a diet of Missing White Girl Scout cookies, will we even watch it?

Leonard M. Baynes, “White Women In Peril On Broadcast And Cable Television News” [Feminist Law Professors]
White Women In Peril On Broadcast And Cable Television News [Full Paper]

Earlier: Natalee Holloway's Mom On New Video: "Look What They've Done"

Journalist Claims To Crack Holloway Case [NBC News]

In addition, Lauterbach wasn't just pregnant, she was almost to term. Her due date was January 8. Jacksonville's Sheriff Ed Brown told reporters, "You pray that she's alive." We certainly do.

Sheriff Pleads With Missing Marine To Get Help[CNN]

Earlier: What Did Missing Marine Maria Lauterbach Witness Before She Mysteriously Vanished?

And lastly, police officer Bobby Cutts, who has been in jail for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend Jessie Davis, admitted to killing her. Though Cutts originally plead not guilty, he confessed the murder to his high school friend, Myisha Ferrell. Ferrell has agreed to testify against Cutts. Jessie Davis was nearly nine months pregnant when she was killed.

Student's Disappearance Baffles Family, Friends [ABC News]
Arrest in Student-Porn Actress' Death [Breitbart]
Cop Admits to Killing Pregnant Girlfriend [ABC News]

Earlier: Missing Porn Star Wasn't Even A Porn Star
Men Like Bobby Cutts Are More Common Than You'd Think

The adult site that Emily ran before her death has since been removed, but in its place, friends have posted information about the man wanted for questioning in relation to the case. (Israel Mireles  whose whereabouts are currently unknown  was the last person to be seen with Emily, and when cops searched his motel room, they found it bloody and in disarray.)

But the site also notes that Emily was never really the "porn star" the media has made her out to be. She merely modeled nude on the internet, in solo setups. Also, she only began doing it about two months ago. Would anyone ever refer to women in Playboy as "porn stars"? Probably not. And surely, her photos were a lot dirtier than the watered down men's mag, but someone who has been showing their pussy on the internet for eight weeks isn't really a star.

But still, even if she'd made gonzo films of spit roasts, or shoving baseball bats up her ass, it doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, porno is just a jobunconventional, sure, but still, just a job. Since when is murder an occupational hazard for holding down a legal job?

Miss. Student's Body Found; Ex Charged [CBS News]
Police: Body Found Appears To Be Missing Porn Star [CNN]
Earlier: Missing Teenager Is Also Internet Porn Phenomenon
Related: Missing Woman Coverage A Black And White Issue? [ABC News]

When Emily first started out as Zoey Zane, only her close friends knew about her alter ego, but over Thanksgiving she broke the news to her parents. Her boyfriend broke up with her when she told him she as doing porn, and her grandmother, Shirley Sander, was predictably outraged, telling reporters, "We have never heard anything like this and truthfully I don't believe it."

Zoey's emergence on the DIY-porn scene was not unnoticed. On October 31st, our brother site Fleshbot featured Zoey in a Halloween-themed striptease (link NSFW) with a couple of friends dressed (and undressed) as characters from the Wizard of Oz, and her likeness was featured on several other porn-centric sites. Authorities are investigating to see if there is any link between Zoey's semi-secret career and her disappearance.

Missing Girl A 'Porn Star' [NY Post]
Missing Student Led Double Life As Porn Star [MSNBC]
By Request: Zoey Zane's Halloween Striptease [Fleshbot, NSFW]