Gabby Petito memorials take hold in Utah, while some clamour for the same level of attention for missing women of colour

Standing in front of a folding table adorned with a framed composite depicting Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito as an angel at its centre, as well as printed photos from the slain 22-year-old’s Instagram feed placed throughout, Serena Chavez takes a moment to temporarily turn off a collection of battery-powered votives scattered across the spread.

“I don’t want our candles to be sad before we do the moment of silence,” she says as she leaves the makeshift memorial to be interviewed by the nightly news. The 30 or so attendees use the time to lay down flowers, offer compassionate nods and help each other light wax candles.

“We want to remember Gabby here today. She was so young and so beautiful and she had a full life ahead of her,” Chavez, who organised Wednesday night’s vigil held at Sugar House Park said.

Like millions around the country, the Salt Lake City resident was captivated by Petito’s story.

On 11 September, Petito’s family reported her missing. Following an intense search, the FBI confirmed this week that human remains found in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park corresponded to Petito. The following day, federal authorities issued an arrest warrant against her fiancé and travel companion, Brian Laundrie, igniting an ongoing manhunt.

Chavez, a photographer, never met the #VanLife influencer, but said she felt as if she had thanks to social media. Petito posted regular updates of her and Laundrie’s trek across the Western United States — including multiple snapshots taken in Utah.

“She was a light in our world [who] we didn’t even know,” Chavez said. “We saw her life through her videos about her van, and she instagrammed a lot of her fun stuff. We saw them looking just totally just fine, and then in a split second she’s gone,” she continued. “It’s crazy to see all that unveil through the internet.”

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Along with memorialising Petito, Chavez said the gathering was meant to show solidarity with those experiencing domestic violence.

“As a community, we need to come together and raise awareness for a possible victim of domestic violence, and we need to get those facts out there for women, children and even men around the country or even around the world,” she said.

That sentiment rang true with Melissa Jenson. Following the host’s remarks, she took the mic and said that while it’s unlikely that anyone present ever interacted with Petito, the themes surrounding the last weeks of her life were universal.

“It’s safe to assume that no one here knew Gabby personally; I sure didn’t,” Jenson said. “But we all know of a Gabby or we’ve been a Gabby … Gabby is your sister, Gabby is your co-worker, Gabby could be your child, Gabby is your friend. Gabby can be a parent.”

Jenson noted that domestic abuse has many iterations: mental, emotional and psychological, and said that she saw herself reflected in the 12 August police cam video released by the Moab Police department. The footage shows a crying Petito talking to a police officer about her mental health following an altercation with Laundrie. She was deemed the aggressor.

Two weeks later, Petito would send her last text to her family.

“Those of us who have experienced it [domestic violence], recognised within seconds of that video out of Moab the effects of severe gaslighting, and just how insidious it can be in destroying a person’s soul,” Jenson said.

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Along with how police respond to domestic violence disputes (Moab PD is under investigation for how it handled the call), Petito’s case has brought so-called “missing white woman syndrome” — around the clock media coverage of missing white women versus cases related to women of colour — to the forefront.

“This isn’t saying that Gabby Petito isn’t important. What it is saying is that there is an overrepresentation in media when white women go missing and an underrepresentation in media when Black, brown and indigenous women go missing,” journalist Mara Schiavocampo said during a recent appearance in CNN’s New Day. “We’re talking about representation.”

The imbalanced coverage has “real life implications for women of colour,” Schiavocampo explained. “Predators know that if you want to get away with murder, you seek a victim that no one is going to look for.”

A 2017 study published by the Centers for Disease Control determined that young, racial/ethnic minority women are “disproportionately affected” when it comes to homicide due to intimate partner violence (IPV). The study said that one in 10 victims of IPV-related homicide experienced violence in the month leading to their deaths.

Another study issued a year later by the Seattle-based Urban Indian Health Institute surveyed cases of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls across 71 major metropolitan areas. Salt Lake City made the top 10.

Local officials hope the current media attention spills over to other active missing persons cases

“It’s unfortunate what happened to Gabby, but it’s also shined a light on all this inequality that still exists in our country,” Rep Angela Romero told KUTV. The Utah lawmaker heads the state’s taskforce on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

“I think this case just opens that door again to talk about why it’s important to believe women, why it’s important to do preventative education,” Romero said. “Instead of talking about the aftermath, let’s talk about it before women become victims of sexual assault or domestic violence or are murdered.”

Chavez’s vigil wasn’t the only celebration of Petito’s life in the Beehive State. Forty miles north of Salt Lake, Ogden residents turned the exterior of The Monarch, a mixed-use art studio, into a temporary shrine.

Petito’s last Instagram post features a series of photographs taken outside the building, which is adorned with a mural depicting its namesake butterfly. The fall-themed missive shared four weeks ago shows Petito posing with a knitted pumpkin and striking several seemingly care-free poses along the vibrant wall.

Some in Ogden are actively pushing for a permanent memorial to be installed, a decision Chavez supports.

“I feel like that is the perfect place to do it,” she said.

Not all Ogdenites are on board.

While she acknowledged that what happened to Petito was “disgusting,” local Ruby Mercado Torres believes the idea is a stretch. “[H]ow about we show love, respect, and compassion for the ones that actually spent their entire f***ing lives in Ogden only to be murdered by their neighbors?” she wrote on Facebook.

Mercado Torres’ brother, Jovany, was killed by Ogden police following a confrontation in 2019.

“There are so many in our very own home that we forget about and you guys wanna memorialize a girl that was just passing through?” Mercado Torres continued. “Yes, it’s personal.”