Gabby Petito and the pitfalls of online sleuthing

The tragic case of Gabrielle Petito attracted international interest for various reasons: the mystery of her disappearance, the double mystery of her boyfriend disappearing and, perhaps most significantly, the fact that the pair had been traveling together and documenting their journey on social media. People had an almost proprietorial interest in the case. Somehow, it belonged to the internet.

Also relevant to the scale of the attention attracted by the case was the popularity of the ‘true crime’ genre. As well as stoking public interest in murders and disappearances, these have highlighted the fallibility of the police and the room for amateur involvement, with allegedly inadequate investigations being the focus of documentaries from Making of a Murderer to Sons of Sam and online investigators being the subject of Don’t F**k With Cats. After marinating in this cultural phenomenon, people were keen not just the follow the case but to participate.

Hashtags like #justiceforgabby spread across Twitter and Instagram.