"The answer is pure unconscious racism," says the Poynter Institute's Clark. "But it's not just race. It's also social class and gender."

"There is a huge disparity between black missing women and white missing women when it comes to coverage,"  Goslee says. "If Stepha could receive half the coverage of the other white girls who are missing, they might find her."

People of every race and age disappear. But missing minorities, men and the elderly simply don't generate as much media interest.

If a missing person is white, female, young, attractive and has an upper-middle-class background, media coverage of her case will be far more thorough than coverage of missing men, minorities or the elderly, Clark says.