Interior Secretary: Petito Case a Reminder of Missing Native Americans

WASHINGTON (AP) — Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says extensive news media coverage of the death of Gabby Petito should be a reminder of hundreds of Native American girls and women who are missing or murdered in the United States.

The first Native American Cabinet secretary said her heart goes out to Petito’s family. But she also grieves for “so many Indigenous women″ whose families have endured similar heartache “for the last 500 years.″

The disappearance and death of the 22-year-old Petito generated a whirlwind of news coverage as well as a frenzy of online sleuthing. The Florida woman was found dead at the edge of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.