Annie Le.  Any person who watches or reads the news has surely heard about the Yale student who was found murdered on her wedding day. Every day, more and more stories are posted about “people of interest” in the murder, tearful quotes from friends and family, and columns about her life, her love, her talents, and her promise. Very few people know about the murder of animation student Samantha “Shelly” Nance.

Nance was a 20-year-old animation major at the Art Institute of Dallas, a promising young talent in the art world. She had earned a partial scholarship to the institute, beating out about 60 other candidates. However, her life was cut short when she was found murdered in her apartment on September 12, stabbed repeatedly. The murder was cruel, brutal, and shocking to the art community.

So, why have we heard almost nothing about Nance?

One reason may simply be the fact that Le’s story is so tragic: a bride found dead on her wedding day, a mystery surrounding her murder. But, this explains almost nothing about Nance’s murder being ignored. Her murder is just as tragic: so young, so talented, and so beautiful; it’s almost cruel to think about her death.

Another reason may be the mystery. Le was seen entering the lab, but never came out. Her body was found hidden in a wall, and her autopsy has yet to be revealed. Nance’s murder, too, is mysterious. What can be more hideously appealing than the mystery surrounding a brutal stabbing with no suspects?

But the answer may be simpler: the beautiful Asian murdered on her wedding day tugs on the heart strings harder than a young white art student found stabbed in her apartment. While Nance’s death was quite tragic, very few people are able to stomach the way she died. Brutal stabbings are fickle that way. People can only handle so much violence in their news.

So, it all boils down to one thing: the media’s constant search for depressing, heartbreaking stories often ignores others of equal importance.