Short Answer: Telecom Technology
This is the first time a missing young woman has such an extensive social media presence, along with her boyfriend "person of interest" via their published travel life together and their extensive internet footprint. We can view a vast array of photos and video of their recent experiences. We can see where they go, what they sound like, what they eat, what they wear.
Second, we had another deep dive into the couple's behavior and mannerisms via another recent 21st century technology--police bodycams--when the couple spent an hour after being pulled over by the cops in Utah. This time, the two weren't quite as rehearsed as their edited social videos. We get to make our own assessments, rather than having some media talking head spoon feed us their interpretation.
Third, Gabby's body was located with the help of online video by another full time blogger who spotted the van deep in Grand Teton National Park.
In summary, this is a telecommunication and social media phenomenon, moving at relative lightning speed. Compare it to watching a captivating who-dunnit mini series with chargacter development. We watched first-hand as the story unfolded, rather than snippets that the media decided was worthy of our attention.
Excellent synopsis, NautiNurse.
A couple days ago, Officer Josh from NPPD was ranting and blaming “keyboarders”. Slap down on Officer Josh who needs to be fired along the the rest of them. It was those keyboarders on social media who directed LE to Gabby’s body, showed their relationship and characters, and tracked their movements.
The police were too busy hanging at the donut shop to do a scintilla of the work finding her. Heck, they couldn’t be bothered keeping an eye on the bf.