There was no real media attention given to the manhunt. The attention came after the bodies were found.
And it was a 'whodunit'. The girls went missing late Sunday and were found less than 12 hours later so, by the time the story found its way to print media and the cables were back in biz after the weekend, it was a Small Town Mother's Day Murder Story Mystery. Daddy turns out to be a creepy-looking ex-con with a hair trigger temper. And what makes the story more awful (and more marketable to a larger audience) is the fact that the little girl's best friend was also murdered. That captures the imagination/ attention of people who know they would never murder their own children. Driving the story after the whodunit was solved is the quest for motive and more background on the perp....and, I would think, questions as to why the family had been so forgiving of Hobbs past transgressions.
By comparison, the Vasilev story appears to be a re-run of the Andrea Yates/ Susan Smith story with nothing 'fresh' to make the story interesting.
Like it or not, marketability plays a big role in determining how much exposure a given story receives.