On the day before Thanksgiving 2020, Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis was walking down a road she knew well, on land her people had called home for centuries. She sent a text that said she was almost to the church. She never arrived.

Mary was 39 years old, a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington State, and a woman who had already survived more than most people will ever face — a childhood fractured by the foster care system, abuse that went unaddressed for years, and a legal fight against the state of Washington that she won. She was on her way to see family. She was almost there.

What followed was five years of silence from the institutions that should have moved heaven and earth to find her — and five years of relentless, public, unflinching advocacy from the two sisters who refused to let her name disappear along with her.

If you have information about the disappearance of Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis, please contact the FBI Seattle Field Office at (206) 622-0460 or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.

To see more about this case, as well as the sources used to create this episode, visit our Blog Here.

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