In April 2024, 36 year old Utahnna Bearcomesout was out on drive with her husband and daughter in Fort Washakie, Wyoming when a tragic turn of events cost her, her life. With her husband behind bars, her family and friends are desperately seeking justice.

Sources:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/06/10/hes-not-sorry-family-of-slain-woman-says-as-accused-killer-pleads-not-guilty/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2bOKmZWinWfA1crN1HP66CkkVSUngWbFaJALqKyY6b8XN72rS1mIeyjmI_aem_eWofmuH0NGtnzEmK_5dwUQ

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Delema Sits Poor was just 12 years old when she disappeared from Pine Ridge, South Dakota in February 1974. She and another twelve-year-old girl left Delema's home walking a back road from Oglala to Manderson on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Her friend turned back to head back home, Delema did not. She was never seen again. 

Sources:

Delema Lou Sits Poor – The Charley Project

50 years later, Lakota girl still missing - ICT News

Search for Native woman’s identity reignites - ICT News

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In October, 2010, 32 year old Sumi Gail Juan, a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, disappeared without a trace. Her story, mirroring similarities with another Hoopa Valley woman, further highlights the prevalence and complexities of the MMIW crisis that is happening in Northern California. 

Sources:

https://www.equatorinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Yurok-Tribe-Case-Study-English-FNL.pdf

https://www.equatorinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Yurok-Tribe-Case-Study-English-FNL.pdf

https://humboldtgov.org/DocumentCenter/View/115172/sumi-juan-case-press-releases

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-14/native-americans-tribes-california-missing-women-girls

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On October 20, 2020, one day before her 18th birthday, Jalajhia Finklea of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe was last seen getting into a rental car driven by a Florida man near her mother’s home in New Bedford, MA.  She was never seen alive again.

Sources:
Missing Mass. Teen Jalajhia Finklea Was Pregnant: Police Report – NBC Boston

Pregnant teen, 18, found dead in Florida 1,400 miles from home after five weeks missing as 'kidnapper' shot by cops | The US Sun (the-sun.com)

Autopsy: Mashpee teen was shot - ICT News

Mashpee Teen Still Missing After Officers Shoot Man Wanted in Her Disappearance – NBC Boston

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov)

Missing Pregnant Teen Found Dead In Florida, Believed To Be Jalajhia Finklea (balleralert.com)

Suspect Killed by Law Enforcement, But Mashpee Wampanoag Woman Still Missing | Currents (nativenewsonline.net)

Missing Mashpee woman's body found in Florida, autopsy confirms (heraldnews.com)

Gunshots listed as Jalajhia Finklea cause of death; phone led police to body in Fellsmere (tcpalm.com)

New Bedford Police search for missing teen, member of Mashpee Wampanoag tribe – Boston 25 News

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In 2017, the body of 21-year-old Ci’Lina Deloney was found on a Comanche Country Road in Oklahoma. Known to her family and friends as CiCi, her murder remains unsolved and her family struggles with getting CiCi’s story heard.

Sources:

Family seeks answers for Ci'Lina Deloney's death (kswo.com)
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation looking for leads in Comanche County cold case (okcfox.com)
Mother seeks justice in daughter’s murder (kswo.com)
Unsolved Homicide: Ci’Lina Teira Bell-Deloney – If you have credible information about Ci’Lina’s murder, contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-522-8017. You can remain anonymous. (wordpress.com)

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Michelle Elbow Shield, age 26, went missing on September 27, 2023. It is believed she was in the Sioux Falls, SD area and was last seen.

Michelle has light brown eyes and brown hair. She is 4' 10" and weighs approximately 100 pounds. Michelle also has tattoos, one is a butterfly on her left ankle, an infinity symbol on her left arm with the names Michelle and Cody Red Wing and a heart with devil horns behind her right ear. Michelle was last seen wearing a black, blue and gray sweater and black jeans.

Sources:

https://www.bia.gov/missing-murdered-cases/michelle-elbow-shield#:~:text=Profile&text=Michelle%20Elbow%20Shield%20went%20missing,blue%20sweater%20and%20black%20jeans.

https://www.kotatv.com/2024/01/18/police-seek-pine-ridge-woman-missing-since-october/

https://www.greatplainstribalhealth.org/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women.html

https://missingpersons.sd.gov/

https://www.newscenter1.tv/news/pennington-county-missing-persons/article_ac0ebdda-bc78-11ee-8bbd-2380e5b4bb58.html

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In April 2023, the body of 16-year-old Ruby Sky Montelongo was discovered in a vacant lot in Covelo, California. Her death came three weeks after the death of 20-year-old Round Valley Man. With the rates of Missing and Murdered Indigenous people skyrocketing in Northern California, Round Valley Indians Tribes have declared a state of emergency.

Sources:
California girl, 15, suspected of killing another teenager | AP News

‘They took everything’: an Indigenous town rocked by the killings of young people | Indigenous peoples | The Guardian

Girl, 15, suspected in killing of girl, 16, as NorCal town reels (sfgate.com)

MMIW: Ruby Sky Montelongo - The Cherokee One Feather (theonefeather.com)

California tribes ask lawmakers for help to stem violence - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

15-Year-Old Girl Booked for Murder as a Suspect in the Killing of Covelo Teen | MendoFever – Mendocino County News

Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation - Wikipedia

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In February 2024, 52-year-old Brian Steven Smith, a South African man residing in Alaska, was convicted of the savage killings of two Alaskan Native women, Kathleen Henry and Veronica Abouchuk. The grim particulars surrounding their demise are chilling and profoundly unsettling. Listener discretion is advised.

Sources:

https://law.alaska.gov/press/releases/2024/022224-Smith.html

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2024/02/23/brian-smith-found-guilty-14-charges-related-murders-2-women/

https://people.com/brian-steven-smith-murder-conviction-two-women-alaska-8598994

https://heavy.com/news/2019/10/kathleen-j-henry/

https://www.ktoo.org/2024/02/23/jury-makes-quick-decision-in-the-brian-smith-murder-trial-convicting-him-in-the-deaths-of-two-native-women/

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She was called Mighty Mia. In 2007, at 18 years old, she was embarking on her freshman year of college at the University of Arizona and excited about the new chapter in her life. A member of the Navajo Nation, Mia had dreams to become a doctor and return to her tribe to help her people. She never got that chance.

Sources:

https://tucson.com/news/blogs/police-beat/life-sentence-affirmed-in-2007-ua-homicide/article_9fbce65d-cf7a-5cb7-9c77-cc9d8527d4b1.html

https://www.nhonews.com/news/2008/sep/16/remembering-mia-henderson/

https://murderpedia.org/female.H/h/harrison-galareka.htm

https://navajotimes.com/news/2008/1108/112508harrison.php

https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/former-ua-student-gets-life-in-dorm-stabbing/article_a72779e6-fb82-5db7-9c1a-213cf52f22cd.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21398968/mia-janelle-henderson

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