Long ago, the number of indigenous women gone missing or murdered in the United States reached scandalous numbers. But there is a frustrating lack of communication and cooperation among various law enforcement agencies, according to Brandi Martinez, founder and CEO of Golden-based nonprofit Look for Me. , which often leads to inaction, making it extremely difficult to find victims.
“Tribal police, state police, federal government, it’s just a matter of establishing jurisdiction,” Martinez said. “It takes a long time for a family to accomplish anything.”
Now Martinez and Look for Me’s crisis coordinator, White Owl, are planning to help such an investigation get underway. They are pushing ahead with a project to provide drones to be used in the search for missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW) at the first annual Regional Tribal Emergency Management Summit to be held in South Dakota next week. I hope that the presentation at will lead to results. up to its implementation.
“We want to provide a platform for teaching drone pilots how to provide security and emergency services,” says White Owl. “This is for the grassroots. We consider them our greatest asset and want them to be properly trained so that they can be mobilized and acted upon when the situation arises. I have.”
The scope of the crisis is undeniable, but there are disagreements over the details.federal website Indian Affairs Bureau notes that “approximately 1,500 missing American Indians and Alaska Natives are in police custody,” highlighting the need for investigative resources related to MMIW cases. National Crime Information Center About 2,700 murder and manslaughter charges have been reported to the federal government across the United States. Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The BIA estimates there are about 4,200 total unsolved missing persons and murder cases. ”
of MMIW page A site for the South Dakota nonprofit Native Hope suggests that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ figures may actually be lower, in part due to widespread underreporting. In 2016, the NCIC is said to have collected information on 5,712 missing cases of American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. However, during that period NamsuThe U.S. Department of Justice’s missing persons database has just 116 records.
The disappearance of Ella Mae Bigay and subsequent events in New Mexico motivated Martinez to take on the MMIW cause.
“Ella Mae was an elder who went missing in the Navajo Nation two years ago in June,” she recalls. “She is 62 and her niece Seraphine [Warren], had a very hard time finding her. She could have been someone’s aunt, but no one was looking for her outside her family. At that time, I became involved in the search and rescue of this incident. ”
Beghey’s body has yet to be found, but Preston Henry Torse, 23, was indicted in April. assault and carjacking It is related to Begay’s disappearance.
of Indictment August 2022 The prosecution of Tre James, 30, for the murder of Pinon, Arizona resident Jamie Yazzy has also been long awaited. Yazzy “went missing in June 2019,” Martinez said, adding that more than two years later, in 2021, “it ended up being searched by a team of dogs in a place Aunty dreamed of.” She had the exact coordinates, and while they were searching, the Hopi police were like, “What are you guys doing here?” Police then dispatched a search party and found Jamie’s body about a week later. ” that is, Martina Maryboyanother inspiration behind Look for Me, and currently serves as the organization’s president.
As for Pepita Redhair, who “disappeared in Albuquerque over two years ago,” Martinez said no such resolution has taken place. “She lived with a boyfriend who had a long history of alcohol abuse and domestic violence. filed, but as of last summer there has never been a search for her, so we helped connect them to a group of dogs and also tried to form a drone team because she It didn’t have a name, because the area where the could have gone missing was very large and had very rough terrain, with unpaved roads, etc. It didn’t have a name, but it was drone-trained, working together. I couldn’t find anyone to give it to me.”
This scenario quickly takes a turn for the better when Martinez and White Owl have a casual conversation with a couple they meet at an RV park. “They really wanted to help,” recalls White Owl. “And they said they had friends in the drone industry who could send us drones. But then, on our last day as we were leaving the RV park, a Fed Ex truck unloaded four drones from Connecticut.” eagle line drone.
The company’s CEO, Barry Alexander, later promised to “help us get FAA certification,” while White Owl went on to say, “Give us the blueprint to start our own independent drone company.” I will,” he said.
The first batch of drones has already been distributed. One will be sent to the Four Corners area, another will be given to a representative of the Indian Territory in Oklahoma, and a third will be delivered to Pine, South Dakota by Jeremiah Wilbur, CEO of the association based in Colorado. It was delivered to the Ridge-based Emergency Services Group. war party movementaims to empower abuse survivors through support, education, skills training and direct interventions. The movement’s motto is “No more stolen sisters.”
Look for Me’s enhanced drone proposal will be announced at the Regional Tribal Emergency Management Summit scheduled for June 12th and 13th. Ramkota Hotel, 2111 North Lacrosse Street, Rapid City. Attendees are expected to include “a coalition of tribal chiefs and officers representing the tribes of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota.” muskogee nation, Seminole Nation, Choctaw, Crow Nation and the Great Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Nation“We want them to adopt Aquiline drones and their programs because Aquiline has the ability to provide them with the resources they need.” The only way to do this is Do it from the ground up. ”
The Colorado Legislature took up the MMIW issue in its last legislative session. Senate Bill 23-054Signed on June 2 by Gov. Jared Polis, it instructs the State Department of Public Safety’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Liaison Office to “communicate with relevant departments regarding the investigation into the disappearance or murder of an indigenous relative.” I am asking you to take it. Some improvements were attempted, such as “designating one office employee as a point of contact for families in need of support.”
But Look for Me leaders aren’t waiting for a bureaucratic upgrade. Martinez said her goal is to “bring missing people home as safely as possible and to ensure the safety of their families. If you don’t have the proper training, you’ll go out searching and end up with two or three people.” “People can go missing or go missing,” he said. But this family wants to know that someone is looking for their loved one. ”
White Owl added: “We want to be the generation that ends the crisis of missing people and murderers.”
Look for Me is raising funds to undertake trips to Regional Tribal Crisis Management Summits. For more information, see Find Me. GoFundMe page. You can also donate through Venmo (@lookforme) and CashApp ($lookformenetwork).
