Page 42 of Twice Missing
"I gather," Noah replied, trying to keep his tone neutral.
"Do you?" Sarah challenged. "Most don't. The confusionaround jurisdiction causes people to hesitate and waste time, and time is all a family has when their loved one is missing. We have three different agencies meant to be protecting public citizens. Tribal police, BIA, and FBI. Best of luck getting them to communicate or even log a missing report." She continued, her words coming faster now, fueled by what was clearly a deep-seated frustration. "If something happens on tribal land, tribal police handle the investigation, but that's only if a tribal member commits a crime against another tribal member. If the crime involves a non-Native against a tribal member on our land, one of the tribal police would have to get outside help. They would have to wait for a county sheriff to show up. That's also where the federal government is meant to intervene and send out an FBI agent. The problem is the federal government doesn't always respond immediately and sometimes they never send anyone out. But they are supposed to, as it's a member of their nation against our tribal nation."
Noah and McKenzie listened intently, the complexity of the situation becoming clearer with each word.
Sarah took a breath before continuing. "When an offender is a non-Native, the tribal courts are deemed powerless to some extent. Now if a crime occurred outside the reservation, that would fall to the State Police but even then, there are times when State will step back due to the issues with jurisdiction. Add to that our tribes are barred from prosecuting anyone, even our own members, for major crimes like murder, manslaughter, kidnapping andcertain sexual offenses, and you have got yourself a messy situation."
"There are limitations on the tribal courts?" McKenzie asked, his brow furrowed.
It was clear that Sarah was far more familiar with the intricacies. She launched into an explanation, her voice taking on a tone of resigned frustration.
"The tribal court operates according to the Major Crimes Act and until 2010 could only impose a sentence of up to one year in prison and a $5,000 fine for each offense. That was extended to three years with a maximum of nine years for multiple offenses. Now you can see why it's easier to hand it over to the federal authorities who are not as limited on serious crimes. But if there is a lack of evidence, or the FBI doesn’t think it’s important, or it’s too complex, then it just goes by the wayside."
Noah nodded, beginning to understand the jurisdictional maze.
“And what about Kayla?”
"Look, Kayla and I knew each other from high school," Sarah continued, her voice softening slightly. "We were both activists involved in protesting and raising awareness about missing and murdered women. Once we graduated high school, she went off to pursue a career as a midwife, and I went on to become a social worker. I came to find out that Kayla later dropped out of college."
"Why?" Noah asked, sensing they were getting closer to something important.
Sarah's eyes clouded with sadness. "Her mental health.Besides losing her grandmother, her aunt went missing and was later found dismembered. That took a toll on her. She began drinking, running with the wrong crowd. She said she just wanted to find out who was behind her aunt's death."
"Did she?" Noah pressed gently.
Sarah shook her head. "No. But then most don't because law enforcement are not helpful, and they don't offer much in the way of assistance when people go missing. You won’t see many out patrolling to deter people from getting into trouble. They are reactionary only. There is little to no communication with families and the families are made to feel as though they aren't heard."
Noah tried to offer a counterpoint. "Well to be fair, they do have to build a case, which takes time, and they can't share everything."
Sarah's response was immediate and sharp. "You don't understand."
"I would like to," Noah said, his sincerity evident in his voice.
Sarah's expression softened slightly. "Then you would be in the minority. The system is complex," she said, shaking her head and looking off into the distance. "Besides the lack of cops, funding, and investigative resources, there really is no missing person database for our people. There is for other demographics but not for Native American women unless it's been recently compiled by our people — and even then, it's sparse, because most deaths have already been classed as exposure, suicide, accidents, and not investigated as suspicious. It's easier to brush it away."
"How can you be so certain?" Noah asked, his detective instincts kicking in.
Sarah's response was passionate and well-informed. “Because our people have been the ones uncovering the truth. The Urban Indian Health Institute conducted an entire study revealing that data on murdered and missing individuals outside of reservations misidentified many of us, classifying us as white. That means we can't accurately track just how many are truly missing."
Noah tried to offer a conciliatory response. "I'm sure there have been a lot of mistakes made in the search for answers."
Sarah's eyes flashed with anger. "My uncle worked for Tribal. He said that Native girls don't get found. They either come home on their own or we know what happened to them. That's why there is a lack of enthusiasm to search or investigate. It's too complex and non-Natives have begun to understand that loophole and are exploiting it by taking our women and trafficking them or simply murdering and walking away."
McKenzie, who had been silent for most of the conversation, spoke up. "It can't all be non-Natives that are responsible," he said, his tone skeptical.
Sarah turned to him, her gaze intense. She began to recite statistics, her voice steady and firm. "According to a study by the National Institute of Justice, 97 percent of violence experienced by Native women was committed by non-Native perpetrators, four in five Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, Native women are murdered at ten times the national average, the rate ofmurder for Native women is three times that of a white woman, and out of almost six thousand cases of MMIWG reported in 2016, only 116 of those reported were logged cases. So yes, most cases involve non-Natives."
Noah, sensing the rising tension, stepped in to calm the situation. "Sarah, he didn't mean any disrespect by that.” He was quick to shift the topic away. “Look, what can you tell us about Kayla? Anything that stands out. That you would know, that may not have made it into a report?"
Sarah took a deep breath, her passion still evident but her tone more controlled. "When Kayla went missing, her father was down at the Tribal Police Department within forty-eight hours to file a report. The tribal police brushed him off and said she was probably just out partying. The cops didn't declare her missing until two weeks later. It took the BIA another two months before they got involved and an FBI agent didn't show up for almost four months and when they did, they were gone within days. Why? Because she's just another missing or dead Native. They made excuses based on generally accepted stereotypes about Native people, like she's overdosed somewhere, out partying or a runaway. But that's not the truth. It rarely ever is. These are our sisters, our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunties, our daughters, most of all, they're human beings."
She paused, taking a breath. Noah could see how passionate she was about the crisis. Sarah continued, "But we are not seen the same way as non-Natives. And so we don't get the kind of publicity that white women get, and so our sisters end up with nothing more than a passingheadline or a spot in an obituary.” She took another breath. “There is a saying on the reservation, when an Indigenous woman goes missing, she goes missing twice — first her body vanishes, and then her story."
“Do you feel Emily Carter got more publicity?”
“Didn’t she?” she asked, cocking her head to one side.
Noah had seen the slew of articles, news updates, ongoing searches, and work by the community to keep her story alive. Whereas there were thousands of Native women who had gone missing and had been relegated to a small photo at a community center on the reservation.
