Native American – AMBER Advocate

By Denise Gee Peacock

May 5 is designated as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP)/Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). The day serves as a national call to action to end violence against Indigenous communities and to support families and communities impacted by the MMIP/MMIWG crisis.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Justice in support of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian County Act, the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative is committed to helping American Indian and Alaska Native Villages (AI/AN communities) combat the crisis by providing no-cost training, technology assistance, and numerous resources.

AMBER Alert in Indian Country Program Manager Tyesha Wood, and Project Coordinators Dave Chewiwie, Amy Hood-Schwindt, and Alica Murphy Wildcatt—are continually on the road meeting with federally recognized Tribes throughout the nation.

Their Indigenous heritage and law enforcement experience help them connect on multiple levels with AI/AN law enforcement and community leaders during AMBER Alert implementation meetings and child abduction tabletop exercises (CATEs). They also assist with specialized and/or customized training, partner outreach, and more.

“While our team proudly supports MMIP/MMIWG Awareness Day, our commitment extends beyond May 5,” says Program Manager Wood, a member of the Navajo Nation. “Every day we stand with the families of missing and murdered Indigenous people who are still seeking answers. We encourage everyone to listen and help people with cases that are unreported or under-investigated. Every voice matters—and every story deserves to be heard.”

*AIIC Project Coordinator Alica Murphy Wildcatt*

Behind every missing or murdered Indigenous relative “is a family waiting, a community grieving, and a life full of potential that deserves to be seen and protected,” says Wildcatt, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Much like her AIIC colleagues, “I see firsthand how our systems have the potential to fall short. Delayed responses, jurisdictional barriers, and a lack of urgency can put Native lives at risk. We can’t let our relatives become statistics. The MMIP/MMIWG movement matters because it is about justice, yes, but it’s also about love, dignity, and the right to be safe in our own homeland.”

*AIIC Project Coordinator Dave Chewiwie*

Children are precious in Native communities, but they also are vulnerable to “those who may be looking to abduct them, to exploit them,” says Project Coordinator Dave Chewiwie, a Pueblo of Isleta member. “We have to have effective programs and plans in place to safely recover them if they go missing. We are all stakeholders in the security of our children in Indian Country.”

Project Coordinator Hood-Schwindt, a Yavapai-Apache member, believes “an ongoing lack of thorough investigations into MMIP cases, combined with the impunity of perpetrators, has fueled a vicious cycle, one we need to break. We have to provide comprehensive investigations, meaningful prosecutions, and ensure there is justice for every stolen Indigenous life.”

*AIIC Project Coordinator Amy Hood-Schwindt*

While significant progress has been made in the last five years, much still needs to be done, Wood says. “We must work in unity, share resources and coordinate efforts, and carry hope that we will find, or find answers for, our missing and murdered Indigenous relatives.”

Wildcatt believes that “working together, we can confront this epidemic. We can invest in community-driven solutions, and build systems that ensure safety, accountability, and justice.”

The disproportionately high rate of violence experienced by Native American families is unacceptable. Through continued collaboration with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, we are dedicated to alleviating this crisis in a meaningful—and lasting—way.

JANELL RASMUSSEN Director, National Criminal Justice Training Center
Administrator, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program/AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative

AIIC Associate Jen Murphy helped produce an award-winning short film that turns a lens on the MMIP/MMIW crisis.

Jen Murphy is a photographer, artist, member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe in Montana, an AATTAP-AIIC Associate, and one of the more prominent faces of MMIP/MMIW awareness work. The above photograph of her with a red handprint over her mouth—symbolizing the silencing of voices—spans billboards across the Great Plains “to bring attention to issues that need to be talked about,” Murphy says.

Central among those issues is the disproportionate rate of violence, abduction, and murder experienced by women and people in the U.S. and Canada.

Another way Murphy aims to turn people’s attention to the MMIP/MMIW crisis is through a children's book she produced in 2024. Learn about and purchase More Like Her here.

Murphy also served as executive producer for the short film “Not Afraid,” previously featured on Omeleto.

At just under 10 minutes, the film provides an intimate and powerful portrait of a young Native American woman navigating the grief of losing a loved one to the MMIW crisis. It captures both personal heartbreak and the deep resilience within Indigenous communities, and aims to be a stirring call to remembrance, justice, and healing.

Starring JaShaun St. John (“Songs My Brothers Taught Me”), the film offers a powerful, intimate look at a growing injustice impacting Indigenous families across North America.

“Not Afraid” was awarded the Indigenous Film and Culture Award from Windrider Film Showcase that runs with the Sundance Film Festival.

The film’s director, Michaela Bruce, says of Murphy—and their storytelling mission—“I feel on the deepest level that we have a responsibility to support vulnerable women through all means available to us, including the arts.”

“When we have the ability and resources to support an important work,” Murphy adds, “it is always the right thing to do.”

“The red hand over the mouth stands for all of our missing sisters who are not heard.”
JEN MURPHY
AMBER Alert in Indian Country Associate / artist and filmmaker

Indigenous people—especially women and girls—experience significantly higher rates of violence, murder, and being reported missing compared to other groups.

Find the latest statistics from the FBI here and view the National Criminal Justice Training center infographic (shown below right; click photo to enlarge).
Learn more about national MMIP/MMIWG efforts here and here.
Access the DOJ resource When a Loved One Goes Missing: Resources for Families of Missing American Indian and Alaska Native Adults (shown below left) here.

Alica Murphy Wildcatt, Project Coordinator for AATTAP’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative, participated in the Ashlynne Mike Memorial Mile Walk & Run held in Shiprock, New Mexico, on May 2.

The event drew 111 people—the largest number of participants to date. Attendees walked and/or ran in honor of Ashlynne—namesake of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, which the AIIC initiative works to support.

The event also served to raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls (MMIWG) National Day of Awareness May 5.

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯,” 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴. “𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴’ 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥.”

AIIC Training & Resources Highlighted in Nevada

AIIC Project Coordinator David Chewiwie attended the Newe Waipaipian Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) and Women (MMIW) Native Conference May 3–7 in Elko, Nevada. The conference drew numerous Indian Country Tribal leaders, Native advocates, law enforcement partners, and community members from throughout Nevada.

Chewiwie gave a presentation about the AIIC, and oversaw the information table for the National Criminal Justice Training Center/AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program/AIIC initiative, which provides a variety of free training, resources, and technological assistance to Native communities. (Learn more at here.)

“AMBER Alert in Indian country was very well received by conference organizers and attendees,” Chewiwie said. “We’ve already received an invitation to participate in next year's conference.”

A new measure will require law enforcement authorities in California to collect and provide information on crimes that occur on Native American lands. Under the mandate signedby Governor Gavin Newsom, the data must be provided to the California Department of Justice to help better address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) crisis and collaboratively work toward improving public safety and justice in Indian Country. California is home to the second-highest number of federally recognized Native American Tribes in the United States and ranks fifth in the nation in unresolved MMIP cases.

Tribal courts could soon have easier access to electronic evidence such as emails and social media messages in criminal cases—a move that would be beneficial, among other things, in Internet crimes against children investigations. U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Mike Rounds of South Dakota introduced the bipartisan Tribal Access to Electronic Evidence Act as a way to give Tribal courts equitable access and better equip them to deliver justice for victims. “We know that criminals are using online tools to traffic drugs and commit other crimes in Indian Country,” Cortez Masto said. “What we also know is that Tribal courts struggle to get electronic evidence because tech companies won’t honor those Tribal warrants.” Rounds added that it’s important that Tribal law enforcement is able to do its job “without the federal government getting in the way.”

Indigenous female motorcyclists continue to rev up their engines—as well as their messaging—to raise awareness about the high rate of missing and murdered girls and women in Native American communities. This past July, the Medicine Wheel Ride motorcycle group from Phoenix partnered with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in Santa Barbara County, California, for a “We Ride for Her” event. Organized through the Santa Ynez Tribal Health Clinic, the event featured a screening of the “We Ride for Her” documentary highlighting the motorcycle group’s work, which includes fundraising, assisting advocates searching for missing Native American girls and women, and raising awareness through annual rallies and rides. The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians remains the only federally recognized Chumash Tribe in the nation.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted a proposal for an emergency alert that could help save the lives of missing and endangered Indigenous people. The new alert code would make it easier for public safety officials to use TV, radio, and cell phones to notify the public about missing Native Americans and Alaska Natives. The proposal was led by Native Public Media, a national organization supporting Indigenous radio and television broadcasters. The Indigenous groups comprise a significant portion of the missing and murdered cases in the United States, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In May, the FCC sought public comment on the proposal, and a final vote to create the new alert code within the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is pending.

Is there hope for the hundreds of missing and murdered Indigenous women? An article by Rachel Monroe in The New Yorker begs this question, and the answer may lie in the strength of other Indigenous women. Lela Mailman became an advocate for the voiceless after her 21-year-old daughter, Melanie James, vanished in 2014 in Farmington, New Mexico, a city bordering the Navajo Nation. Local police and media outlets seemed indifferent; Melanie’s name was misspelled in reports, and wasn’t entered in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) until three years later. Mailman sought strength in numbers, joining with mothers of other missing children at marches, protests, and prayer gatherings. The #MMIW social media movement traces back to 2012 when Canadian journalist Sheila North, a member of the Cree Nation, began using the hashtag to raise awareness and spark action in Canada and the United States. “North was particularly struck by how many cases went unsolved—evidence, to her, that society regarded Native women as essentially disposable,” Monroe notes. Melanie James’ case is one of more than 4,000 unsolved cases of missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Natives, according to The Bureau of Indian Affairs. “Listening to Melanie’s family tell their story, I had the uneasy thought that justice in her case might not look like answers, arrests, and convictions but, instead, like subsequent missing persons cases being approached respectfully and rigorously the first time around.”

Native American voters could decide major elections in 2024, and grassroots efforts are underway across swing states to get this important electorate out to vote as Democrats and Republicans vie for power. Key issues for Native Americans, particularly Native American women, include the high rate of missing and murdered Indigenous women, according to a 2023 First Nations Development Institute (FNDI) National Survey of Native Americans. This demographic is a powerful voting bloc with at least five million voters in the U.S. who identify as Native and Alaska Natives, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Hedi Bogda has a unique, perhaps unparalleled perspective on Native American culture and law. She is a Tribal prosecutor, Tribal judge, and an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. Her background and skills are now being used to train prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officers handling child abduction cases in Indian Country.

"Safety of children is my number one priority," said Bogda. "Keep them safe and free from harm."

The AMBER Alert Initiative in Indian Country asked Bogda to lead training efforts involving child abductions, exploitation, and violence in tribal communities.

"She is truly an advocate for Indian Country and a great resource to address the challenges they face in protecting children," said Jim Walters, Director, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program. "She is humble, but is honestly the most impressive legal mind I know and is a true gift to Indian Country."

Bodga said her father taught her how to argue when she was growing up and she always wanted to be an attorney. After getting her law degree from the University of North Dakota, she became a federal prosecutor who focused on crimes in Indian Country. She is currently working as a Tribal prosecutor and a judge but plans to give her all to AMBER Alert training.

"One of the biggest strengths of the AMBER Alert in Tribal communities is that you are working together for a child," said Bogda. "The community as a whole takes care of their children and the AMBER Alert is a way to get Tribes to band together to protect their children."

However, she said many Tribal communities still have a lack of awareness, resources, and training about the AMBER Alert. "The remoteness of the Indian reservations creates a problem," she added. "We need to get the Tribe and the elders educated so everyone can work together."

Bogda said her training will also be filtered by the fact she has a son and daughter in their teens. "From day one I was always trying to teach them safety words, how to be cautious about strangers, and how to protect themselves on the computers," she said. "It is scary having kids."

But Indian Country now has a prosecutor, judge, and mom making sure they are safe.

Southern Methodist University held a weeklong series of workshops in October on Native American issues that included a detailed look at the trafficking of women and children in Indian Country. The workshop in Dallas, Texas, examined research by Christine Stark and Eileen Hudon of the Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition on the history and societal factors contributing to the exploitation and trafficking of women and children in Indian Country.

Members of the AMBER in Indian Country team joined Stark and Hudon to discuss how victims from Native American communities are caught up in the world of prostitution and sexual exploitation. The series called “Native Peoples: Inherent Rights & Forgotten Voices” educates students and faculty members about Native Americans.

Researchers hope to learn from Native American teenagers about the dangers they face and seek solutions for their safety. The AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program and Southern Methodist University interviewed 13- to 18-year-old youth from Tribes in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico.

The researchers asked the students about their experiences, observations, fears, and even past victimization. They also discussed ways to strengthen child protection programs in Indian Country. An advisory group of Tribal elders will ensure the research is consistent with cultural considerations and traditions.

The project began March 10 at the Isleta Pueblo and reports will be gathered in Taos, New Mexico, and Window Rock, Arizona. The research findings will then be given to Tribal leaders, service providers, and policy makers to help them make long-term strategies. A final symposium will be held October 27 in Dallas.

Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk behind a podium — Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk

An unprecedented gathering of more than 175 Tribal representatives from 54 Tribes and 20 states took place in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, to develop a multiagency approach to protecting Native American children. The National Symposium on Child Protection in Indian Country was held March 9-11, 2010, to confront faltering graduation rates and increased incidents of suicide, rape, child abuse, and abduction.

“We need to stop the rising crime rate, especially against women and children,” said Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation. “The real agenda is to empower tribal governments so they can govern their own people. We need to teach parents about parenting skills so children are safe in their homes.”

The Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention sponsored the symposium as part of the AMBER in Indian Country Initiative (AIIC). The initiative was recently expanded to address the following challenges:

Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation
Runaway and Thrownaway Children
Family Violence

AIIC is now offering additional training concerning high-risk runaways, including Native American trackers, bloodhounds and Tribal border issues. “The idea is to create the same level of service and safe return of children in Native American Communities as what is found in any other community,” said AIIC Liaison Jim Walters. “We always wanted a voice for children in Indian Country.”

Gena Tyner-Dawson, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Attorney General for Tribal Affairs, announced that more grants are available to help tribes protect children. “We want to improve public safety, reduce alcohol crimes, create correctional facilities, provide more assistance to sexual assault victims, reach out to victims of elder abuse and prevent juvenile delinquency,” said Tyner-Dawson. “We have one goal: to improve public safety in Tribal communities.”

U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Greg Fouratt encouraged law enforcement leaders to become involved in the lives of children so they will be trusted when a crime is committed. “We have to introduce ourselves to kids before they ever meet a prosecutor, judge or jury,” said Fouratt. “They desperately need our help.”

Native American Children’s Alliance Executive Director Linda Logan shared that she was a victim of child sexual abuse, as was her mother, grandmother and two sisters. She also identified ways to stop Indian children from being abused. “Tribal leaders need to acknowledge family abuse is a problem,” said Logan. “We also need to hold offenders accountable in a way that is fair, swift and sure.”

Under federal law, the maximum penalty for child abuse in Indian Country is one year in jail and a $5,000 fine. “What we are doing now is not working,” said Jerry Wiseman-Foley, a Tribal prosecutor in Oklahoma. “We need to look at our own ways to address what is going on with our people.”

Indian Pueblo Council Chairman Joe Garcia said the problems will not be addressed unless Tribes, states, and the federal government work together. “We cannot do it alone,” said Garcia. “People must work together or we won’t make a dent in the system.”

Representatives from the Native American Community Academy (NACA) and the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) also participated in the symposium to help in their advocacy work for Tribal communities and children.

The pilot program to bring AMBER Alerts into Indian Country has taken wings. The AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative began with ten Tribal sites but now other Tribes are getting training in order to create their own child abduction alert plans.

For the first time the 2009 National AMBER Alert Symposium provided training sessions for Tribal representatives who are not part of the pilot program.

“It is quite remarkable that the Tribes are so far ahead of so many states considering they had to start their programs from scratch,” noted AMBER Alert in Indian Country Liaison Jim Walters.

The goal for the pilot sites is to have a working AMBER Alert program by July 2010. Some of the tribes reported that they were running into roadblocks with their plans because of political interference or lack of support from Tribal leaders. Walters said educating the public about AMBER Alerts will help. “If the people speak loudly enough that they want a program, the political desire will follow.”

Tribal leaders are also taking an active role in the Southern Border Initiative because many of the Tribal lands are on the U.S.-Mexico border. More training will be held to create lines of communication between Tribal and Mexican law enforcement officials.

The Native American representatives also tackled the issue of runaway and “thrownaway” children. Approximately 40,000 runaways and thrownaways, mostly girls, come from Indian communities each year.

Native American children typically leave their homes for urban areas and are not accustomed to the cultural differences. Jurisdiction issues also present challenges in trying to protect children.

Some of the Indian communities have developed multidisciplinary teams to prevent and intervene in child abductions and to recover children. The teams include representatives from law enforcement, social services, schools, judges, and Tribal elders. Many of the children have been helped because of the Indian culture's strong belief in family relationships and extended families.

Many AMBER Alert Coordinators know the challenges that can arise when a child abductor takes a victim across a state border. Those difficulties can be compounded if the child is taken across a state border, a Tribal reservation border and then across the border into another country, a scenario that is very possible because 30 Tribes are situated along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The issue of Tribal lands on border issues is becoming more important,” said Jim Walters, FVTC Consultant on the AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative. “It presents some particular challenges for us.”

Walters presented some of the challenges facing border tribes at the Southern Border Initiative meeting in San Diego. He said border Tribes are seeing more drugs and children being transported across Tribal lands. The cases become even more complicated because of Tribal membership laws.

“Parental abductions are complicated by Tribal authority and whether parents are both Tribal members,” said Walters. “It creates a situation where federal, Tribal, and Mexican authorities have to understand the legal issues.”

The U.S. has about 550 Tribal communities, nearly 300 with law enforcement agencies. Most Tribal agencies are undermanned. Walters said, “the solution is to have protocols and relationships in place before an abduction occurs.”

Sergeant Karin Ashby works for the Tohono O'odham Tribal Police Department along the Arizona-Mexico border. A total of 85 sworn officers provide law and order for 2.9 million acres of land, roughly the same size of Connecticut. Sometimes it can take an officer more than an hour to respond to a crime and another hour for a back-up officer to arrive.

“The terrain we have to travel is very rough and not very accommodating,” said Ashby. “We have very high statistics for travel crimes and abuse against the native people but the people who commit these crimes are not always the native people.”

For the most part the Tohono O'odham Tribe does not rely on billboards, electronic signs, the Internet or telephones for communications. “I cannot impose my culture on the people we serve,” said Ashby. “We have means of communication, but it is more face to face. We spend time getting to know each other.”

Ashby shared some of the issues she has faced on the border: rates of violence and victimization are double on Tribal communities compared to other communities; delays in reporting missing children happen because Tribal members often believe their family can find the child; children may be transported great distances across the desert; and the drug trade has led to many children being sexually exploited, including one 7-year-old girl who was found dead in the desert after she had been sexually assaulted.

“We have our challenges and we have our hurdles,” said Ashby. “But we also have many positive aspects.”

Walters added that a roadmap is in place to offer more protection for abducted children in border areas. “It's a team effort,” said Walters. “We have to open up the lines of communication on the northern side and southern side of the border. By bringing both communities together on both sides of the border, they will be aware of what's going on and know how to respond.”

‘Not Afraid’

AIIC Associate Jen Murphy helped produce an award-winning short film that turns a lens on the MMIP/MMIW crisis.

Get the Facts About MMIP / MMIWG

Moved to Act: AIIC Team Participates in Ashlynne Mike, MMIWG Events

Walking the Walk for Ashlynne Mike & MMIP/MMIWG Awareness

AIIC Training & Resources Highlighted in Nevada