Found Deceased MT - Mike Plain Bull, 22, Pryor, 12 Dec 2013

los2188 said:

I say this halfheartedly, but isn't the P.C. term Native American?? Keep in mind that I'm not P.C. myself.

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I'm a Cherokee and I've been an Indian all my life, lol. This Native American stuff, geez, anyone born in this country is a native American, so it's a meaningless label, really. JMO.

beachlvr0810 said:

Did I miss something? Where did the information come from saying the kids' mom married somebody else? Did I miss that in one of the articles?

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Repeated FB posts indicating that she married the other guy, but all with different dates. Not sure if they really got married or if it's just silly posting, but they're definitely a couple.

Looks like the mom has the three kids full-time. Maybe Mike had visitation coming up? Or planned to drop diapers off as a form of child support? There's no indication given of why he made the trip to Billings from anything I've read. Surely there are closer places to buy diapers.

I'm wondering why it took eleven days to find his car. Must have been left in a particularly remote area.

I pray he's ok!! He's such a handsome young man!

OkieGranny said:

I'm a Cherokee and I've been an Indian all my life, lol. This Native American stuff, geez, anyone born in this country is a native American, so it's a meaningless label, really. JMO.



Repeated FB posts indicating that she married the other guy, but all with different dates. Not sure if they really got married or if it's just silly posting, but they're definitely a couple.

Looks like the mom has the three kids full-time. Maybe Mike had visitation coming up? Or planned to drop diapers off as a form of child support? There's no indication given of why he made the trip to Billings from anything I've read. Surely there are closer places to buy diapers.

I'm wondering why it took eleven days to find his car. Must have been left in a particularly remote area.

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BBM :goodpost: Wado. I am Shawnee, Choctaw and Welsh and I like the phrases American Indian, Indian or sister.

The fact that his vehicle was found is rather troubling. I wonder what the dynamics are between him, the mother of his children, and her husband. Was there some kind of argument that got out of control, perhaps? Could this have something to do with his job at the BIA?

I read on the FB page that BIA Law Enforcement and Land Services are taking over the search. I sure hope they find this young man.

BTW, I'm Indian too (Cherokee) Jacie and OKGranny. I'm with OKG...I've only known myself to be an Indian but I guess the PC term is "Native American".

I wonder how long Mike was gone before anyone realized something was wrong, and when was he reported missing? Was his car found because people were out looking for it, or did someone just call in and say, hey, there an abandoned car out here?

Haven't seen any indication of who might want to harm him. He seems to be well-liked and lots of people are worried about him, but no fingers are being pointed anywhere yet.

I wonder if mom also lives in Pryor? Not to sleuth her, but if they both live in Pryor, or the general area, the diaper trip would make more sense to me. "Hey, I can't leave the kids alone and don't want to pack them up. Can you run up to Billings and pick up some diapers for the kids?"

Was the car found abandoned between Billings and Pryor? Between Pryor and the mom's home? All of these things we don't have answers to yet, I guess. I hope they find him soon.

(Also, without dragging this too far off topic, the missing persons report says "American Indian". However, I'm about as white as they come so I'm not going to say which is more correct. I think either is acceptable in terms of being PC.)

I haven't found where anyone but Mike lives for sure.
I have seen Crow Agency mentioned for the new husband.
Also, Mike isn't friends with the kids mother or her new husband on facebook, for what that's worth.

On the map it tells me Crow Agency is about 2 hours from Pryor and Billings is between the two.
Is there not a closer place to get diapers than Billings?
Or maybe he went that way because he WAS dropping them off?

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...DiY-SlFi1PPN9A3UzGFHmBBnYGx-Q&t=h&mra=ls&z=10

Locals, did that map come up correctly?

OkieGranny said:

I'm a Cherokee and I've been an Indian all my life, lol. This Native American stuff, geez, anyone born in this country is a native American, so it's a meaningless label, really. JMO.

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Honestly, I agree with you. I'm black, but I'm not African American. I'm just an American who happens to be black. Cheers to you Granny!

Saw this come across my FB page. He has been missing for quite awhile now and I am really worried! He is really responsible for his age and the fact he was seen buying the thing he needed like he said makes me feel really nervous that someone did something to him. They checked the tape so I am guessing they checked all tapes nearby. His kids need him! Come home Mike!

I was looking up his FB page that was provided and noticed he brought up a brother who had passed away. I hope he is found soon. No more tragedies!

Someone must have known Mike's plans. Surely it's not a routine thing for LE to check the nearest WalMart's security video for every missing person, especially when the nearest WalMart is an hour away.

Found this article from July 2012:

Native Firefighters Confront Inferno

He is crew chief of the 20-member Big Horn Initial Attack team from Crow Agency, which has fought the Waldo Canyon fire west of Colorado Springs in the Rocky Mountain foothills since mid-week, when the blaze threatened to spiral out of control.

The wildfire, currently more than half contained, killed two people, destroyed some 346 homes and caused thousands to be evacuated from mountain homes and the exurbs. Its cause is under investigation.

TyLynn Left Hand is knowledgeable in the firefighting craft, but she let her crew chief-father do most of the talking when they were interviewed during a break on July 1. Others of the team from Crow Agency, including Mike Plain Bull, 21, and Archie Flat Lip, 34, listened in the shade of a pine tree.

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MsFacetious said:

I haven't found where anyone but Mike lives for sure.
I have seen Crow Agency mentioned for the new husband.
Also, Mike isn't friends with the kids mother or her new husband on facebook, for what that's worth.

On the map it tells me Crow Agency is about 2 hours from Pryor and Billings is between the two.
Is there not a closer place to get diapers than Billings?
Or maybe he went that way because he WAS dropping them off?

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...DiY-SlFi1PPN9A3UzGFHmBBnYGx-Q&t=h&mra=ls&z=10

Locals, did that map come up correctly?

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Honestly, Billings is probably the closest diaper-getting location.

If he was going to go to Crow Agency after getting the diapers, the location that his car was abandoned wouldn't make sense. It's back down the route to Pryor, or even past Pryor. There is a different route to Crow Agency from Pryor, where his car was found.

If I'm interpreting the location of the car correctly, the only scenario that makes sense to me is: Pryor to Billings to pick up diapers - Billings to CA to drop them off (if we have that location correct) - CA directly to Pryor to go home.

Here's my updated map with the routes added - https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zSOXr2WUMk3o.kcNyM5hjRK7k

I have a definite theory and gut instinct in this case.
I hope I'm wrong and Mike just took off for a while.
But I certainly hope people's alibis have been investigated. lease:

Were the diapers in the car when it was located? Who knew he was going to get diapers?

MsFacetious said:

I have a definite theory and gut instinct in this case.
I hope I'm wrong and Mike just took off for a while.
But I certainly hope people's alibis have been investigated. lease:

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you think he was set up? lured out of the house on the premise that diapers were needed?

LadyL said:

you think he was set up? lured out of the house on the premise that diapers were needed?

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I just have my suspicions on what happened after he left the house.
Maybe diapers were really needed. That wouldn't prevent someone from intercepting him.
Something stinks here. :twocents:

His car was found in working order so I assuming no damage to the vehicle from an accident or was he possibly run off the road where the car was found? I am sure he has a cell phone. Wonder who he talked to last? Did he plan to meet someone there? Did someone flag him down? Wish we knew more!

wantjustice said:

His car was found in working order so I assuming no damage to the vehicle from an accident or was he possibly run off the road where the car was found? I am sure he has a cell phone. Wonder who he talked to last? Did he plan to meet someone there? Did someone flag him down? Wish we knew more!

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BBM In our part of the country, ND, MT, SD, WY, there are areas of no or spotty cell coverage because of remoteness. This is especially true on and near reservations. Even if he had a cell, he may have been in an area with no coverage, unable to call if he was in trouble.

http://www.cellreception.com/coverage/mt/billings/page1.html

Pryor's population was only 618 in the 2010 census, but a certain percentage of those 618 souls would certainly be babies or toddlers who were not yet potty trained. Pryor is also ridiculously remote, an hour's drive or more from anywhere that has gas stations and grocery stores, which leads me to believe that there must be some place in Pryor to buy gas and food. And, if you can buy gas and food there, then surely you can also buy diapers.

Well, color me gobsmacked, but one of those Google Maps cars with the little orb camera on top apparently made its way to Pryor, because I was able to travel around most of the town on street view and found the Pryor Self Service at the corner of Mak Pua Avenue and the Pryor-Saint Xavier Highway. It has a single gas pump in front of a large white building with what looks like one of those freezer units you see outside of convenience stores where they keep bagged ice. I betcha you can buy diapers in there.

So why was Mike in Billings buying diapers? Maybe he didn't go to Billings for the purpose of buying diapers. Maybe he had other business there and decided to buy diapers at WalMart while he was in town because they're surely cheaper there than they are at the Pryor Self Service.

Do we know for sure where his children are living? Googling Mike's name pulled up birth records of his kids in the Billings newspaper, and from those it appears that their mother and Mike were living in Pryor when they were still a couple. I don't know where she and the kids are now. Did she move to Crow Agency to be with the new BF/husband, or did he move to Pryor to be with her? Or did they move to Billings, or to some other town in the area? It would be helpful to know where Mike would be heading, if he was going to visit his children.

I measured eight miles east of Pryor on Google Earth; Mike's car was found somewhere in the area of the blue markers, and probably fairly close to the Pryor-Saint Xavier Highway; it's pretty rugged out there to be driving very far off-road without 4-wheel-drive.

Jacie Estes said:

BBM In our part of the country, ND, MT, SD, WY, there are areas of no or spotty cell coverage because of remoteness. This is especially true on and near reservations. Even if he had a cell, he may have been in an area with no coverage, unable to call if he was in trouble.

http://www.cellreception.com/coverage/mt/billings/page1.html

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Very true. The area I live has spotty coverage when you start heading out into smaller towns or out in the mountains. He may have tried to call but couldn't . I was more wondering about his last seen location at the Walmart in Billings. This was more the area I was thinking he would have received a call to maybe lure him out. Or maybe he called up some friends in Billings to see them since he was in town. I had some friends that used to live in a really small town. Every time they'd hit our town, their supply town for groceries etc., they would call their friends to let them know they were in town to hang out. They lived about an hour or so out. I am sure Police checked records first. It seems with these missing cases they don't release very much info about calls, etc.

I wish we knew what time he left, if he arrived to the store on time. I am glad they checked store cameras. I wish we knew if they checked in others. I also thought that his car could be placed where it was found. I wonder if he went to Billings to get gas too. Maybe just half a tank since darn gas is so expensive now! Since his last location was in Billings, I am hoping that they did a good job of showing his face and story all over Billings? I also hope they checked nearby gas stations for camera surveillance. He almost made it home and had enough gas so it is so strange. I would think since nothing has been found that getting some flyers put up in Billings would be a great idea. I almost beginning to think that what ever happened to him happened in Billings and someone placed his car near his town. These missing cases make me so sad! Prayers for his family and hope 2014 will bring some much needed answers!