June 12 2021 rbbm.
Annual walk held for student who vanished on Montana reservation in 2017
Ashley Loring HeavyrunnerFind Ashley Loring/HeavyRunner Facebook page
''Kimberly said she first knew something was wrong when she returned from a trip to Morocco in June 2017.
The plan had been for Kimberly to help Ashley move into an apartment in nearby Missoula when she returned from her trip. But when Kimberly returned, she was unable to reach her sister. Calls and messages to Ashley’s phone went unanswered.''
''Kimberly discovered that on that night,
Ashley had reached out to friends on Facebook messenger asking for a ride into town from her family’s ranch.
Later that same night, a short video was posted of a party that showed Ashley sitting on a couch talking and drinking with people. Kimberly, who was in Morocco that night, told Dateline she remembers messaging her sister, who asked for money, and Kimberly asked her if she was OK. Ashley replied she was.
Kimberly and Ashley’s close-knit family thought maybe she had lost her phone or was visiting a friend, but when their father was hospitalized for liver failure, and there was still no word from Ashley, they became concerned.
Ashley’s mother, Loxie Loring, told Dateline she still remembers the last thing she said to Ashley before her disappearance.
“I went into her room, and I told her 'I love you, Ashley,'” Loxie said. “And those words, I’ll cherish forever.”
Ashley’s family went to Blackfeet Law Enforcement for help, and a search was launched that lasted about three days, Kimberly said. Two months passed before the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) got involved in the case.
Her family began their own search efforts and just
two weeks after Ashley was last seen, the family received a tip. Someone had seen a young woman running from a vehicle on U.S. Highway 89 on the reservation the night Ashley disappeared.
Kimberly said they gathered to search the area, which she described as being desolate. During the search, at the northern edge of the reservation,
Kimberly and a family friend discovered a tattered sweater and a pair of red-stained boots. The family is certain that the items belong to Ashley, adding that the sweater was identified by an eyewitness who told the family it was the same as the sweater Ashley was wearing night she disappeared.
Kimberly told Dateline that the sweater and boots were handed over to law enforcement for DNA testing, but added they have still not received any results.''