Found Deceased MT - Selina (Selena) Not Afraid, 16, I-90 rest area between Billings & Hardin, 1 Jan 2020

[AmandaReckonwith]

Selena's Case Archive:

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[imstilla.grandma]

Few law enforcement officers were willing to appear in this documentary. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and FBI have a no media policy for unsolved cases, and the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office seems to have a standard fellow-cop bro code. But the guy that shows up the most is former Undersheriff Eric Winburn, who was relieved of his position months after Selena Not Afraid’s body was found. (Her dad was appointed Undersheriff next, so … there’s that.) At the time of his interview, Winburn had retired comfortably to Idaho, and had no fear of retribution from current Sheriff’s Office employees. He has a lot to say about his perceptions of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne communities—that they don’t take good care of their kids, that they’re eager to blame some “white boogeyman” for bad things that happen to their loved ones—and they’re pretty classic sweeping generalizations one might expect from a white cop from a majority white area where the sentiment surrounding Natives is not great. But hey, he was willing to speak. Cool. If this show seems one-sided, its villains edited to appear almost cartoonish, that’s a fair criticism. But if these dudes aren’t willing to speak for themselves here, maybe that’s on them.

As the episodes unfold, family members take up activist roles, hosting rallies and maintaining as much media attention as possible for the missing and murdered women they loved. Kaysera Stops Pretty Places’ grandmother Yolanda Fraser organized various demonstrations in the area, and Selena Not Afraid’s aunt, Cheryl Horn, presumably the last family member to have spoken to Selena before her death (dismissed as craving “her 15 minutes of fame” by former Undersheriff Winburn) hosted search party volunteers at the rest stop where her niece was last seen.

Murder In Big Horn review: True-crime docuseries spotlights a tragic pattern

Murder In Big Horn sheds light on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in the greater Bighorn County area of Montana, a stretch that includes Billings as well as the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations. In these cases, women disappear, jurisdiction is muddied, law...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Cryptic]

He has a lot to say about his perceptions of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne communities—that they don’t take good care of their kids, that they’re eager to blame some “white boogeyman” for bad things that happen to their loved ones- and they’re pretty classic sweeping generalizations

I agree, the officer is probably not to win any community awards for sensitivity.

At the same time, one can be very unsensitive, yet also provide brutal, but accurate assesments about an athletes ability to compete at a certain level, a budding actresses potential, a start up companies chance of success, or..... where certain criminal perpetrators are likely to be found.

In the end, statistically the most dangerous threat to a young black male is another young black male. The most dangerous statistical threat to young Scottish males in say, Glasgow is not a violently inclined immigrant- its a young Scottish male.

Likewise, I am guessing that statistically, the most dangerous threat to native American women on reservation comes from native American males.

Native American women not only have the statistics to contend with, but they also need to contend with their own people's sovereignty to contend with. As my non native Puerto Rican friend tells me, sovereignty is not always managed well.

Mismanaged sovereignty can create "systems" where some matter alot more than others. Once systems are created, that same sovereign status makes them very hard to dismantle.

 

[mickey2942]

<modsnip - quoted post removed>
<modsnip> Crimes that occur on sovereign nations, above misdemeanors are under the purview of the FBI. This has been in effect for over 30 years.

FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs Sign Agreement to Improve Law Enforcement in Indian Country

During remarks at the 2022 White House Tribal Nations Summit today, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced that the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) signed an agreement to establish guidelines to provide for the effective and efficient administration of criminal investigations...

www.justice.gov

 

[Zella]

<modsnip> Crimes that occur on sovereign nations, above misdemeanors are under the purview of the FBI. This has been in effect for over 30 years.

FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs Sign Agreement to Improve Law Enforcement in Indian Country

During remarks at the 2022 White House Tribal Nations Summit today, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced that the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) signed an agreement to establish guidelines to provide for the effective and efficient administration of criminal investigations...

www.justice.gov

<modsnip> Assaults on Native women aren't prosecutable in TRIBAL court in many places, and federal jurisdiction doesn't always lead to prosecution. The issue then is a lot of victims feel like they have no route to justice.

Murdered and missing Native American women challenge police and courts

This report is part of the “Hate in America“ project produced by the Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative, a national investigative reporting project by top college journalism students and recent graduates from across the country and headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and...

publicintegrity.org

Native American women still have the highest rates of rape and assault

US Indigenous women face high rates of sexual violence – with little recourse

Amnesty International calls for US to restore tribal jurisdiction over crimes on Native lands, where nearly one in three women have been raped

www.theguardian.com

<modsnip - no link for statement made as fact>

 

[mickey2942]

Selena Not Afraid went missing while in the company of friends from the reservation.

Investigation ongoing into Selena Not Afraid's death one year later

One year after she was reported missing, Selena Not Afraid's family might be closer to getting some closure and finding out exactly what led to her death.

www.kulr8.com

Mildred Old Crow, went missing while in custody of Native American guardians on the Crow reservation.

Two women convicted of charges connected to 8-year-old's disappearance

CROW AGENCY - Less than two months after a child's body was discovered on Crow Reservation, two women are convicted in tribal court of charges in connection to the disappearance

www.kulr8.com

Arden Pepion went missing while in custody of her uncle, on the Blackfoot reservation.

MMIP: Remembering Arden Pepion

Just over a year ago, then three-year-old Arden Pepion disappeared while under the care of her uncle near Joe Show East Road off of US Highway 89.

www.krtv.com

Ashley Heavy Runner, disappeared on Blackfoot reservation. Ashley Loring Heavyrunner Wanted to Help Find Missing Indigenous Women — Then She Disappeared

 

[Cryptic]

It's been a longstanding complaint about offenders from other backgrounds coming to or living on reservations and committing crimes and then being immune from prosecution from tribal jurisdictions.

Tribal police have jurisdiction over cases on a Reservation where either the perpetrator or the victim is native American.

<modsnip> They are capable of same level of criminality and the same level of law abiding behavior as any other group of humans.

This fact is reflected by the cases linked on this thread:

Selena Not Afraid was not victimized by outsiders. The people suspected of being behind the disappearance of the 8 year old child are both tribal members. Arden Peion's uncle is likely a tribal member. Likewise, Ashely Heavy Runner was known to have contact with criminals from The Blackfeet nation.

The above reflects a pattern that is, not surprisingly, similar to every other groups of humans: Crime victims are most likely victimized by other members of their own ethnicity, or socio economic back ground. <modsnip>

 

[Zella]

Tribal police have jurisdiction over any case occurring on a Reservation where either the perpetrator or the victim is native American.

<modsnip> They are capable of same level of criminality and the same level of law abiding behavior as any other group of humans.

This fact is reflected by the cases linked on this thread. Selena Not Afraid was not victimized by outsiders. The people suspected of being behind the disappearance of the 8 year old child are both tribal members. Arden Peion's uncle is likely a tribal member. Likewise, Ashely Heavy Runner was known to have contact with criminals from The Blackfeet nation.

The above reflects a pattern that is, not surprisingly, similar to every other groups of humans: Crime victims are most likely victimized by other members of their own ethnicity, or socio economic back ground.
<modsnip>

<modsnip> I'm merely stating facts that are repeated in numerous studies that Native American women are the exception to the pattern about people being victimized most frequently by their own race. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, and I never once said that it didn't, so I'm baffled as to why that's the counterargument being used here by multiple people.

<modsnip - no link from an approved source>

 

[TwinkieDefense]

Jan 26, 2024 update

MMIP investigations across Montana improve in years after Selena Not Afraid's case

BILLINGS, Mt: This week marks the four year anniversary of the discovery of 16-year-old Selena Not Afraid's body three weeks after she went missing in 2020.

www.kulr8.com

[…]

"A lot of people are going in the prevention direction where they are addressing issues at the root causes. At the academic level, Rocky Mountain College and MSUB have made attempts to support Indigenous students far more than what I've seen in the past. The schools here are engaged in terms of learning about the crisis. There are pushes from various industries regarding the crisis which I do see happening daily here in Billings,” explained Sleeper.

[…]