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

[Syxanthi]

It's a shame the dogs weren't the first thing out. I am a bit bias but this was one of only a few cases where getting them out straight away could have made a difference..

I am afraid I have to hold my hands up to being pretty ignorant with regards to tribal sovereignty, so far all I can make out is that the two agencies involved. FBI and the Crow nations own Investigative force have different ideas on what went down. Is this a fair comment?
Sorry I have come to this one a little late and i am only slowly catching up and the politics has me in knots.

 

[Dave F.]

It's a shame the dogs weren't the first thing out. I am a bit bias but this was one of only a few cases where getting them out straight away could have made a difference..

I am afraid I have to hold my hands up to being pretty ignorant with regards to tribal sovereignty, so far all I can make out is that the two agencies involved. FBI and the Crow nations own Investigative force have different ideas on what went down. Is this a fair comment?
Sorry I have come to this one a little late and i am only slowly catching up and the politics has me in knots.

It IS fair to say that the spokespeople for different entities have very different opinions on what happened. This is Montana, people speak their mind, always. When they meet to do a job, the differences go away very quickly and they get it done. IMO

 

[carbuff]

@Dave F. I'll add my voice to the crowd: do report it. Even if they're well aware of the place, that doesn't mean they recognized it in the video. The worst is they say, "Yeah, we already figured that out."

 

[Cryptic]

I am afraid I have to hold my hands up to being pretty ignorant with regards to tribal sovereignty

From my limited experience many years ago, tribal sovereignty takes two forms:
- Legal sovereignty
- " Customary practices"

The legal sovereignty is cut and dried. Customary practices, however, can be muddy and extend beyond what legal sovereignty technically is.

 

[rkendmar]

Earlier today I visited the Big Horn County Sheriff's official fb page (an acceptable source to TOS).
They were requesting that anyone who had been in the area in question on Jan. 1 and had seen anything, to contact the Sheriff's office.
Four individuals posted responses stating that they had passed the rest area in question during the time frame reported by the individuals in the van and they had seen no vehicles or people.
One of the individuals recommended that employees from a nearby hospital be questioned as some of them would be driving past the rest area also.
Just now I went back to the fb page and the request and responses have been removed.

 

[rkendmar]

@Cryptic
In this specific case, the disappearance did not occur within the boundaries of a reservation (I assume).
Does this mean that the Big Horn Sheriff's Department is responsible for the investigation or, because the individual involved is a tribal member, is LE of the specific tribe responsible for the investigation?

 

[Cryptic]

@Cryptic
In this specific case, the disappearance did not occur within the boundaries of a reservation (I assume).
Does this mean that the Big Horn Sheriff's Department is responsible for the investigation or, because the individual involved is a tribal member, is LE of the specific tribe responsible for the investigation?

In the legal sovereignty sense, off reservation crimes are the responsibility of local and state law enforcement.

In the customary practice sense, tribal police may investigate as a separate entity, but would lack arrest authority unless the perpetrator is on the reservation. Customary practice may also include the expectation that tribal police will be formally invited to participate in investigations of crimes that occurred locally and where the victim, the perpetrator, or both are known to be or suspected to be tribal members.

Likewise, federal law enforcement has joint jurisdiction with tribal police regarding crimes involving native victims or perpetrators occurring on reservations. But.... there may be alot of "customary practices" regarding who takes the lead role under what conditions in reservation crimes and when federal authorities do / do not get actively involved.

 

[Syxanthi]

Is this one of those cases where the outsiders say its an inside job, but the insiders say 'nope this was an outsider,' ?

 

[Ears]

Been reading ws quietly for months and this evil fate of the sisters is just too disturbing. Could it all be somehow linked? Could there be some creep invading their lives? Hidden violence from someone close to family? 11 year old girl had to have a very severe reason to take her life (if it was properly investigated at all, sorry, couldn't access info). Other two sisters were last seen near a road with some misterious driver involved.
I'm so sorry for the poor girls, prayers for Selena to live a long life.

 

[Dave F.]

Earlier today I visited the Big Horn County Sheriff's official fb page (an acceptable source to TOS).
They were requesting that anyone who had been in the area in question on Jan. 1 and had seen anything, to contact the Sheriff's office.
Four individuals posted responses stating that they had passed the rest area in question during the time frame reported by the individuals in the van and they had seen no vehicles or people.
One of the individuals recommended that employees from a nearby hospital be questioned as some of them would be driving past the rest area also.
Just now I went back to the fb page and the request and responses have been removed.

There are only two hospitals in the area, Big Horn Hospital in Hardin and Indian Health Service, Crow/Northern Cheyenne Unit in Crow Agency. Neither is near the Fly Creek Rest Stop. IMO

 

[Dave F.]

Been reading ws quietly for months and this evil fate of the sisters is just too disturbing. Could it all be somehow linked? Could there be some creep invading their lives? Hidden violence from someone close to family? 11 year old girl had to have a very severe reason to take her life (if it was properly investigated at all, sorry, couldn't access info). Other two sisters were last seen near a road with some misterious driver involved.
I'm so sorry for the poor girls, prayers for Selena to live a long life.

The family blamed bullying at school for the sister's suicide, and the school district made positive changes as a direct result. Alcohol was a factor in the hit-and-run death of the other sister. Because of that and several other incidents, the party area of the Rims known as "air beach" is more strictly patrolled and existing laws are enforced more rigorously. Alcohol was a factor in the brother's death, but he an adult and solely responsible. All three of them happened in Billings. IMO

 

[rkendmar]

There are only two hospitals in the area, Big Horn Hospital in Hardin and Indian Health Service, Crow/Northern Cheyenne Unit in Crow Agency. Neither is near the Fly Creek Rest Stop. IMO

I'm not local to the area but my understanding of their post was that hospital employees would be driving to work on I-90 and going past the rest stop. It was just a recommendation that LE may want to ask hospital employees if they noticed any activity at the closed rest stop when they were driving by on Jan. 1.

For example, if an employee lived in Billings the drive to the Crow Hospital would be ~1 hour, the drive to Hardin would be less...and they would pass the I-90 rest area on their way to either.

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Tester urges update, more FBI, BIA resources on day 15 of search for missing Hardin girl

More than two weeks after a 16-year-old Hardin girl disappeared, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester asked the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to commit all available resources to finding girl.

On Wednesday Tester, D-Mont., urged the FBI and BIA to commit all available resources to finding Selena.

Most interesting part of the article:

On Wednesday Undersheriff Eric Winburn said the search was active and not stopping. "We're following up on all the leads," he said, but he declined to say where the search was focused, or if law enforcement was continuing to search areas near the rest stop.

"We're searching where we think she is, but I can't tell you where," he said.

 

[Dave F.]

I'm not local to the area but my understanding of their post was that hospital employees would be driving to work on I-90 and going past the rest stop. It was just a recommendation that LE may want to ask hospital employees if they noticed any activity at the closed rest stop when they were driving by on Jan. 1.

For example, if an employee lived in Billings the drive to the Crow Hospital would be ~1 hour, the drive to Hardin would be less...and they would pass the I-90 rest area on their way to either.

It's possible. I have known teachers who lived in Billings and worked in the Hardin schools. My impression is that the Indian Health Service at Crow Agency employs "locums" a lot. I never really thought about where they might live.
Asking for specific input from any travelers is an excellent idea. Interstate 90 is a busy highway, so there must be some passerby witnesses. Even the folks who passed and saw nothing can verify some time parameters for LE by eliminating the time that they passed. IMO

 

[carbuff]

It's possible. I have known teachers who lived in Billings and worked in the Hardin schools. My impression is that the Indian Health Service at Crow Agency employs "locums" a lot. I never really thought about where they might live.
Asking for specific input from any travelers is an excellent idea. Interstate 90 is a busy highway, so there must be some passerby witnesses. Even the folks who passed and saw nothing can verify some time parameters for LE by eliminating the time that they passed. IMO

Somebody should put up some flyers in the area truck stops. That highway gets tons of through truckers and somebody might have seen something.

Or not seen something, it seems.

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

UPDATED: Selina Not Afraid Case Archive:
Selina Not Afraid -MT- by amanda reckonwith

Cellphone, try this, and scroll:
Selina (goes by Selena) Not Afraid

 

[crhedBngr]

Tester urges update, more FBI, BIA resources on day 15 of search for missing Hardin girl

More than two weeks after a 16-year-old Hardin girl disappeared, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester asked the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to commit all available resources to finding girl.

On Wednesday Tester, D-Mont., urged the FBI and BIA to commit all available resources to finding Selena.

Most interesting part of the article:

On Wednesday Undersheriff Eric Winburn said the search was active and not stopping. "We're following up on all the leads," he said, but he declined to say where the search was focused, or if law enforcement was continuing to search areas near the rest stop.

"We're searching where we think she is, but I can't tell you where," he said.

Interesting. Still hoping and praying she is found unharmed.

 

[Seajay]

Tester urges update, more FBI, BIA resources on day 15 of search for missing Hardin girl

More than two weeks after a 16-year-old Hardin girl disappeared, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester asked the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to commit all available resources to finding girl.

On Wednesday Tester, D-Mont., urged the FBI and BIA to commit all available resources to finding Selena.

Most interesting part of the article:

On Wednesday Undersheriff Eric Winburn said the search was active and not stopping. "We're following up on all the leads," he said, but he declined to say where the search was focused, or if law enforcement was continuing to search areas near the rest stop.

"We're searching where we think she is, but I can't tell you where," he said.

Well, that is definitely good to hear. I’m so glad this case is getting the news coverage needed for people to take notice of what is going on with these girls and women of indigenous tribes. It’s about time.

 

[mickey2942]

Well, that is definitely good to hear. I’m so glad this case is getting the news coverage needed for people to take notice of what is going on with these girls and women of indigenous tribes. It’s about time.

It is about time? The FBI has always followed up on any reported missing Native American women.

The problem has always been the lack of communication from the tribal police. They wouldn't refer the women as missing, assuming that they had gone off somewhere, or they didn't want FBI investigation into "family" situations.

 

[MichelleBlue]

I posted a description of the sc video last week & a link to the Heavy article which described (but not linked) the video & my posts were deleted. Strange.

Anyway, i hope is LE looking carefully at it. MOO foul play must be involved with SNA's disappearance.