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

[Syxanthi]

Still following disheartening to see such little progress. Let's keep hoping something gives.

 

[TexLil]

Rambling post alert.

Pure speculation... Wondering if the adult woman in the car was threatened to not share details of what happened to Selina? Just trying to think of how things could have happened based on the information we've heard so far. I understand that much of the information could be untrue but my mind won't let this case go so here goes.

Selina, the adult woman and four men/young men are in the vehicle. There's drinking going on or drugs or both and it's possibly gone on earlier in the day, too. One of the men decides they want to kidnap Selina but don't need the adult woman. (perhaps the adult woman was a cover initially so that others would feel comfortable letting Selina into the car). So they create this story that both females were let go at the rest stop and threaten the adult woman to stick with the story that Selina was also dropped off. Then they call the mom and they go ahead with their plan with Selina. Perhaps the adult woman knows enough about these men to know she is in true danger so she hasn't said anything ? Maybe Selina is still alive and the four men are holding her?

MOO

 

[Dave F.]

Thank you for your description of the area. I've never been to Montana, but could picture the lay of the land in your words. This is so helpful in understanding what searchers are up against; a great vastness with potential hazards and opportunities for missed clues at every turn. Time is of the essence in missing persons cases, and it sounds as though any little thing (weather, gullys, washouts, critters, etc.) could hamper the investigation.

Here is another map of the area near the rest stop. This one comes from the Montana State Library, Geographic Information Section. I believe their original source is the United States Geographical Survey (USGS). I have inserted a bright green arrow to show the approximate path Selena was described as walking away along, and have put markers for Interstate 90 and Old Hardin Road.
One item of note is that the brown lines are elevation at ten foot intervals. There is only 30 foot variation in elevation in the entire map. It's basically flat country, with very shallow washes. Another noteworthy thing is that her general path would have taken her closer to Fly Creek road than Old Hardin Road, at one point. Fly Creek Road is a gray vertical line in the map. The railroad bed, marked with a cross-hatched black line, runs straight to Hardin between the roads. If Selena headed straight east toward it, that would have been the most comfortable and securest walk to Hardin. IMO
All of that area has been searched well, though. So, the question for searchers has become: Where was she intercepted, and where was she taken?
http://ftp.geoinfo.msl.mt.gov/Documents/Maps/Collections/100K_PublicLand/2016/100Kpub2016_HARDIN.pdf

 

[Dave F.]

Rambling post alert.

Pure speculation... Wondering if the adult woman in the car was threatened to not share details of what happened to Selina? Just trying to think of how things could have happened based on the information we've heard so far. I understand that much of the information could be untrue but my mind won't let this case go so here goes.

Selina, the adult woman and four men/young men are in the vehicle. There's drinking going on or drugs or both and it's possibly gone on earlier in the day, too. One of the men decides they want to kidnap Selina but don't need the adult woman. (perhaps the adult woman was a cover initially so that others would feel comfortable letting Selina into the car). So they create this story that both females were let go at the rest stop and threaten the adult woman to stick with the story that Selina was also dropped off. Then they call the mom and they go ahead with their plan with Selina. Perhaps the adult woman knows enough about these men to know she is in true danger so she hasn't said anything ? Maybe Selina is still alive and the four men are holding her?

MOO

You asked:
"Pure speculation... Wondering if the adult woman in the car was threatened to not share details of what happened to Selina?"
My answer is:
It is fairly common gossip in the area that ALL of the occupants of the van have received random death threats. They are not being seen in public, period.
With that said, I would like to make a general comment that in this area, estimates of the number of driver's without current liability insurance run higher than sixty percent. The fine is $350 to $475 for a first offense, and upward for following offenses. If a young single driver person has a recent DUI, liability insurance would run in the $1000 per month range. It is not infrequent to "borrow" current license tags (the fine is not large, but the car will not be allowed to move from the point of citation until it has proper tags), and there are a high number of people who drive without a valid driver's license (penaities vary from a stiff fine to extended jail time). The area seems to produce a high number of young people sentenced to prison for drug or alcohol related crimes, or are on parole. Proof of even socializing with people in the presence of open alcohol is usually cause for immediate revocation of parole. We have no information that directly indicates any of those conditions existed in that van............but I state them to show that there could be many reasons why differing stories were told to LE (which is ALL we really know for fact).
JMO

 

[Hulklogan406]

JMO. But if I were to make a guess as to what happened and the only way my brain can put it together right now is that while partying Selena drank and or ingested too much of a substance either still in Billings or while riding in the van. The other “adult” occupants in the van/party knew they would likely be held responsible for what happened to her as a minor in their presence and they came up with the whole story and left the other woman at the rest stop as a part of the cover up. And at some point the men hid or disposed of her body . Like I said, Just my opinion and the only way my brain can make sense of any of it. I also live in Montana (western) but live 20 min from the Blackfoot reservation and know all too well the sad state of many of these places. I do hope I am wrong though and she is somehow found safe.

 

[Janeumayer]

Hadn’t seen this before: there was one more woman with them. So. two men and a woman drove away leaving them at the rest stop.

’Numerous news outlets have reported that the following morning, Not Afraid caught a ride with two men and two women, who were on their way back to Hardin.‘

Search continues for Hardin girl as community rallies around the family

 

[carbuff]

There are rumors (and rumors only) that a drug dazed, scratched up woman was found in a ditch beside Sugar Factory Road, which is north of Hardin and not close to Interstate 90, just after sunup on January 1, 2020. LE has not confirmed or denied these rumors, to my knowledge. Even if there is substance to it, she was found at least seven hours before the van left Selena at the rest stop.

I believe the reports that the other female in the van got back in it, and left with it. My guess is that SHE is the person who called to have someone drive out to the rest stop and get Selena. "She" knew Selena's family and would be likely to know someone that had the mother's cell phone number. Selena's relatives are the source of the rumor that the other female had fled to the western part of the state in the company of her own mother. I have no way of judging the validity of that.

The area is rolling grassland. The hills are fairly high, but not steep. There are the beds of intermittent streams, which are called "washouts". The most common term for a low area between higher areas is "coulee". When I first came to southern Montana 52 years ago, I would call one a "gully" and people would look at me and ask: "Where are you from?" When I traveled into the northwestern part of the state, I could still get away with saying "gully". The basic ecology is abundant wild gramma grass and prairie sage holding a very thin layer of topsoil over a deep layer of pure clay. The ground doesn't erode much, but in winter it will freeze down to about 6 to 7 feet deep. This has been a mild winter so far so it's probably less right now, but it's still frozen. This particular area is called "greasy grass country". The gramma grass (which is the "bent grass" preferred for the roughs of golf courses) takes on a particularly slick texture that makes for excellent cattle pasture but is not particularly pleasant to walk on. There is abundant wildlife, of all sizes. They are prairie animals, so they are either hibernating, or moving at night and bedding down in daylight. My guess is that nighttime would be perfect for a heat detector flyover because it would be easier to identify animal readings.

My opinion is that Selena followed a washout southeastward away from the rest stop, because it was the easiest terrain to walk on. If she followed it all the way, she would have emerged on Old Hardin Road in one to one and a half hours. More likely, she veered eastward out of the washout and across greasy grass to Fly Creek Road, which is paved. Unless some news breaks of finding a trace of her journey out there is the washout of grasslands, my opinion is that she got picked up on Fly Creek Road, a short time after the van departed the rest stop she had left behind.
All of this is my opinion only. IMO

Ahah. I had forgotten about coulees. I'm from Bozeman and I usually say gully or wash. I might use coulee for something larger than a gully or ditch.

That bentgrass stuff has edges like razors. If you walk through it in a skirt or shirt, you will be scratched up.

 

[carbuff]

<snipped by CB>

I am guessing, not. Most folks, just don't understand that even a drunk gal has the right to say, "no". The "rape culture" is entrenched in Montana.

Yes, this is so true. I left about 40 years ago and when I go back to visit family, it seems like maybe it's even gotten worse rather than better. Scary.

 

[Dave F.]

Yes, this is so true. I left about 40 years ago and when I go back to visit family, it seems like maybe it's even gotten worse rather than better. Scary.

It looks like the Billings Police Department visited the New Year's Eve Party twice, at 3:47 am and at 4:14 am to investigate DISTURBANCE complaints. Music too loud, perhaps?
CrimeMapping.com - Helping You Build a Safer Community

 

[mickey2942]

Yes, this is so true. I left about 40 years ago and when I go back to visit family, it seems like maybe it's even gotten worse rather than better. Scary.

I personally believe that the "blame the victim" mentality is very much an issue in a lot of situations. And people could have been involved in something similar, but the victim chose to not to say anything.

This is pure speculation, but common in communities in Montana. Which is why, INMO, the same thing happens over and over again. Because no one speaks out.

 

[carbuff]

I personally believe that the "blame the victim" mentality is very much an issue in a lot of situations. And people could have been involved in something similar, but the victim chose to not to say anything.

This is pure speculation, but common in communities in Montana. Which is why, INMO, the same thing happens over and over again. Because no one speaks out.

When I was in high school in Bozeman, a couple of girls from a neighboring school went to a dance with a couple of guys I knew. They left early to go hang out at a kegger. They all got drunk. The girls passed out, woke up in the morning naked, raped, and half frozen, and had to walk a mile without shoes down a logging road until they flagged down a passing logging truck to give them a ride back to town (this was before cell phones). Lucky they didn't freeze to death overnight--everybody just left them there.

Nobody thought anything of it. It was just a funny story people told about their high school days. Even the girls told it as a joke, though I doubt if that's how they felt inside.

It was just the way things were.

 

[mickey2942]

When I was in high school in Bozeman, a couple of girls from a neighboring school went to a dance with a couple of guys I knew. They left early to go hang out at a kegger. They all got drunk. The girls passed out, woke up in the morning naked, raped, and half frozen, and had to walk a mile without shoes down a logging road until they flagged down a passing logging truck to give them a ride back to town (this was before cell phones). Lucky they didn't freeze to death overnight--everybody just left them there.

Nobody thought anything of it. It was just a funny story people told about their high school days. Even the girls told it as a joke, though I doubt if that's how they felt inside.

It was just the way things were.

And, still are, in Montana.

 

[Spider92]

And, still are, in Montana.

That’s messed up.

 

[Jazzy5980]

Recent blog post from Missing and Murdered regarding Selena; podcast airing tonight at 9:00 pm MST. Selena’s family is steadfast in their position that the adults in the vehicle are responsible for her disappearance. At NO time have they ever claimed that the individual(s) in the purported green Subaru removed her from the rest area thereby attempting to shift blame from the adults Selena left Billings with.

Selena Not Afraid - Missing FB page is replete with up to date information. However, impossible to copy posts because it is a private page.

5 Things you should know about Selena Bell Not Afraid — The Missing & Murdered Podcast

 

[jaejae]

Here is a report about this case and other cases from The New York Times:

Rural Montana Had Already Lost Too Many Native Women. Then Selena Disappeared.

 

[HayLouise]

20.01.20:

Over the years, with little public attention, 27 women and girls have gone missing or been found dead in one rural Montana county. The show of support for the 28th, Selena Not Afraid, reveals how much things are changing.

Rural Montana Had Already Lost Too Many Native Women. Then Selena Disappeared.

NYT National News on Twitter

 

[HayLouise]

19.01.20:

Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid has now been missing for 18 days. My thoughts are with her family and entire community as they fight to bring her home. #MMIW #MMIWG

Community comes together to search for Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid missing from Montana rest area since New Year’s Day

Cora Neumann on Twitter

 

[HayLouise]

15.01.20:

Today there are about 15 law enforcement vehicles parked at the rest stop between Billings and Hardin to participate in a search for Selena Not Afraid

Officers are looking in 16° weather



Olivia Reingold on Twitter

 

[HayLouise]

15.01.20:

DOI Law Enforcement and Fire personnel are assisting in the search of a 16 y/o girl missing in south central Montana. Crow Tribal Member Selena Not Afraid has been missing since Jan 1. The @BLM_MTDKs is working closely with the BIA who is leading this investigation.
(BIA Photos)



BLMNational on Twitter

 

[HayLouise]

07.01.20:

Hardin High School students are wearing red today honoring Selena Not Afraid and other #MMIW

Tuesday, 1/7/20 marks the seventh day of her disappearance. #Hope4Sal

(video)

Audrey Mayer on Twitter