FEB 2, 2020
Family struggles after cousins go missing on Pine Ridge Reservation for more than a month
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"Oh my God, we're losing it. I cry every day," said Willene Kills Enemy, mother of Robert "RJ" Kills Enemy Jr. and aunt of Vincent "Stevie" Little Dog.
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RJ and Stevie were last seen around 11 p.m. on Dec. 27 north of Manderson after a police officer pulled up to them and a third person, said Robert Ecoffey, chief of the Oglala Sioux Tribe's Department of Public Safety (OST-DPS). The group took off running and the officer chased after them but eventually had to return for other calls for service. And while the third person made it to safety, RJ and Stevie have yet to be found despite widespread searches on foot and with dogs, horses, drones, ATVs, helicopters and planes across a 3,508-acre area.
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Both Steele and Willene say searchers have found RJ's hat and jacket (with his video game inside of the pocket) and Stevie's sweater and one of his shoes spread out across different locations. Photos of a jacket and hat sent to the Journal appear to match ones worn by RJ. Steele said searchers also found a plastic window cover with blood on it.
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RJ, 23, and Stevie, 25, "are really close with each other," Steele said.
He described Stevie, who lives eight miles north of Manderson, as a "really quiet kid" who likes to play basketball. He and his twin brother were raised by their grandmother after losing their parents.
RJ, who lives in Manderson, recently started a new job at a packing plant in Gordon, Nebraska, Steele said. He is a "loving father" who helps support his two-year-old-son.
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Willene said she tries not to cry in front of her other children and grandchildren but it's hard since this is the fourth missing-person case in their family.
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The cousins and Stevie's twin had been hanging out where Stevie lives the day they went missing, Willene said. She said a group of other people who didn't get along with the cousins stopped by the house and the cousins later started walking their familiar route to RJ's house. The third person walking with them was another one of their cousins, Steele said.
Willene said she's afraid the group was attacked by the people who stopped by the house.
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The cousins went missing the night of a storm that brought heavy snow, high winds and freezing temperatures, the news release says.
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These large-scale searches for the cousins have been suspended until warmer weather melts away a frozen creek, marshes and deep snow drifts, the news release says.
"It is impossible to declare these areas cleared" since we can't access them, the release says.
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The Oglala Sioux Tribe is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone who finds the missing men or shares information that leads to their location. ...
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. They really go through hell right now. Prayers for all of them.
