Gabriella Angotti-Jones / The New York Times File (2021)
Participants march in 2021 on the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe Reservation, a 35,000-acre tract of land along the Nevada-Oregon border off U.S. 95 with a population of about 400. Tribal officials say a lack of media coverage on Indigenous women and girls going missing perpetuates a problem that has long existed on Indian lands across the United States, including in Northern Nevada.
Monday, March 6, 2023 | 5:43 p.m.
Missing Indigenous people in Nevada
Karianna John was overcome with emotion before she could tell the Assembly Judiciary Committee why she supports a bill to allow any police officer in Nevada to accept a report of a missing Indigenous person.
She was prepared to speak to lawmakers Monday with a handprint painted over her mouth, the emblem for missing and murdered Indigenous women, and a powwow junior princess crown pinned to her hair above her twinned braids. All she could get out was a greeting, and that she is 9 years old, before her adult mentor from the youth council for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony stepped in for her.
“Even if they don't have words to say, these tears are very powerful, and they really hold it sacred to them,” said Robin Eagle, as she and another young woman comforted the girl with auntlike warmth.
Assemblywoman Shea Backus, a Las Vegas Democrat and an enrolled member of the Eastern Cherokee, is sponsoring Assembly Bill 125, which would require all law enforcement in Nevada, including nontribal police, to take reports of Indigenous people who go missing from a Nevada reservation under suspicious circumstances. Police would enter the details into existing national databases, allowing any other officer who might make contact with that person to know that they've been reported missing.
At the Monday hearing, the bill’s first, Backus noted that going missing is not itself a crime, and her bill respects tribal sovereignty. If passed into law, the reporting requirement wouldn’t seek nontribal police to enter reservations to take over an investigation, but to get the basics into official national databases to get more eyes looking out for missing persons. Time is of the essence with missing persons, and tribal resources can be limited and patchwork, Backus said.
Not all tribes have police departments, and not all tribal police departments have access to databases like the FBI's National Crime Information Center, so they will rely on the FBI or the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs for law enforcement. The BIA has a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person’s Unit, but the unit only has one dedicated agent to cover Nevada along with two neighboring states. In any event, jurisdictional issues can be tricky.
“The Department of Interior openly recognizes (that) Native American and Alaska Native communities have struggled with high rates of assault, abduction and murder of women” especially, Backus said. But the federal government also acknowledges that precise data on missing and murdered Indigenous people is unreliable, she said. Oftentimes, even their race is misclassified, she added.
Teresa Melendez, speaking on behalf of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley, said that accurate data is crucial. It is validation and visibility; invisibility is a form of racism, she said.
“As young people, as women in our communities, you grow up knowing that the chances of crimes against you are so much higher than other folks,” she told lawmakers.
Dejalyne Davis knows.
Her pregnant mother, Amanda, and her unborn brother, Ezra, both died in 2020 when Amanda Davis’ boyfriend allegedly stabbed her to death inside a home in Nixon, the seat of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe reservation.
Several of Dejalyne’s teammates from the basketball team at Pyramid Lake High School joined her in Carson City, 75 miles from the reservation, and stood behind her wearing ribbon skirts after she gave her testimony to the committee.
“We're asking our state legislators to help close the loopholes to access for justice for Native people,” Dejalyne said.
James Phoenix supports the bill both as the chairman of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and as a retired Reno Police officer. He said it raises awareness and finds a solution for gaps in jurisdictions.
“This is very sensitive to our people," Phoenix said. "Your commitment to our people today in accepting this bill and approving it would be appreciated.”
Misty Stewart works with Indigenous communities as the outreach coordinator for the Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. She said lack of communication between tribal and off-reservation law enforcement further burdens hurting Natives.
“While I get to celebrate the resiliency and growth, I also observe undeniable decades of systemic abuse and neglect that they have experienced and the generational trauma that follows,” Stewart said. “This measure is long overdue.”
