LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Senators Hear of Native Women’s ‘Silent Crisis’
By MARY HUDETZ
Associated Press
The sister of a missing Blackfeet woman in Montana expressed frustration today over law enforcement’s initial response to her loved one’s disappearance, telling U.S. senators that numerous Native American families are troubled by inadequate investigations into their missing persons cases.
The prepared testimony from Kimberly Loring was part of a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in Washington to examine what authorities call a “silent crisis” — the deaths and disappearance of hundreds of Native American women.
Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, said factors compounding the crisis include poor coordination among the multiple law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating crimes on Indian reservations. He and other senators also shared concerns over a lack of government data to measure the scope of a problem that has gained attention following the #MeToo movement, as well as years of legislative efforts to address the high rates of violence against Native American women.
“The loss is horrific,” said John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming. “That they are not represented in the data is also horrific.”
Ashley HeavyRunner Loring vanished in June 2017 at age 20, leaving her sister Kimberly Loring and others to suspect she was in danger or hurt — possibly even left in the mountains of her reservation near Glacier National Park. Loring recalled that despite these concerns, both Blackfeet tribal police and Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement seemed dismissive, saying two months into the search that, “Ashley is of age and can leave whenever she wants to.”
Loring also was critical of the BIA’s handling of evidence, saying agents failed to ensure a crime lab test was conducted on a stained sweater found early in the investigation and that witnesses believed belonged to HeavyRunner Loring.
A BIA spokeswoman did not immediately provide comment in response to Loring’s concerns. The FBI early this year became the lead law enforcement agency in the case.
“I am asking you to recognize that indigenous women matter, and the way our missing and murdered women cases are handled needs to be corrected,” Loring said. “We are going missing, we are being murdered. We are not being taken seriously.”
An Associated Press report this year found that Native Americans and Alaska Natives, who comprise less than a percentage point of the population, made up 1.8 percent of ongoing missing cases in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database — a figure the agency’s assistant director of criminal investigations cited Wednesday in prepared testimony.
Native women, who represent .4 percent of U.S. residents, accounted for more than 0.7 percent of the missing cases, or 633. Advocates say that figure likely represents an undercount.
In AP interviews earlier this year, multiple families — including HeavyRunner Loring’s — described feeling disappointed or dismissed after initially taking the cases of missing female relatives to police on their reservations.
“We all share the same experience when working with law enforcement,” Kimberly Loring said.
Patricia Alexander of Sitka, who co-chairs a taskforce on violence against women for the Tlingit and Haida tribes in Alaska, called on lawmakers to increase funding for crime prevention, victims’ services and data collection.
Amber Crotty from Window Rock, Ariz., left, a delegate of the Navajo Nation Council, and Sitka’s Patricia Alexander of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, right, exchange words of encouragement to each other before testifying at the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing today in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Charles Addington, who is the deputy director of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services, acknowledged before the committee that more coordination among law enforcement agencies is needed early in police investigations to solve missing persons’ cases.
He outlined a series of measures his agency has taken amid mounting concerns about missing women, starting with adding human trafficking courses for officers at the BIA-Indian Police Academy in Artesia, New Mexico.
Addington’s comments came amid pointed questions from lawmakers over his agencies’ handling of investigations.
“Where’s the problem? Is it with the BIA? Is it with the FBI? Is it with tribal law enforcement?” asked Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana. “Something is not happening that needs to be happening.”
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.