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http://www.trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_962c46bd-1c31-5de8-a91b-a2368e806daf.html
RIVERTON -- The death of a 13-year-old girl on the Wind River Indian Reservation has shocked her family and friends and prompted an FBI investigation.
"She was always a good girl. She didn't deserve this," Vern Spoonhunter said Thursday, a day after the body of daughter Marisa was found outside a rural home near her hometown of Ethete.
No one is saying exactly how she died. The family doesn't know, FBI officials aren't talking, and the county coroner won't make a ruling until he receives autopsy results, which could take four to six weeks. Suicide has been ruled out.
The eighth-grader at Wyoming Indian Middle School had been missing for four days by the time she was found dead outside the home on Givens Road. That's about 15 miles from Great Plains Hall in Arapahoe -- the place where she was last seen Saturday night by friends, hanging out with a man, at a powwow.
Vern Spoonhunter said he and her mother, Bernadette, were not worried, at first, when she didn't come home after the powwow. They figured she'd gone home with a friend. By Monday when they hadn't been able to round her up, they called police, and by Wednesday, they were alerting the media.
It was that afternoon when they received the news, as they were passing out fliers with Marisa's photo. He said someone texted them with news that the body of a girl had been found on the reservation. They prayed it wasn't her as they drove to the area where the body was found, then walked forward with dread when they were asked to identify the body.
It was her, without a doubt, he said. She was wearing the coat they'd just bought her in Denver.
"It's shocking," he said. "She was a very pretty girl had a lot of friends played basketball and volleyball."
Also shocked were those at her school. Principal Pam Frederick said the students were receiving grief counseling and support from the community and surrounding towns, including Riverton. She said Riverton police sent over their victims' advocate.
Still, the fact she's gone hasn't really set in for the family, especially the girl's father.
"We're still waiting for her to walk through the door," he said.
And he wants answers.
FBI spokesman Dave Joly in Denver said the agency was sending extra investigators to assist its local agents in Lander. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Wind River Police Department are also participating in the investigation.
Fremont County Coroner Ed McAuslan said that while suicide has been ruled out, the death has not been determined as a homicide. All deaths are investigated as suspicious, he said.
The body was to be taken today to Loveland, Colo., for an autopsy to determine cause of death.
"Somebody knows something," Vern Spoonhunter said. "Please step up and help us."
Leslie Stratmoen is news director of KVOW/KTAK radio in Riverton.
RIVERTON -- The death of a 13-year-old girl on the Wind River Indian Reservation has shocked her family and friends and prompted an FBI investigation.
"She was always a good girl. She didn't deserve this," Vern Spoonhunter said Thursday, a day after the body of daughter Marisa was found outside a rural home near her hometown of Ethete.
No one is saying exactly how she died. The family doesn't know, FBI officials aren't talking, and the county coroner won't make a ruling until he receives autopsy results, which could take four to six weeks. Suicide has been ruled out.
The eighth-grader at Wyoming Indian Middle School had been missing for four days by the time she was found dead outside the home on Givens Road. That's about 15 miles from Great Plains Hall in Arapahoe -- the place where she was last seen Saturday night by friends, hanging out with a man, at a powwow.
Vern Spoonhunter said he and her mother, Bernadette, were not worried, at first, when she didn't come home after the powwow. They figured she'd gone home with a friend. By Monday when they hadn't been able to round her up, they called police, and by Wednesday, they were alerting the media.
It was that afternoon when they received the news, as they were passing out fliers with Marisa's photo. He said someone texted them with news that the body of a girl had been found on the reservation. They prayed it wasn't her as they drove to the area where the body was found, then walked forward with dread when they were asked to identify the body.
It was her, without a doubt, he said. She was wearing the coat they'd just bought her in Denver.
"It's shocking," he said. "She was a very pretty girl had a lot of friends played basketball and volleyball."
Also shocked were those at her school. Principal Pam Frederick said the students were receiving grief counseling and support from the community and surrounding towns, including Riverton. She said Riverton police sent over their victims' advocate.
Still, the fact she's gone hasn't really set in for the family, especially the girl's father.
"We're still waiting for her to walk through the door," he said.
And he wants answers.
FBI spokesman Dave Joly in Denver said the agency was sending extra investigators to assist its local agents in Lander. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Wind River Police Department are also participating in the investigation.
Fremont County Coroner Ed McAuslan said that while suicide has been ruled out, the death has not been determined as a homicide. All deaths are investigated as suspicious, he said.
The body was to be taken today to Loveland, Colo., for an autopsy to determine cause of death.
"Somebody knows something," Vern Spoonhunter said. "Please step up and help us."
Leslie Stratmoen is news director of KVOW/KTAK radio in Riverton.
