MAR 2, 2019
Native women make up high number of missing person reports
In this undated photo, TB cries while holding a portrait of her missing daughter Shacaiah Harding, in Montana. Native American women go missing at a vastly disproportionate rate than the general population in Montana. [LARRY MAYER/ THE BILLINGS GAZETTE VIA AP]
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“From her being in and out of our lives, it took us a while to say, ‘Hey, nobody’s heard from Shacaiah,’” her 25-year-old sister, SK, said recently. “We all got together and started looking for her. We made posters and posted them downtown and asked people. We got little tips from people, here and there. But it was never Shacaiah.”
On Aug. 20, 2018, Harding’s mother, TB, went downtown to the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office to file a missing person report. It would be one of the nearly 300 cases of missing Native American women and girls reported to law enforcement agencies in Montana last year.
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Harding, also known by her middle name “Blue,” remains listed as last seen or heard from six months ago. TB smiles when she remembers her daughter’s propensity for spontaneous dancing — no matter where she was.
“She had her own style,” TB said, smiling through tears. “She dressed the way she wanted to dress. She didn’t care what people thought. She didn’t care if people saw her singing and dancing, you know. ‘That’s me. If they don’t like it, they don’t get me.’
Her family members acknowledge their relationships with Harding had become strained by her increasingly erratic behavior. But in the months since her disappearance, fears about Harding’s safety have gripped her family, TB said.
“I don’t feel like she’s gone, like dead. I don’t feel that kind of . ” she said, trailing off. ” ... At first I didn’t want to believe it, I didn’t want to know the outcome. I wasn’t ready to find out, was that the end? But now I’m ready. I just want to find my baby.
“I know someone out there knows something.”
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Fritz disputes that the family has been “brushed off.” While he declined to provide any specifics on how the report was handled in the three months prior to his involvement in the case, Fritz said the sheriff’s office would have begun investigating the report immediately.
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Because Harding is a tribal member, Fritz said he also contacted the FBI to check out other places she may have wound up. (The FBI declined to comment.) Every time he attempts to reach the family members of a missing person, Fritz added, he leaves a number where they can reach him.
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For now, TB said she’ll keep sifting through the scant clues left behind in the wake of her daughter’s disappearance, while trying to stay hopeful as her family clings to the memories of Blue.
“It just seems unreal, just not even knowing. Some days you just wonder, is she hurt? Is she cold? . Is she hungry?” she said. “Every day.”
(Names changed to initials by me)
