Found Deceased WA - Daisy Mae (Tallman) Heath, 29, Toppenish, 30 Aug 1987

[Tuck]

This case is not listed by any databases. Please add any additional information, or correct any erroneous details listed below.

Name - Daisy Mae Tallman

Last Seen - 10/29/1987

Missing From - Yakama Indian Reservation, Washington

Age - 29

Race - Native American

Sex - Female

Hair Color - Black

Eye Color - Brown

Height - 65

Weight - 185

Medical Details - Had previously given birth to a child.

Clothing - N/A

Circumstances - Few details are available surrounding the last sighting of the MP, who had been staying with family in the Toppenish area prior to her disappearance. Her keys and backpack were later found in the Soda Springs area, located in a remote part of the Yakama Indian Reservation. She was known to carry these items with her regularly, and to leave them at such an isolated location is considered out of character.

The MP was an athlete, who played basketball and baseball during high school. She also engaged in traditional artistic endeavours, well known for painting, beading and making pipes which she sold. Although in the past she had previously gone missing for days and weeks at a time, the period for which she has been missing to date is considered to be suspicious.

Remains were located on the Yakama Reservation in 2008, which investigators suspected belonged to the MP. However, as of 2018, her case is believed to remain unsolved, in accordance with coverage provided by the Yakima Herald. Seven years after she vanished, the MP was declared dead by the Yakima County Coroner’s Office, and the FBI lists her case as a suspected homicide.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

Here is an article which includes her.. ‘This is real’: First steps taken to count missing, murdered Yakama women and girls The first half deals with Yakama Indian Reservation history and then it delves into missing women from the reservation. There is a nice bit from a friend of Daisy's.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Opinion | Who are the missing Native women and how do we find them?

 

[sasha17]

Murdered, missing and mysterious deaths of Native girls and women on and around the Yakama Reservation and in urban areas

 

[JerseyGirl]

‘We have so many missing people’: Coroner tests remains found on Yakima River island as families wait, hope

 

[Murkywaters]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Daisy was staying with family in the White Swan of the Yakama Indian Reservation area at the time of her disappearance. Her keys and backpack were later found in the Closed Area of the reservation, known as Soda Springs, which is a remote part of the reservation. Daisy was last seen around the end of August, and was reported missing on 10/29/1987.

 

[Murkywaters]

Demographics
Missing Age: 29 Years
Current Age: 62 Years
First Name: Daisy
Middle Name: Mae
Last Name: Heath
Nickname/Alias: Daisy Tallman (mother's married name)
Sex: Female
Height: 5' 3" - 5' 4" (63 - 64 Inches)
Weight: 185 lbs
Race / Ethnicity: American Indian / Alaska Native

Circumstances
Date of Last Contact: August 30, 1987
NamUs Case Created: September 17, 2018
Last Known Location Map
Location: Toppenish, Washington
County: Yakima County
Circumstances of Disappearance: Daisy was staying with family in the White Swan of the Yakama Indian Reservation area at the time of her disappearance. Her keys and backpack were later found in the Closed Area of the reservation, known as Soda Springs, which is a remote part of the reservation. Daisy was last seen around the end of August, and was reported missing on 10/29/1987.

Physical Description
Hair Color: Black
Head Hair DescriptionL Hair was long and straight, extending to middle of back.
Body Hair Description --
Facial Hair Description --
Left Eye Color: Brown
Right Eye Color: Brown
Eye Description --
Distinctive Physical Features
Scar/mark: Scar on left arm from being struck by a vehicle as a child.

Clothing and Accessories
No Information Entered

 

[Murkywaters]

https://staging.washingtontimes.com...-joins-response-in-us-to-crimes-against-indi/

Patricia Whitefoot, whose sister disappeared in 1987 in an unsolved case, watched as Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill Thursday that directs the state police to study how to increase and improve criminal justice resources on these cases.

“As families, we simply seek justice and healing of the heart,” Whitefoot told lawmakers in written testimony last month. After Brown signed the bill, Whitefoot told a reporter her sister, Daisy Mae Heath Tallman, was 29 when she went missing.

She was Whitefoot’s youngest sister and lived with her in Washington state. She would be gone for long periods, fishing for salmon in traditional spots along the Columbia River that divides Washington from Oregon and visiting relatives on the Warm Springs reservation in Oregon. Then, in the autumn of 1987, she never returned to her home in White Swan, Washington.

“She was just a very self-reliant, self-sufficient individual who could take care of her business and what needed to be done, fiercely independent,” said Whitefoot, who wore a red dress — representing missing and murdered indigenous women — otter furs, shell jewelry and moccasins to the bill signing ceremony

 

[Murkywaters]

Results of FBI Analysis of Reservation Deaths Announced

Daisy is listed in the FBI report above detailing the disappearances or deaths of at least 16 women on the Yakama Indian Reservation between 1980 t0 1992.

 

[alb1on]

In 2008 skeletal remains which were thought may be those of Daisy Mae were found and subjected to DNA testing (this is referenced in the FBI link in #3 above). Interestingly there is an update in a Seattle Times story from 2019 at ‘We have so many missing people’: Coroner tests remains found on Yakima River island as families wait, hope. It seems that, even 12 years later, those remains could be Daisy Mae as the story states;

"Also unidentified are skeletal remains of a Native woman found in late 2008 in a remote part of the Yakama reservation. In the spring of 2009, FBI agents were awaiting mitochondrial DNA test results on the remains, which they said may be of Tallman. But the FBI lab determined there was insufficient evidence to conclude the remains were hers, and the FBI will not release further information on the remains."

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Daisy...it's now been over 33 years.

 

[Murkywaters]

Family gathers to remember Daisy Mae Heath, who was reported missing in 1987 at age 29

Photo of Daisy Mae Heath

Courtesy of Patricia Whitefoot

 

[MadMcGoo]

So sad.

 

[Bit of hope]

Daisy's CP file Daisy Mae Tallman – The Charley Project

• Missing Since08/30/1987
• Missing From Toppenish, Washington
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Native American
• Date of Birth 01/10/1958 (63)
• Age 29 years old
• Height and Weight 5'3 - 5'4, 185 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics Native American female. Black hair, brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance, Tallman was in the process of legally changing her surname from Tallman, her mother's married name, to Heath, her father's surname. Many accounts refer to her as Daisy Heath. She is a member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakama Nation. Tallman has a scar on her left arm and shoulder. At the time of her disappearance, her hair was long and extended down to the middle of her back

Details of Disappearance
Tallman was last seen in Toppenish, Washington on August 30, 1987. At the time of her disappearance, she lived with her sister and regularly traveled between White Swan, Washington and the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. She has never been heard from again.

According to her family, Tallman would sometimes drop out of sight for a couple of days or a week at a time, and as a result she wasn't reported missing for two months. She was capable of surviving on her own in the mountains for weeks at a time and knew how to go hunting, gathering and fishing to find food. She was also skilled in traditional crafts including painting, pipe-making and beading.

After her disappearance, her backpack, keys and ring were found in a remote area of the Yakama Reservation north of White Swan, at a place called Soda Springs. It's closed to non-tribal citizens unless they have permission, and road access is monitored. Her loved ones don't think she would have left those items behind. She was reported missing on October 29, two months after she was last seen.

Tallman was "emotionally fragile" at the time of her disappearance; her infant daughter and her beloved grandmother had both died the previous year. Authorities believe she was the victim of a homicide. She was declared legally dead in 1997, but her case remains unsolved.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Poor data, racism fueling crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people, activists say | king5.com

 

[Bit of hope]

Poor data, racism fueling crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people, activists say | king5.com

For convenience;

AKIMA COUNTY, Wash. — Across the country, there are thousands of reports of Native Americans missing. But for a long time, what has been a crisis on Indian reservations has been widely ignored.

Thanks to grassroots efforts drawing more attention to these cases, there are members of law enforcement and some lawmakers paying attention and working to turn awareness about missing and murdered indigenous women, men, girls and boys into action.

Patsy Whitefoot, a citizen of Yakama Nation, is among the leaders advocating on behalf of the missing. Whitefoot is still waiting for any word about what happened to her sister, Daisy Mae Heath.

“She left one day, and so I just thought well she might be in the mountains, because it was toward the end of summer, because it was still time for picking. Or she could have gone hunting,” Whitefoot explained.

Heath, Whitefoot’s youngest sister, never came home. The 29-year-old was reported missing in the fall of 1987. More than 30 years later, what happened to Heath is still a mystery.

“There is just no evidence of where she may be,” said Whitefoot.

Whitefoot says her sister’s story is just one of the many examples of a crisis involving indigenous people, missing or murdered, with poor data collection only contributing to the mounting number of cold cases.

“It is still like this black hole that exists out there,” said Whitefoot. “You begin to question, well, why am I still here when everybody else is gone around you?”

It is painful for Whitefoot who has lost not only family but friends too. She finds herself in a club no one wants to join: the loved ones left grieving.

"We come together, and we know what each other is going through, and I think about that, that we shouldn’t have to be together, but we are,” said Whitefoot.

 

[Bit of hope]

I'm having a hard time to pinpoint the place were Daisy's personal belonging were found (backpack, keys and ring) Can somebody help making some kind of visual. Is this Soda Spring location a place were a body can be submerged in water? Also finding a ring, raises my eyebrows. What killer would remove a ring from a body and left it there to be found. It's doesn't sound logical to me....

 

[ekardh]

I'm having a hard time to pinpoint the place were Daisy's personal belonging were found (backpack, keys and ring) Can somebody help making some kind of visual. Is this Soda Spring location a place were a body can be submerged in water? .

Does this help?

Soda Spring Campground

 

[imstilla.grandma]

As she tossed a softball with her granddaughter this spring, Patsy Whitefootthought of her youngest sister, Daisy Mae Heath.

Daisy played softball, just like Patsy. The two were usually on the same team, but not always. That was especially true in basketball, where Daisy really excelled. It was her favorite sport and competing against her was challenging, even for her sister. Daisy was a fighter who battled for every point.

“She was the star. She was the MVP,” Patsy said.

Daisy, who traveled between White Swan and the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, was living with Patsy when her family last saw her in late August 1987. She was reported missing on Oct. 29, 1987, at age 29.

Family gathers to remember Daisy Mae Heath, who was reported missing in 1987 at age 29

Efforts to identify a woman whose remains were found in the Lower Yakima Valley in early 1988 moved forward with recent confirmation of a crucial fact.

Known as Parker Doe because she was found near the unincorporated town of Parker, the woman was buried at West Hills Memorial Park in 1989 without her skull. It had been taken to Central Washington University in Ellensburg in the summer of 1988 for facial reconstruction using clay.

Investigators exhumed Doe on Oct. 14 to extract her DNA, and her remains were transported to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office in Seattle, where her skull had been transferred this summer. The office provides forensic anthropology services for the state.
Skull, skeletal remains matched, moving Parker Doe one step closer to being identified

 

[sasha17]

Daisy's mentioned in this news article from March 2022: A newspaper shines a light on missing Indigenous women with the help of technology - Stories