On 09/29/2021 Missoula Count Sheriffs Office called Rebekah's parents in for a meeting to notify the family that Missoula has passed Rebekah's case back to Mineral County Sheriff Office. One Sheriff, 2 deputies, no detectives. All requests and reports have been transferred back to Mineral County. Prior to the meeting, Rebekah's mom reached out to the Director of the Missing Persons Clearing House for MT to invite him to the meeting and the Missoula Undersheriff called and told him not to come.
To say I'm shocked is an understatement. Mineral County mishandled this case from the beginning...they didn't secure the scene, they didn't fingerprint the personal items found on the riverbank, they didn't fingerprint the car, they didn't bring in scent dogs to determine if Rebekah actually entered the water. in the beginning when the Mineral Sheriff had the case, he told my sister and her husband "not everyone can be treated like the President" and "they weren't even going to search for Rebekah but a deputy suggested they do a search".
FBI has been called numerous times by the parents and others only to defer back to the Sheriff, whichever one is handling the case at the time of the call. This is almost criminal in my mind. How does this even happen? Every step taken to try to make this go national for support seems invisible. Neither Sheriff would invite outside non profit SAR groups to assist with a search even though they offered with an invite. It's as if neither Sheriff Office wants Rebekah to be found.