A few hundred people gathered at the Oklahoma State Capitol on Tuesday, remembering their loved ones and advocating for solutions in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis.
Since 2017, May 5th has been recognized as the national day of awareness for the MMIP crisis. Nearly a decade later, activists are still sounding the alarm about the disproportionate rates of violence Indigenous women face. It's estimated that around 85% of American Indian and Alaska Native women experience violence in their lifetimes.
A series of speakers, including tribal leaders, state officials and family members, took to the capitol steps to share their connections to the cause — and what's being done to mitigate the crisis.
Casandra Fraser (Cheyenne, Ottawa and Potawatomi) was one of them. She discussed her struggle with addiction and domestic violence and how she offers hope to those suffering in silence and out loud.
"I stand here and represent our relatives, loved ones that have not been found yet, loved ones that don't have peace yet," Fraser said. "...I truly believe that the healing of one is the healing of all."
Fraser knows this experience firsthand. Her older sister, who was six and a half months pregnant, was killed by her boyfriend. The baby she was carrying already had a name: Jaylin.
"Even when everyone else has forgotten, we still remember," Fraser said.
State and federal officials tackle the crisis head-on
Complaints about inaccurate data in tracking MMIP cases in databases, such as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems (Namus), have been a specific focus of an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation unit.
Dale Fine (Cherokee) is a special agent for OSBI. He said he and his colleagues have been cleaning up data in Namus and the National Crime Information Center. This work is a part of a 2021 law, Ida's Law, which attempted to fill in gaps related to the MMIP crisis.
One of those gaps is a missing persons database for Oklahomans.
"As far as another reporting capability, we wanted a database specifically for Oklahoma," Fine said. "And we wanted it to be accurate, real-time data collection, but also public interfacing where the public can get in there and actually view that information listed in that database."
This database, Fine said, is anticipated to roll out in the coming weeks.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit, or BIA MMU, is also making strides, said regional agent and Choctaw Nation citizen William Horton. He listed three names of tribal citizens whom his unit was able to track down. That meant long-awaited answers for their relatives.
"Bethany Tiner, a three-year-old girl, went missing in 1997 out of Chickasha, Oklahoma," Horton said. "25 years this case went unsolved. The MMU opened this case in 2022, and within a matter of weeks, we were able to bring in multiple resources. And we actually found Bethany, who was at that time, 28 years old, alive and well in Tennessee."
Horton said the suspect in the case, a nonbiological mother, was arrested and extradited to Oklahoma to face charges. He said his team was also able to help close the cases of Jackson Yearby (Seminole) and Dennis Morrison (Cherokee).
"We have many more missing person cases and cases nationwide," Horton said. "But we only do this through these partnerships that I mentioned with the state partners, federal partners, tribal partners and, most of all, the community support."
Allies advocate for cold case bill
The same day as the MMIP gathering at the Capitol, the state legislature sent Senate Bill 1636 to Gov. Kevin Stitt, which would establish guidelines for the review of cold cases and communication with victims' families.
That proposal was a topic of importance for attendees like Maggie Zingman of Tulsa. Her daughter Brittany Phillips was murdered in 2004, but authorities have yet to find her attacker.
Zingman has spent the past several years driving across the country — visiting 48 states — in an SUV wrapped with pictures of Brittany. The "Caravan to Catch a Killer" catches the eyes of other cold case families, she said, allowing her to connect with them and walk with them as both someone who understands their experience and a trauma psychologist.
Although she isn't Indigenous, Zingman said she works with MMIP groups on their aligned causes — one of them being SB 1636.
"This is giving families some rights," Zingman said. "Many of us who have to deal with cold case issues feel like sometimes the criminals who do these crimes have more rights than we do. "
State government leaders show their support
Multiple state politicians attended and spoke at the event. Attorney General Gentner Drummond touched on the listening sessions his office has hosted with tribes across the state. At those events, Drummond's staffers have invited families, law enforcement, advocates and prosecutors to gather and share feedback on what can be done to solve MMIP cases and bring closure to loved ones. Drummond specifically mentioned the desire for culturally competent approaches to these cases, as different tribes have different methods of navigating grief and violence.
"I'm here today as the chief legal officer to encourage you to... let down those boundaries of distrust among Oklahoma, and let us work with you hand in hand, removing those barriers, coordinating federal, state, county, tribal communities so that we can come together to find action," Drummond said.
Also present was State Treasurer Todd Russ, a former state representative who was a proponent of Ida's Law when it was moving through the legislature.
"Recognition must be paired with action because protecting the future is an ongoing commitment," Russ said. "It means continuing to listen. It means supporting efforts led by tribal communities. And it means ensuring families are not overlooked or unheard."
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
