How Did Allison Highwolf Die Distrust? The Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. At three o’clock in the morning, a Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer knocked on Pauline Highwolf’s door. When I asked her what was going on, she responded, “Don’t tell me,” and she recoiled.

How Did Allison Highwolf Die Distrust?

The police informed her that her daughter, 26-year-old Allison Highwolf, was discovered dead in a Hardin motel room. A motel fire in February 2015 claimed the life of Ms Highwolf, who had been staying there with her partner.

Her cause of death was listed as “undetermined,” however the state medical examiner’s findings strongly implied suicide. Given the peculiar circumstances, Ms Highwolf’s loved ones naturally suspected foul play. While Ms Highwolf’s loved ones were aware that she had battled alcoholism, they had no reason to suspect that the mother of four would take her own life.

What Did Her Boyfriend Tell The Police?

The boyfriend told authorities that when he returned to the motel that night, the room was filled with smoke and Ms Highwolf’s body was blocking the entrance.

Ms Highwolf’s death has been unsolved for six years; she is just one of many Native American women who mysteriously vanish or suffer horrific ends. Both her family and the local authorities believe that the original investigation was sloppy, as is so often the case with Native Americans.

One of Ms Highwolf’s sisters, Rhea New Holy, said, “They put her in the category of just another intoxicated Indian.” However, she wasn’t.

Ms. Highwolf’s Death Distrust Fuels a Mystery in Indian Country

Ms. Highwolf’s case is currently being reviewed as a result of pressure from her family and a California-based advocacy group. Though she is glad that it has been reopened, Pauline Highwolf believes that the fact that it took six years to do so demonstrates the need for reform in the way such cases are handled.

They want to keep fighting until they are heard, she said. And to those who have suffered a loss, we say, “Keep fighting, and know that you are not alone.”

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A third of the 110 missing person cases being tracked by Montana’s missing persons’ clearinghouse at the end of 2019 were Native Americans, predominantly young women, according to research conducted by the state’s Justice Department in 2020. Ms Highwolf’s body was discovered in Big Horn County; neighbouring Rosebud County is home to the Northern Cheyenne tribe, which has the highest recorded missing person count in the state.

Kaysera Stops Pretty Places, 18 (who had been reported missing), was found dead in a backyard last year in the same town where Ms Highwolf had passed away. It’s still unclear what happened to her.

Similar instances frequently go unresolved for years on a national scale. Lack of proof, a lack of resources, or a muddled relationship between Indian, local, and federal governments are other reasons given by the authorities. The victims’ loved ones and others who stand with them hold law enforcement accountable for the tragedy they’ve endured due to bias, indifference, and ineptitude.

The Urban Indian Health Institute reports that homicide is third among Native American causes of death and that the chance of rape or sexual assault is 2.5 times higher for Native women than it is for non-Native women.

“There’s a hesitancy among our communities to collaborate with law enforcement because law enforcement doesn’t care about us,” said Abigail Echo-Hawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation and the chief research officer of the Seattle Indian Health Board and director of the Urban Indian Health Institute.

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A pair of legislation filed in late 2020, the Not Invisible Act and Savanna’s Act, to better coordinate enforcement efforts across jurisdictions and collect more data on these types of instances and direct more federal resources toward them. Despite President Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo, making the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women a policy priority, supporters say progress has been slow in putting the shift into action.

Instead, a disparate network of dedicated individuals and organisations assists bereaved families in their search for missing loved ones and in demanding thorough inquiries into mysterious deaths.

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Attorney Mary Kathryn Nagle, who works pro bono to help the families of murdered and missing Indigenous women, has called her work “the most hopeless line of work you can perform in America.”

Ms. Nagle, a member of the Cherokee Nation, remarked, “No one in a position of authority is going to help you.” According to me, “many families just give up.”

But not the Highwolfs.

Pauline Highwolf admitted, “I went on a spree of wrath.” As the mother put it, “I want to see justice for my baby.”