ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Nationwide, thousands of Indigenous people have been murdered or have gone missing. In New Mexico alone, more than 1,100 people were reported as missing from July 2022 to April 2024. 119 of them are still missing.

On Sunday, Pueblos across the state came together to make their voices heard. Victims’ families shared what they want to see going forward, and why they believe many of these cases fall through the cracks.

“Right now, I just want solutions. I want accountability. I want there to be a connection between all jurisdictions. Instead of giving us the runaround as a family to go here to go there, pushing us back and forth and re-traumatizing us,” said Deiandra Reid, a land and body violence coordinator with the Coliation to Stop Violence Against Native Women. 

Pueblos from across New Mexico came together as one to make their voices heard on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Day.

“The last four years it’s been a hard journey, and we done everything,” said Anita King.

King has been searching endlessly for her daughter, Pepita Redhair.

“It’s very emotional and frustrating because we tried to work with detectives and we went through four detectives. Right now we have a private detective that’s working on the case. And it is frustrating, and I tell myself every day how long is this going to go on?” said King. 

King believes one of the barriers in solving the case is police.

“I feel that the law enforcement failed in the investigation. They’re not taking my word seriously,” said King. “Officer Perez said to my daughter that she was a drunk. But she wasn’t. I mean, if a person is withdrawn, you know how they look. But my daughter I know my daughter. I live with her, she wasn’t homeless.”

Denise Carrillo expressed feeling the same judgment from law enforcement. She’s advocating for her sister, Kristina Carrillo, that went missing two years ago in Shiprock. 

“I had talked to the chief of the Navajo police, and he basically told me that they’re handling cases that are a lot more important than my sister’s. And that’s been really frustrating for me. Because, you know, who is somebody to tell me that my sister’s case is not important as somebody that is missing. But their case is a lot huger than mine, my sisters. And I know it’s because my sister’s lifestyle, but how somebody’s lifestyle, how their how their life was lived that shouldn’t determine how these cases should be handled,” said Carrillo. 

Carrillo explained some of the roadblocks in these cases lie in law enforcement jurisdictions.

“A lot of the murders and a lot of the stories are just pushed to the side. If this happened, outside of the reservation, more than likely this would have been handled,” Carrillo said. 

New Mexico Indian Affairs Secretary Josett Monette explained how state leaders have been working to help search for and prevent more of these cases through task forces, and an advisory council that was established December 2023.

“We are working to get that off, where to wait. It will include state leadership, tribal leadership, law enforcement, state agencies, advocates, family members, as well. And we continue to do work on the state response plan,” said Monette. 

Monette explained they also want to work on a resource guidebook this year to help people understand MMIP from a national and state level.

She also shared Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham proclaimed May to be Missing and Murdered Indigenous People awareness month.

RESOURCES:

• Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women
• CSVANW: Statistics about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
• FBI List of Missing Native Americans In New Mexico and Navajo Nation
• New Mexico Department of Justice Missing or Murdered Indigenous People