MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND GIRLS OF NORTH AMERICA
Jordan Culver, USA TODAY, USA TODAY•January 21, 2020
The body of a Montana girl missing since New Year's Day has been found, ending a weekslong search that stretched across three states and included FBI agents.
Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid, 16, was found in an area southwest of the rest area where she was last seen, Big Horn County Sheriff Lawrence C. Big Hair said in an emailed statement on Monday. She was found at about 10:30 a.m. during a "systematic grid search" near the rest stop on Interstate 90 between Billings and Hardin.
"It is with great sadness I announce that we have to report the body of Selena Faye Not Afraid has been found by searchers," Big Hair said.
“We brought our baby girl home. Now she can Rest In Peace,” Not Afraid’s aunt, Cheryl Horn, wrote in a Facebook post.
Foul play is not suspected, Big Hair said, but an autopsy would be performed to determine the girl’s cause of death.
FBI asks for help: Montana girl Selena Not Afraid, 16, missing since New Year's Day
"We want to thank all the agencies and civilians that helped in searching for Selena, we also are thankful for the many people that donated food and water for the searchers and the family," Big Hair said.
Big Hair asked for prayers for Not Afraid's family and for "time and space to grieve and come to grips with this terrible loss."
An FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team joined the search for Not Afraid earlier in the month, the Billings Gazette reported. Agencies from Wyoming and South Dakota were also involved with the search.
According to the FBI, Not Afraid was last seen outside the interstate rest area on New Year's Day. She had left a disabled car and walked into a field next to the rest area and was not dressed for the weather conditions, the FBI reported in its be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) notice.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Selena Not Afraid: Missing girl's body found near Montana rest area
Selena Not Afraid's death still under investigation; autopsy scheduled
From the Complete coverage: The search for Selena Not Afraid series
By JULIANA SUKUT jsukut@billingsgazette.com
Weather-beaten posters seeking Selena Not Afraid remain at the I-90 rest stop where the Hardin teen was last seen alive.LARRY MAYER, Billings Gazette
The Big Horn County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the death of Selena Not Afraid a day after saying they didn't suspect foul play.
Selena, 16, was found Monday morning by a federal search team about a mile southwest of the rest stop she had reportedly walked away from on New Year's Day between Billings and Hardin.
In a press release issued Monday, the sheriff's office said foul play was not suspected. On Tuesday Undersheriff Eric Winburn said that foul play wasn't suspected, but wasn't "ruled out," either.
"There's no evidence that anybody dropped her off. No foot or boot prints around her," he said. " ... We don't rule anything out until the autopsy has been released."
An autopsy is scheduled on Wednesday at the state crime lab in Billings. The location where searchers found the body was processed as a criminal investigation, Winburn noted.
Selena's cellphone was found on her, Winburn said. The battery was dead. She didn't have a wallet or purse on her when she was found, he said.
Selena was found by a federal search team with the Department of the Interior during a systematic grid search, according to the press release. The search team had been conducting the grid search for more than a week and were methodically working through the area of the rest stop, Winburn said.
Search efforts from the DOI team began toward the east before making its way southwest, he said. Other areas toward Hardin, Billings and near Fly Creek were searched.
"We had no clue where she was," Winburn said.
Where she was found had been searched by volunteers and law enforcement. Areas near the rest stop had been searched with a helicopter, thermal drone, foot search and K-9s, but had not been searched by the DOI team until Monday, he said.
"We had people on horses and 4-wheelers, but if you don't do every section by section, they could've gone by her," he said. Sheriff Lawrence Big Hair told KTVQ News that he had looked in an area about 200 yards from where Selena was found and had not seen her.
The five people who were in the van with Selena when she was last seen have all cooperated with authorities, officials said. All of the people in the vehicle were believed to be intoxicated at the rest stop, Winburn said. County Attorney Jay Harris declined to comment on whether he would pursue charges against the adults.
In a Tuesday press release, Harris said his office would pursue any provable criminal activities surrounding the circumstances of Selena's disappearance. The office issued a subpoena to review the investigation process for the sheriff's office and for federal agencies that assisted.
Selena purportedly walked away from the rest stop on New Year's Day around 2 p.m. She was in a group of six driving to Hardin from Billings.
The van they were in broke down at the rest stop. The driver restarted it, but was worried it would stall again and drove off without Selena and another woman. A relative of the driver was about 10 to 15 minutes behind and was expected to pick up the girls, according to the sheriff's office.
When the relative arrived, Selena was gone. Selena supposedly scaled a fence, asked the woman she was with to cross the fence with her, and then walked off alone toward some trees, Winburn said.
She wasn't dressed for the winter weather, according to a Missing Endangered Person Advisory issued that day. New Year's Day saw a high of 50 degrees during the day in the area, but had cooled to a low of 25 degrees by the next morning, according to the National Weather Service in Billings.
A MEPA alert was issued for Selena around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 1. A MEPA alert is sent to local media and pushes out a text notification to smartphone users who have the CodeRED app. An Amber Alert, which is typically reserved for young, abducted children, was not issued for Selena.
The body of missing teen Selena Not Afraid was found Monday morning within a mile of the I-90 rest area where she was reported last seen
From the Complete coverage: The search for Selena Not Afraid series
Searchers, from left, Chauncey Little Light, Alphonso Yarlott, Tymer
Big Lake, Drayland Little Light and Joseph Buffalo return to the
Fly Creek rest area on I-90 on Jan. 2 after searching the area
on horseback for 16-year-old Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid.
Big Horn County officials announced Monday a body had
been found near the rest stop.
The body of missing teen Selena Not Afraid was found Monday morning within a mile of the I-90 rest area where she was reported last seen, according to Big Horn County Sheriff Lawrence Big Hair.
Foul play is not suspected, the sheriff said in a press release.
Federal law enforcement agents found Selena’s body around 10:30 a.m., approximately three-quarters of a mile to a mile southwest of the mile marker 474 rest stop, where she was last seen, the sheriff said.
"Please keep Jackie, Leroy and their extended family members in your thoughts and give them the time and space to grieve and come to grips with this terrible loss," Big Hair wrote.
Selena’s mother is Jackie Big Hair, and her father is Leroy Not Afraid.
Selena's auntie Cheryl Horn said she woke up with a gut feeling that today they'd bring Selena home.
"All this time I didn't feel heaviness. I didn't feel frustration," she said. "Today I felt it."
But more than anything it's relieving to have her home, she said. On social media, Horn expressed gratitude to those who helped search for Selena.
"We're thankful," she said. "Without everybody we wouldn't be able to still stand strong. Our heart is broken, but our prayers are answered."
Selena, 16, had been missing since New Year's Day. Two days later, Big Hair said her disappearance “was beginning to look suspicious.”
According to Big Hair, Selena was last seen driving from Billings to Hardin in a van with five adults — two men and three women. Selena was the only youth in the van, Big Hair said. She had been in Billings for a New Year's Eve party and had gotten a ride the next day.
Big Hair said the van broke down at the truck stop. Selena and a woman got out while the driver worked to start the van, according to the missing person's report.
When the van restarted, the driver was worried it would break down again and drove off without Selena and the woman, Big Hair said. According to Big Hair, the woman with Selena had asked the driver to wait.
A relative arrived to pick them up 10-15 minutes later, but only the woman was at the rest stop, according to Big Hair.
She told officers Selena had walked off into a nearby field. She was last seen around 2 p.m.
Early in the investigation Big Hair said that information from the people in the van wasn't lining up.
“Some of their stories have been conflicting,” he said, of the people who were reportedly driving Selena to Hardin.
Since then, searchers have been combing the area in search of the missing teen.
Searches were conducted by helicopter, thermal drones, K-9s, on foot, by ATV and on horseback. A specialized Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team from the FBI joined the search for the missing girl Jan. 8., to assist the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office which led the investigation.
Selena’s family and friends had gathered at the I-90 rest stop for nearly two weeks, providing water and supplies to search groups and working to keep the public's attention on the case.
Volunteer searchers packed up their temporary search command at the rest stop a week ago, on Jan. 13, as temperatures dipped below freezing and the FBI continued to assist the investigation.
Big Hair said it was a Department of Interior search team that found Selena’s body during a "systematic grid search" of an area southwest of the rest area.
Big Hair thanked all the agencies and volunteers involved in the search, as well as those who donated food and water for the searchers and their family.
An autopsy had not yet been scheduled Monday, but Big Hair said it would likely take place Tuesday or Wednesday.
Searchers, from left, Chauncey Little Light, Alphonso Yarlott, Tymer
Big Lake, Drayland Little Light and Joseph Buffalo return to the
Fly Creek rest area on I-90 on Jan. 2 after searching the area
on horseback for 16-year-old Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid.
Big Horn County officials announced Monday a body had
been found near the rest stop.
Understand it better: Our stories on the missing and murdered indigenous people crisis
The Billings Gazette has continued to examine one of the most urgent issues in Montana and our region — missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
In Montana, Native Americans are just 6.7% of the total population, but make up 26% of missing persons cases.
The problem has persisted for generations, and many of the cases remain unsolved. The causes are numerous and complex, and any lasting solutions have been elusive.
The Gazette is exploring the reasons the crisis has persisted and what can be done about it.
And, we need your help. We welcome your tips, suggestions and feedback at billingsgazette.com/mmiwtips.
