Dozens of community members held space together for the annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women ceremonies.
The event has been in Bemidji, according to MMIW 218 organizer Audrianna Goodwin, for several years, to raise awareness of the high rates of violence Indigenous women in particular face.
Members of 15-year-old Neveah Kingbird’s family were there and organizers held a search after a ceremony at the Tourist Information Center.
Indigenous women are at a substantially higher risk of being victims of domestic and sexual violence than the average American woman.
Kingbird was last seen in the early morning hours of Oct. 22, and she has not been in contact with friends or family since.
A GoFundMe page has been established for the Kingbird family.
