We're sharing the disturbing accounts of five Montana Indigenous people—Diane MedicineHorse, and Amy Marie Johnson, Jody Fern Howard, Leo Wagner, and Ashley HeavyRunner Loring, who were tragically ripped away from their families in the early 1980s. Their unresolved cases reveal uncomfortable truths about the efforts, or lack thereof, of authorities like the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Montana Department of Justice, leaving their families with more questions than answers.
The alarming trend of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in Montana is a chilling truth we all need to confront. By shedding light on these stories, we hope to draw attention to this ongoing issue. We encourage you to delve deeper into this reality—check out documentaries such as Murder in Bighorn and others like it to learn more about the severity of this crisis.
For images related to the cases, check out the Instagram.
We're sharing the disturbing accounts of five Montana Indigenous people—Diane MedicineHorse, and Amy Marie Johnson, Jody Fern Howard, Leo Wagner, and Ashley HeavyRunner Loring, who were tragically ripped away from their families in the early 1980s. Their unresolved cases reveal uncomfortable truths about the efforts, or lack thereof, of authorities like the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Montana Department of Justice, leaving their families with more questions than answers.
The alarming trend of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in Montana is a chilling truth we all need to confront. By shedding light on these stories, we hope to draw attention to this ongoing issue. We encourage you to delve deeper into this reality—check out documentaries such as Murder in Bighorn and others like it to learn more about the severity of this crisis.
For images related to the cases, check out the Instagram.
Speaker 1:
Hiya, this is Julia and murder is bad. On this episode about missing and murdered Indigenous persons, I'll be covering cases coming out of Montana. Diane Medicine Horse was last seen on September 28, 1981. She was dropping off her daughter, natasha Rondo, to her father, henry Rondo, who had been staying with his brother, tim, in Crow Agency, montana. She got into her white car and was never seen again. She was 26 years old. Diane also had a son who was living with his grandmother in Glendale, washington because she saw the troubles in the household. Diane dealt with trauma and stresses, with drinking and not staying put for too long. Her disappearance was not immediately reported because of those kinds of behaviors but her sisters did report her missing. When Diane didn't show up to her mother's funeral, the Bureau of Indian Affairs looked into a few tips. They checked a drug treatment facility in Glendale Washington. They looked in for Birthold, north Dakota, and followed a tip that she had been buried in a basement in Lodgrass, montana. Those were all dead ends. When Natasha was young she was told that her mother had wandered far and hadn't found her way home yet. Quote they say I'm just like her, small, we're both small. They call me tiny. When my father heard that he got watery eyes. He said let me tell you something, girl. Did you know your mother's name was tiny? If you have any information about Diane Medicine Horse, you can contact Special Agent Jose Figueroa of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at 406-638-2632.
Speaker 1:
24-year-old Amy Marie Johnson went missing on May 16, 1986. She was last seen in downtown Livingston, montana. Amy was born on the Flathead Reservation on September 4, 1961 and was adopted soon after by Cliff and Peg Johnson. Amy Marie was the fourth of five adopted children for the Johnsons and four of the five children were Indigenous. They were raised in the Catholic Church in Livingston. Her brother, chris, said Livingston didn't like dark people. It was a very prejudiced town and still is. When Amy was growing up she was described as reserved, shy, caring and artistic. One of her neighbors, agnes Schaefer, said I thought she was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen and she was so sweet and shy. And, sad to say, I don't think I ever told her so.
Speaker 1:
School was hard for Amy, as someone who struggled with confidence. This would cause her grades to suffer, which steeped her in stress and lack of sleep. She started to experiment with alcohol and drugs as a teenager. After graduating high school, amy continued to spiral into heavy drug use and was exploited by people who preyed on the downtrodden. Her brother, chris, said Amy made some bad choices, but I don't think she was mentally prepared to understand what she was choosing.
Speaker 1:
Amy had children with several people, most of who were set to prison for violent crimes. She herself had been beaten by an ex-boyfriend who hit her in the face with a shovel. Amy permitted her children to be removed and adopted out. When she drank she would get aggressive and mean spirited. At times she would take on another persona she called JoJo, but in the spring of 1986, they were promising signs that Amy was starting to make different choices for herself, which, if you start making better choices for yourself or you retire or something like that, just be prepared for terrible things to happen to you, I guess, is the lessons we've learned. She was working as a certified nursing assistant at Livingston Health Care and had a newborn child at home that she was determined to keep and support.
Speaker 1:
At the time Amy was roommates with her childhood friend, mary Guana. Mary said she was a good person who was full of laughter. She could make up a story just like that when we were not everyone's cup of tea. We would be considered what most people would call lower class people. But you know what? We didn't care. Amy was tribal and dark-skinned and I'm Mexican, and I guess that's why we fell into friendship with each other.
Speaker 1:
On the night of Friday, may 16th 1986, amy was excited about a date. Mary had agreed to babysit for Amy as long as she was back by the next morning. Mary was a little concerned because she had never met the guy Amy was going out with, but she agreed anyways. That was the last time she spoke to or saw Amy. Amy left her baby girl and all of her belongings, including an uncashed welfare check. She was supposed to have dinner the next night with her parents, but she never showed up.
Speaker 1:
Authorities suspected that she had been murdered. Livingston Police Captain Steve McCann confirmed that Amy was seen with a former boyfriend, ron Phillips, the evening of her disappearance. Phillips said that he had dropped her off downtown that night after they had driven around a while. A sighting was reported six days later in a bar at Gardner, which was 50 miles to the south, but it was never verified to be her. But the lead soon went cold. The Johnsons eventually turned Amy's child over to Child Protective Services to be adopted before moving to be closer to Amy's siblings. Both parents have since passed away.
Speaker 1:
In the early 2000s a man admitted to police that he knew where Amy's body was. He took them to a craggy mountainous area where he claimed her remains had been stored. The man denied having been involved in her murder but said he was forced to participate in the disposal of her body. They didn't find Amy and no charges were filed. Phillips said the Department of Justice and Helena is supposed to be the overseer and auditing all of these people. Why does Livingston have so many unsolved homicides and suspicious deaths and most other places don't have any? Amy wasn't one of Livingston's model residents, but doesn't her family have the right to learn of her whereabouts? If you have any information about Amy Marie Johnson, you can contact AJ Leonard Knudsen of the Montana Department of Justice at 406-444-3874.
Speaker 1:
Jody Fern Howard was 28 years old when she went missing after being seen at a gas station on the Fort Peck Reservation in Wolf Point, montana. Jody was last seen at the Town Pump gas station on October 7, 1991. Jodi was a mother of four boys and was extremely close to her family, especially her three brothers and her sister. She was always in contact with family members and saw them almost every other day. They described her as outgoing and friendly. The original investigator assigned to Jodi's case, nelson Hart, had always suspected foul play for the simple fact that the funds in her tribal bank account had never been touched. Others followed leads and sightings but never found Jodi. A rumor had started to circulate that Jodi had been murdered and dumped into the Brockton Lagoon near Poplar Montana, and in 1995, the lagoon was drained, but they didn't find Jodi. If you have any information about Jodi Fern Howard, please contact under Sheriff John Summers at 406-653-6230.
Speaker 1:
Leo Wagner went missing on April 27, 2021, at the age of 26. He was last seen by family and friends near the St Mary and Bab areas east of Glacier National Park. Authorities have received a call about a possibly intoxicated man walking near the banks of St Mary Lake and in a second call the same man was seen walking north on West Shore Road with an injured arm. They couldn't find that man believed to be Leo when they checked that area. Those areas were searched again on May 1 of that year. The next day, a cabin was burglarized. When the scene was searched, clothes and items thought to belong to Leo were found. On the clothes. There was evidence that Leo had been severely injured. Search efforts were scaled back a week later.
Speaker 1:
Leo's sister, mikaela, said our family literally fell apart. Leo was described as a well-loved father of five. He helped at the family ranch outside of Browning and was also a boxer. His father, bill, said he was the jokester of the family and always had everybody laughing. The family conducted their own searches and hired a professional to search St Mary Lake. They were able to find a shoe and some more blood evidence around the same cabin. Bill said that they wanted justice but haven't gotten any answers. The cases were transferred to the BIA in the summer of 2022. They told the family that his case was ongoing, but the family hadn't heard anything in about a year. Mikaela said they care, but it's not their top priority. If you know anything about Leo Wagner, please contact the Blackfeet Tribal Law Enforcement Agency at 406-338-400.
Speaker 1:
On June 5th 2017, 20-year-old Ashley Mariah, heavy runner luring, went missing after attending a party on the Blackfeet Reservation in Northwest Montana. She had packed a change of clothes in her blue pool string backpack before a friend picked her up to take her into Browning for a party. That night. Ashley texted her 25-year-old sister, kimberly, to ask for some money. She responded that she couldn't because she was in Africa. She was visiting her fiance in Morocco. Kimberly didn't immediately hear from Ashley when she returned to Montana, but it wasn't unusual for Ashley to lose track of her phone. After a week passed and their ill father was hospitalized for liver failure. Kimberly immediately started to panic. Kimberly and Ashley had plans to move to Missoula together. They were extremely close to each other and their family, and that made it even more difficult. When Ashley was reported missing to the Tribal Police Force, which included federal agents from the BIA, kimberly said no one took it seriously. They just said she's of age, she can leave when she wants to. When we talk to other families whose girls went missing, they say that's what they got from law enforcement too. It's not a proper response.
Speaker 1:
Two weeks after Ashley was last seen, a tip came in. A young woman was seen running from a car on an empty stretch of Route 89. All that was around that area were swamps on either side, some dense forest and an occasional trailer or two. A three-day search was organized but didn't turn up anything. A grey sweater, believed to be Ashley's, was found in a dump, but before any testing could be done it was misplaced by authorities. According to Kimberly, it took those same authorities two months to start their official investigation and by then the lead investigator had started a relationship with one of the main suspects. Quote it was ridiculous. One of the officers actually apologized to me. He said he's sorry about my sister and that he was working overtime on the case, but that nobody was taking it seriously. People in Browning know exactly what happened to my sister and where she's at, but they're not speaking up because law enforcement ruined her case.
Speaker 1:
This was when Kimberly took things into her own hands. She started to scour mountains and ravines. She dug up freshly moved dirt piles. She studied bones and talked to anyone who had anything to say, no matter how implausible or gruesome. There's also a story about how she basically had to fend off a bear during one of her searches. Kimberly said every day is a nightmare. We don't know what really happened to her. There's rumors about her being hurt and her body put places, being all cut up and scattered on the mountain. That's why I search for her. That's why I go out in the mountains and look. I don't want my baby sister laying out there alone.
Speaker 1:
Ashley's childhood friend, erica Denny, described her as strong spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically. Erica said she'd stick up for people. If someone was getting bullied or if she saw something that was wrong, she would come out and tell you Ashley's father, a former firefighter who was in the hospital when she initially went missing. Roy Heavy Runner said that whoever had a hand in her disappearance is likely still on the reservation. Several leads kept taking investigators off the reservation and even out of the state, so the FBI eventually took over Ashley's case.
Speaker 1:
After this transition, ashley's grey sweater was located and sent off for testing, but that was in 2019. There hasn't been any movement in her case. Erica said all of a sudden she's just missing. She didn't even get to see her 21st birthday. She had plans, she had goals and someone took that from her. Kimberly agreed. She said my sister is a beautiful, intelligent young woman who has goals and dreams.
Speaker 1:
A missing and murdered Indigenous woman was not one of them. If you have any information about Ashley's disappearance, please contact Blackfeet Tribal Agent Josh Byrd at 406-338-400. There's not much else to say. It's just horrendous that an entire population has basically been kept silent. There's this crazy statistic that I'm sure is echoed in a lot of states, but of Montana's population, indigenous people make up about 6%, but Indigenous people make up 22% of the murders. That is just mathematically unacceptable, not to mention all these stories coming out. I know there's a series that recently came out, I think, on Showtime, called Murder in Bighorn takes place in Montana and they cover three cases of missing or murdered women and definitely give that a watch. There's a similar one on different channels like Investigation, discovery and stuff. Thank you for listening. Take care of each other and remember murder is bad. Amentideorg.