The Hidden Crisis: How One Group is Forcing Police to Finally Take Action on Missing Indigenous Women
For centuries, the disappearances and murders of Indigenous women have been overlooked, dismissed, and buried under bureaucratic neglect. But one group is rewriting the rules, demanding justice, and reshaping the way law enforcement handles these cases. At the heart of this revolution is Annita Hetoevehotohke’e Lucchesi, a warrior in the fight for the missing and the murdered.
Lucchesi is the founding executive director of Sovereign Bodies Institute (SBI), a California-based nonprofit dedicated to exposing and addressing gender and sexual violence against Native people. But their work extends far beyond advocacy—their database, started in 2015, is a chilling archive of reality. As of August 2021, it contained 4,749 names and stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S). Every name in that database represents a life lost or shattered, a story too often ignored.
The Fight for Truth: Exposing a System That Fails Indigenous Women
Gathering this data isn’t easy. SBI doesn’t rely solely on official reports—because too often, those reports don’t exist. Instead, Lucchesi and her team scour police records, missing persons databases, historical and tribal archives, and even social media. But their most powerful resource? The families left behind, who refuse to let their loved ones be forgotten.
“The reality is, there isn’t a single place in this country that hasn’t been affected by missing and murdered Indigenous women,” Lucchesi says. Yet, stereotypes persist—labels of substance abuse, promiscuity, or voluntary disappearance, used to justify police inaction. But the database tells a different story: strong, connected women, with families, dreams, and futures stolen from them.
The Chilling Truth: A Crisis Law Enforcement Ignores
While hard data is scarce, one fact is undeniable—Indigenous women face an epidemic of violence. Lucchesi estimates that the vast majority have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime. And why? Because they are not seen as human beings by the systems meant to protect them. The justice system fails them at every turn—law enforcement agencies ignore cases, perpetrators walk free, and tribal nations are stripped of their power to protect their own people.
The COVID-19 pandemic only made things worse. SBI saw a surge in murders—not just domestic violence cases, but brutal killings that law enforcement simply refused to investigate. With many positions in law enforcement vacant or ignored, tribal police have no jurisdiction over major crimes, leaving families in a legal limbo where no one takes responsibility.
A Hollow Promise? The Government’s Role in the Crisis
In April 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the formation of a new Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services. To many, this seemed like a long-overdue step in the right direction. But Lucchesi remains skeptical.
“We’ve been through this before with Operation Lady Justice,” she says, referring to the Trump administration’s 2019 initiative that promised to review cold cases. “Not a single family I work with has heard from them. No calls, no protocols, no results.”
For Lucchesi, the issue isn’t a lack of new initiatives—it’s the failure to dismantle a broken system. Until the government prioritizes tribal sovereignty and listens to those actually living through this crisis, change will be an illusion.
Fighting Back: How Advocates Are Making a Difference
Despite the overwhelming odds, there are victories—small but powerful. Each time a missing woman is found safe, it is rarely due to law enforcement. Instead, it is grassroots advocates, community members, and families who take on the search themselves, proving that change doesn’t come from those in power, but from those who refuse to accept silence.
The solution? Holding elected officials—at every level—accountable. From members of Congress to local sheriffs and coroners, every official must be pressured to take Indigenous lives seriously. And above all, the voices of survivors and families must lead the charge.
The crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women is not a new problem. But thanks to the work of Sovereign Bodies Institute and other tireless advocates, it is no longer a hidden one. The question remains: will those in power finally listen?
