We Are Resilient: An MMIP True Crime Podcast

Send us Fan Mail We’re excited to be back! We Are Resilient returns with more MMIP stories, and Sgili Queens is ready with fresh spooky and pop culture episodes. Catch both starting December 1 on Apple, Spotify, and more! Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Melissa Montoya, 42, was of the Jicarilla Apache Nation and in 2001 was living with her boyfriend in Colorado, about about 30 minutes for her hometown of Dulce, New Mexico on the Jicarilla Apache Nation Reservation. On March 9th, 2001 during an evening out Melissa vanished without a trace. Sources: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna164088 https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/search-c...

Send us Fan Mail Shauntae Marshall, 26, is a member of the Navajo Nation in Albuquerque, New Mexico who went missing in June 2024. Her family desperately needs help to find her. Sources: https://mmip.nmdoj.gov/dashboard.html Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In August 2022, 28-year-old Whisper Sellars was shot to death outside a saloon in Montana. Two years later, her killer finally had his day in court and Whisper’s family and friends finally received justice. Sources: https://www.krtv.com/news/crime-and-courts/del-orrin-crawford-found-guilty-for-deadly-martin-city-shooting https://flatheadbeacon.com/2024/07/23/trial-begins-for-man-a...

Send us Fan Mail According to the National Inquiry in Canada, Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than any other women in Canada, and 16 times more likely than Caucasian women. This statistic is especially terrifying when the world learned that in 2022 a serial killer targeting Indigenous women was captured in Winnipeg.  Sources: https://ywcavan.org/blog/2019/10/...

Send us Fan Mail In April 2024, 36 year old Utahnna Bearcomesout was out on drive with her husband and daughter in Fort Washakie, Wyoming when a tragic turn of events cost her, her life. With her husband behind bars, her family and friends are desperately seeking justice. Sources: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/06/10/hes-not-sorry-family-of-slain-woman-says-as-accused-killer-pleads-not-guilty/?...

Send us Fan Mail Delema Sits Poor was just 12 years old when she disappeared from Pine Ridge, South Dakota in February 1974. She and another twelve-year-old girl left Delema's home walking a back road from Oglala to Manderson on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Her friend turned back to head back home, Delema did not. She was never seen again.  Sources: Delema Lou Sits Poor – The Charley Pr...

Send us Fan Mail In October, 2010, 32 year old Sumi Gail Juan, a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, disappeared without a trace. Her story, mirroring similarities with another Hoopa Valley woman, further highlights the prevalence and complexities of the MMIW crisis that is happening in Northern California.  Sources: https://www.equatorinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Yurok-Tribe-Case-Study...

Send us Fan Mail On October 20, 2020, one day before her 18th birthday, Jalajhia Finklea of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe was last seen getting into a rental car driven by a Florida man near her mother’s home in New Bedford, MA.  She was never seen alive again. Sources: Missing Mass. Teen Jalajhia Finklea Was Pregnant: Police Report – NBC Boston Pregnant teen, 18, found dead in Florida 1,400 miles f...

Send us Fan Mail In 2017, the body of 21-year-old Ci’Lina Deloney was found on a Comanche Country Road in Oklahoma. Known to her family and friends as CiCi, her murder remains unsolved and her family struggles with getting CiCi’s story heard. Sources: Family seeks answers for Ci'Lina Deloney's death (kswo.com) Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation looking for leads in Comanche County co...

Send us Fan Mail Michelle Elbow Shield, age 26, went missing on September 27, 2023. It is believed she was in the Sioux Falls, SD area and was last seen. Michelle has light brown eyes and brown hair. She is 4' 10" and weighs approximately 100 pounds. Michelle also has tattoos, one is a butterfly on her left ankle, an infinity symbol on her left arm with the names Michelle and Cody Red Wi...

Send us Fan Mail In April 2023, the body of 16-year-old Ruby Sky Montelongo was discovered in a vacant lot in Covelo, California. Her death came three weeks after the death of 20-year-old Round Valley Man. With the rates of Missing and Murdered Indigenous people skyrocketing in Northern California, Round Valley Indians Tribes have declared a state of emergency. Sources: California girl, 15, suspec...

Send us Fan Mail Esther Wolfe, a 25-year-old South Dakotan woman was shot and killed on February 21st 2024, in what news reports have called a public execution. Her story prior to her death had been one with filled unimaginable pain and overcoming the most harrowing of circumstances. Sources: https://www.blackhillsfox.com/2024/02/28/states-attorney-esther-wolfe-death-was-public-execution/?outputTy...

Send us Fan Mail In February 2024, 52-year-old Brian Steven Smith, a South African man residing in Alaska, was convicted of the savage killings of two Alaskan Native women, Kathleen Henry and Veronica Abouchuk. The grim particulars surrounding their demise are chilling and profoundly unsettling. Listener discretion is advised. Sources: https://law.alaska.gov/press/releases/2024/022224-Smith.html h...

Send us Fan Mail She was called Mighty Mia. In 2007, at 18 years old, she was embarking on her freshman year of college at the University of Arizona and excited about the new chapter in her life. A member of the Navajo Nation, Mia had dreams to become a doctor and return to her tribe to help her people. She never got that chance. Sources: https://tucson.com/news/blogs/police-beat/life-sentence-aff...

Send us Fan Mail Bryanna Rayne Ducheneaux Clown was 22 years old and on the cusp of doing great things in her community in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, however, her promising young life was cut short in October 2023 and her family is demanding answers. Sources: https://kbhbradio.com/women-from-eagle-butte-found-dead-near-terry-peak/ https://www.blackhillsfox.com/2023/11/07/eagle-butte-woman-found-de...

Send us Fan Mail In 2020, the body of Susanna “Sue Sue” Norton, 30, was discovered in an ex-Alaskan Mayor's house, beaten and strangled. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be homicide. If this sounds familiar, it's because it's the same property where two years earlier the body of 25-year-old Jennifer Kirk was found. There have been no arrests made in either case. Sources:...

Send us Fan Mail In 2018, the body of 25 year old Jennifer Kirk was discovered an ex-mayor’s property in Alaska with police swiftly closing the case declaring her death a suicide. Her family believes otherwise as Jennifer had allegedly been involved in a tumultuous relationship with the ex-mayor’s son. Sources: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2023/11/21/for-families-in-northwest-alask...

Send us Fan Mail Four years ago, on New Year's Day in 2020, Selena Not Afraid, 16, vanished at a rest stop in Big Horn County, Montana. Her body was discovered almost three weeks later in a field less than 1 mile from the rest stop where she was seen.  We are revisiting her story, as her death was ruled accidental from hypothermia, yet the circumstances around her death remain suspicious, and...

Send us Fan Mail In August 2021, Mercedes Hernandez, 19, was killed in a senseless act of gun violence in Milwaukee, WI. The man who shot her, 21-year-old Renzo Rascon-Gamboa, has eluded custody and remains on the run. Rascon-Gamboa has been allegedly spotted in Veracruz, Mexico. If you know of Rascon-Gamboa’s whereabouts, please contact the Milwaukee Police Department, District 2, at (414) 935-73...

Send us Fan Mail On September 10th, 2001 the body of 15-year-old Jessie Marie Twilight Song Crooks was found 5 miles from her home in Bowling Green, Kentucky. To this day, her case remains unsolved. Anyone with information on the murder of Twilight Song Crooks is encouraged to call the Warren County Sheriff’s Office at 1-270-842-1633. Sources: Facebook Help still needed to solve slaying of Twiligh...

Send us Fan Mail On Tuesday, November 21, 2023 the Cherokee Indian Police Department, FBI, and BIA made an arrest in connection to the murder of 26 year old EBCI enrolled member Marie Walkingstick Pheasant. It’s been 10 years since her body was found inside a burned vehicle on the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina with no arrests or charges. We have been waiting for this day. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Today's episode is different. We had the opportunity to look back on past cases and talk about what we've learned over the last two years of hosting We are Resilient. What have we learned? There's still so much work to be done. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail On May 5th, 1987, 24-year-old Christine Lester left her home in Arizona to go shopping and was never heard from again. It would be 36 years after her disappearance that her family would receive the news that her remains were discovered on a rural road in California. We have an update on Jamie Yazzie, a young mother who went missing in Arizona in 2019! Sources: Remains found in 198...

Send us Fan Mail Your favorite “We Are Resilient” podcast hosts are here with a brand new podcast! We talk, laugh and ramble on about all things Indigenous and spooky! Follow us @sgiliqueenspodcast  Support the show