The Secrets of Spirit Lake

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Speaker 3 I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Dateline, a young young woman goes missing on a North Dakota reservation.
Her aunt will stop at nothing to find her.

Speaker 4 Her father always told me to keep an eye on her.

Speaker 5 You had made a promise to him.

Speaker 4 Yeah. To make sure she was okay.

Speaker 4 I was going to find her.

Speaker 7 You just knew, as her mom, that something was very wrong.

Speaker 8 Yes, I did.

Speaker 10 There was a report that she'd been in like a silver car. I knew that she was probably in trouble.

Speaker 11 You get a call from a blocked number.

Speaker 4 Yes. You need to get honest with me because I'm done playing.

Speaker 9 Well, I don't want to win honest with you.

Speaker 12 She would kind of turn it on and try to get some truth out of him.

Speaker 4 I'll keep digging and digging.

Speaker 13 There are so many unsolved cases out there.

Speaker 15 Indigenous women and girls across the nation.

Speaker 16 It's hard, Red Sheen

Speaker 13 to really think about how we are invisible.

Speaker 4 I don't want another family to ever feel like how we felt.

Speaker 3 Here's Andrea Canning with The Secrets of Spirit Lake.

Speaker 4 There's been a lot of sacrifice that went with this on a personal level, you know.

Speaker 7 But you're never done.

Speaker 4 I'm never done.

Speaker 17 Her name is Lysa Yellowbird.

Speaker 18 Her job defies description.

Speaker 20 Investigator, interrogator, searcher of last resort.

Speaker 22 The one people turn to in their very worst moments.

Speaker 6 This is backbreaking.

Speaker 5 This is 24-7.

Speaker 24 This is you living and breathing this constantly.

Speaker 21 Here is where Lyssa works.

Speaker 17 Sacred lands, teeming with beauty.

Speaker 28 But woven into the landscape are crimes that have gone on for years, even centuries.

Speaker 1 Native American women and girls missing and murdered.

Speaker 32 More than 300 reservations make up what's still known as Indian country in America.

Speaker 25 And in this country, the statistics are staggering.

Speaker 22 According to Department of Justice findings, four out of five Native American women have experienced violence in their lifetimes.

Speaker 21 And a CDC study found homicide rates for Native American women were almost three times those of non-Hispanic white women.

Speaker 4 This is 2021.

Speaker 4 We're demanding our rights to be heard.

Speaker 37 Lysa Yellowbird and many others believe that too often cases are neglected by law enforcement.

Speaker 38 They say action is long overdue.

Speaker 9 Who protects us? We protect us.

Speaker 25 The numbers, the victims, have sparked a movement called MMIW.

Speaker 16 It's called Missing Murdered Indigenous Women, and it's a cry for help.

Speaker 20 Lynette Grable wants the world to hear that cry.

Speaker 35 She's an activist and survivor who lives on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

Speaker 16 I'm a full-blooded Native American woman, and the statistics that hang over my head is that I am the most stalked, raped, sexually assaulted, and murdered out of every ethnicity in this country.

Speaker 41 It's really

Speaker 24 tragic and eye-opening.

Speaker 16 It's heart-wrenching

Speaker 13 to really think about the measure of how we are invisible to America.

Speaker 31 She says Native American women are trying to make themselves visible with events like the annual National Day of Action.

Speaker 31 No more stolen sisters! No more stolen sisters!

Speaker 24 If a white woman goes missing in a fancy neighborhood somewhere versus an Indigenous woman who goes missing off a reservation, are they going to get the same attention?

Speaker 16 Absolutely not. And even in this day, in this present time, they will not get the same

Speaker 16 attention.

Speaker 33 In this ongoing tragedy, Lyssa Yellowbird found her calling. She decided she would dedicate herself to searching for missing and murdered Native American women.

Speaker 18 She began in her home state of North Dakota.

Speaker 37 And now, from the Great Plains to the southwest, she uses whatever method, whatever tool, will bring a loved one home.

Speaker 4 I just don't want families to feel like they're all alone.

Speaker 33 She knows that feeling firsthand.

Speaker 25 Because after years of helping others, the crisis hit home for Lissa when her own niece, Carla Yellowbird, went missing.

Speaker 4 Me and her father were so close. He always

Speaker 4 told me to keep an eye on her, help her out, don't forget her.

Speaker 5 You had made a promise to him.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 9 What was that promise?

Speaker 4 To make sure she was okay.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 That's it.

Speaker 45 It was August 2016.

Speaker 21 Carla suddenly stopped texting and calling.

Speaker 21 It didn't sit right with Carla's mother, Loretta, and her sister, Carrie.

Speaker 46 We tried to contact as many friends or people she hung up around, and nobody heard from her. Then that's when it started getting scary.

Speaker 47 I started kind of thinking something bad happened because it wasn't like her to go out like this long without talking to somebody.

Speaker 35 Carla had been living in the central North Dakota town of Mandan.

Speaker 31 Detective April Bowman of the Mandan Police Department was assigned to Carla's case.

Speaker 24 Do you deal with a lot of missing persons' cases? We do, we have quite a few.

Speaker 26 Carla's roommate told investigators where Carla may have gone the day she stopped communicating.

Speaker 10 She said that she was going to St. Michael's and she didn't know when she'd be back.

Speaker 5 Is that a town?

Speaker 10 It is, it's a town on Spirit Lake.

Speaker 48 Spirit Lake is a reservation that spans 400 square miles about three three hours northeast of Mandan.

Speaker 18 Detective Bowman, like most local law enforcement, didn't have the jurisdiction to investigate a case involving tribal members on reservation land.

Speaker 40 Most reservations have their own police forces, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the BIA, a division of the Department of the Interior, is also involved in tribal law enforcement.

Speaker 33 The roles of the BIA, tribal police, and local cops can be confusing, especially to the distraught families of missing women.

Speaker 51 Back in Mandan, Detective Bowman gave the BIA office on Spirit Lake a call. She says no one called her back.

Speaker 52 Does this complicate things when you have all these jurisdictional issues with reservations and cities and everyone's trying to work together and it doesn't always go so smoothly?

Speaker 10 Absolutely. You're waiting for key pieces of your investigation that have to come from somebody else.

Speaker 24 And that could be right away, that could be several days, but you're waiting.

Speaker 30 Carla's Carla's mom, Loretta, waited too, anguished over her daughter's disappearance.

Speaker 7 What's that like as a mom waking up every day and she's still not calling?

Speaker 46 I'd cry every night to find answers or, you know, hear something, but.

Speaker 8 But nothing.

Speaker 7 You just knew as her mom that something was very wrong.

Speaker 8 Yes, I did.

Speaker 25 Carla was out there

Speaker 34 somewhere, maybe alone.

Speaker 54 If anyone knew how to find her, it was her Aunt Lysa.

Speaker 3 When we come back, the mission to find Carla Yellowbird.

Speaker 10 There was a report that she'd been in like a silver car.

Speaker 3 Investigators uncover the first clues, and Aunt Lyssa gets to work.

Speaker 4 I'll keep digging and digging. It wasn't even a question.
It was, I was going to find her.

Speaker 46 She was this mischievous, but yet she was wonderful to have.

Speaker 50 She was very smart.

Speaker 7 Was Carla the kind of person like when she walked in the room, you knew she had arrived?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 47 Yeah, she was really outgoing and just happy, and everyone was just enjoyed being around her. She was always there for us and watched over us, and she was a good, fantastic sister.

Speaker 33 Carla's mom, Loretta, and sister Carrie recall how loving she was. That went for extended family, too.

Speaker 42 When it came to Carla's relationship with her aunt Lysa, they had their own kind of fun.

Speaker 4 She had this big gaudy ring on, and when she put her hand up, I was like, oh my God.

Speaker 4 I was like, lose the ring. That looks horrible.

Speaker 9 What did she say?

Speaker 4 She was like, why? You know, and

Speaker 4 she she asked, do you want it? And I was like, well, heck no.

Speaker 21 Carla enrolled in college, had children, and got married.

Speaker 33 But her once promising life fell apart.

Speaker 55 Drugs got a hold of her.

Speaker 45 You must feel helpless as a parent.

Speaker 46 Oh, yes, I did. And, you know,

Speaker 46 she tried, you know, she put herself into, you know, treatment.

Speaker 7 How proud were you of her that she did go into treatment and that she did try?

Speaker 1 Very.

Speaker 46 That's why I'd go see her. You know, she was happy.
She made some friends and

Speaker 46 but when she got out, it's still like

Speaker 46 she never went in there.

Speaker 53 It got a hold of her again, the drugs.

Speaker 56 Yep.

Speaker 49 For Lysa, Carla's story, like so many other Native American women's, echoed her own.

Speaker 4 Carla had gone down a bad path. She went down the same path I went went down.

Speaker 5 How close to home was that hitting for you?

Speaker 4 Well, I could count the number of times that I could have ended up in that same predicament.

Speaker 38 Lyssa's life has been a seesaw of success and hardship.

Speaker 20 A proud member of four tribes.

Speaker 4 Mandan, Hidata, Rickara, MHA Nation, and the other one is Stanning Rock.

Speaker 33 She says as a teen, her boyfriend trafficked her for sex.

Speaker 40 Still, she made it to college and had good jobs.

Speaker 37 But she also battled addiction and served just over two years in prison on drug charges.

Speaker 6 Your history is kind of amazing.

Speaker 52 I mean, you're a mother of six. You have been to prison, but you've also studied criminal justice, worked as a prison guard, a welder, a social worker, and been a legal advocate.

Speaker 52 How have all these things prepared you for this?

Speaker 4 I don't know, but they should come in handy.

Speaker 21 She took on her first case just weeks after her release from prison. A young neighbor disappeared and Lyssa mobilized family and friends to look for her.

Speaker 42 They found the girl alive.

Speaker 56 From there, people kept asking for help and she hasn't stopped searching.

Speaker 4 I'll sit there and I'll keep digging and digging.

Speaker 49 The digging has paid off.

Speaker 36 Over her years of searching, Lyssa has helped locate dozens of people.

Speaker 26 Some came home alive.

Speaker 18 Many others did not.

Speaker 29 But most families were grateful for answers.

Speaker 33 That was certainly the case with a young mother named Olivia Lone Bear who disappeared.

Speaker 26 She was last spotted in a pickup truck.

Speaker 33 Lyssa followed a hunch to a lake on the Fort Berthold Reservation and took her boat out with volunteers and sonar gear.

Speaker 4 And we went across the bay, and this little girl says, Do you think this is the truck?

Speaker 4 And I looked at it and I was like, oh my God.

Speaker 31 Submerged in 21 feet of water, Olivia's body strapped in the passenger seat.

Speaker 37 Tough first is Olivia's uncle.

Speaker 12 Lysa brought so much closer, you know. I'm still so indebted to her.
I'm so grateful to her that, you know, what she does, you know.

Speaker 29 Lysa says every recovery, every search has taken a toll.

Speaker 4 There's time that I'll never get back, you know, with my family. My kids are all grown now.

Speaker 20 All those sacrifices would steal her for the hardest fight of her life.

Speaker 25 The search for her own niece, Carla.

Speaker 42 Mid-September 2016, Detective Bowman was tracking down tips she'd received about Carla's case.

Speaker 10 There was a report that she'd been in like a silver car and she'd been hanging out with Suna, Dakota, and Daylin.

Speaker 31 Suna Guy, Dakota Charbonneau, and Daylen St. Pierre.

Speaker 21 All three had lengthy criminal records.

Speaker 49 All three resided on on the Spirit Lake Reservation.

Speaker 42 Bowman contacted tribal police.

Speaker 20 She says they never put her through to the investigator on the case, just told her they'd talked with Suna, and he said he hadn't seen Carla.

Speaker 37 If Bowman wanted to interview Suna herself, she couldn't, since she had no jurisdiction to interview tribal members on the reservation without BIA, tribal police, or FBI approval, which she had not received.

Speaker 54 For Carla's Aunt Lyssa, it was time to step in.

Speaker 4 It wasn't even a question of if I was going to find her. It was just I was going to find her.

Speaker 3 Coming up.

Speaker 9 If there's a way I could help anybody, I've tried.

Speaker 3 Someone reaches out to Lyssa, a new source with a secret.

Speaker 9 I didn't even get to see her or nothing.

Speaker 9 Other than what she got in the car.

Speaker 43 Did you believe him? No.

Speaker 3 When dateline continues.

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Speaker 33 Lysa Yellowbird watched and waited as law enforcement searched for her niece, Carla.

Speaker 17 As day after day went by with no answers, Lysa grew impatient.

Speaker 31 When something is hitting that close to home for you, then how do you kick into action?

Speaker 4 Well, I just put my poker face on and dealt with it like I did any other case.

Speaker 42 Like so many times before, she stepped in, this time for her own family.

Speaker 24 She took it all into herself and

Speaker 1 got it rolling.

Speaker 32 to start Lyssa needed her sources to talk she could work the phones knock on doors walk the prairies but out here where cell service is non-existent in some areas the most effective way to communicate can be through social media and lysa had a massive network of followers she could tap into what's the first thing you do i uh i went to social media really i put a call out saying that Carla's missing.

Speaker 31 Lyssa knew from previous cases, people who might be reluctant to talk to police were often willing to talk to her.

Speaker 52 Talking to you for some people I would assume is so much easier than talking to a detective or a federal agent.

Speaker 4 Yeah, yeah, I believe that.

Speaker 37 Lyssa contacted everyone she could on the reservation and was able to pinpoint the owner of that car Carla was seen in.

Speaker 30 It was the father of Suna Guy, one of the three men Detective Bowman couldn't interview because they lived on the reservation.

Speaker 26 Lyssa reached out to the detective to compare notes.

Speaker 4 I did spend some time letting her know that I was a relative, that I kind of work on this arena anyway. Please share as much information with me as you can.

Speaker 32 For Detective Bowman, Lyssa was a welcome hand.

Speaker 9 All help is good help.

Speaker 10 The more people looking, the easier this case gets resolved.

Speaker 21 The case, the detective explained, had become daunting in size and scope.

Speaker 4 She also told me that this basic search area was spanning five states and three reservations.

Speaker 49 Detective Bowman had worked most of her leads.

Speaker 32 The only ones remaining were those three men.

Speaker 4 Her hands were tied because she was stuck in Mandan.

Speaker 6 This was no surprise to you.

Speaker 4 Jurisdiction.

Speaker 37 But Lyssa is not a cop, not constrained by jurisdictions or what she's allowed to say or do.

Speaker 4 My hands are not tied. I will go find her.

Speaker 54 She used Facebook to blast out what she knew.

Speaker 4 Once I got information and I had some names, I put that out there.

Speaker 33 Now all her followers knew the names of the men she thought were somehow involved in Carla's disappearance.

Speaker 28 She waited for a response.

Speaker 42 Then her phone rang.

Speaker 9 Why is my name being put to stuff when I don't even know what's going on?

Speaker 11 You get a call from a blocked number.

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 52 Who is it?

Speaker 4 Suna.

Speaker 21 Suna Guy, one of the men with whom Carla was last seen.

Speaker 17 And Suna seemed ready to talk.

Speaker 27 Lyssa hit record on her phone.

Speaker 9 But if there's a way I can help anybody, I tried. I'm not a bad guy, you know what I mean?

Speaker 18 Lysa's strategy just listened to Suna.

Speaker 33 She wanted to build trust.

Speaker 9 Like I say, I mean, I don't got nothing to hide.

Speaker 33 Lissa thought if she was patient, Suna might start telling her his story.

Speaker 52 What was Suna's story?

Speaker 4 He said that he gave

Speaker 4 a ride to Carla's brother-in-law and Carla and took them up to Spirit Lake.

Speaker 43 And he kept going.

Speaker 4 Yep. I mean, he didn't see her again.

Speaker 43 Did you believe him? No.

Speaker 4 Well, I sure could use your help finding my niece.

Speaker 9 I mean, most definitely. Like I say, I mean, sorry, I'm not trying to be an absolute thing.

Speaker 44 FBI special agent Jared Birchler also worked on Carla's case.

Speaker 21 What did you think as you're listening to these calls?

Speaker 12 She did a great job of building trust with him, building rapport.

Speaker 9 Listen to me, if I come across and hear anything, once I hear it, I'll contact you. You know what I mean?

Speaker 26 After more than 30 minutes, Suna ended the conversation.

Speaker 9 I'll get hold of you guys tomorrow. All right.

Speaker 42 Lyssa had no phone number for Suna, no way to reach him.

Speaker 38 All she had was a questionable promise that he'd call again.

Speaker 15 Was that the end of this?

Speaker 4 Far from it.

Speaker 3 Coming up.

Speaker 4 You need to get honest with me because I'm done playing.

Speaker 49 You were like a one-woman good cop, bad cop.

Speaker 12 She would kind of turn it on and try to get some truth out of him.

Speaker 1 Would it work?

Speaker 31 Carla Yellowbird had vanished into the North Dakota wind.

Speaker 30 Her loved ones held out one last bit of hope she was still alive.

Speaker 17 But Lysa Yellowbird's experience searching for missing women told her that time had run out for her niece.

Speaker 42 For her, this was now a recovery mission.

Speaker 4 Whatever it takes to bring them home.

Speaker 45 Lyssa felt in her bones that Suna Guy, despite his claims to the contrary, knew what really happened to Carla.

Speaker 52 Something wasn't sitting right for you.

Speaker 4 Well, it was BS. I knew that.

Speaker 30 She wanted to talk more with Suna, so Lyssa turned to Facebook yet again, but this time she focused on Suna.

Speaker 9 What is it that you're posting on Facebook that your niece was last seen with me?

Speaker 22 It made him angry enough to pick up the phone again.

Speaker 4 You need to get honest with me because I'm done playing.

Speaker 4 Well, I don't want to be honest with you.

Speaker 9 I don't know what you want because I'm not making nothing of it.

Speaker 33 In their previous call, Lyssa tried to build a bond with Suna.

Speaker 31 Now she came at him full throttle.

Speaker 4 If I haven't dealt with your kind of people before, I have. I'll come get her personally myself if I have to.
But I want to know.

Speaker 33 Lysa's strategy was to show Suna how angry she was, to intimidate him into giving up more details.

Speaker 4 You tell me where my niece's body is at, and I'll let God fing reckon with you, okay? Because we already know how it's gone down.

Speaker 4 And I'm telling you right now, you don't know who to trust because your own friends are turning on you.

Speaker 9 I don't even know what anybody's even talking about.

Speaker 43 Are you trying to rattle him?

Speaker 4 Well, he's questioning his own self about who he really is as a person.

Speaker 9 What do you want me to say to you? What do you want me to say to you? What do you want me to say? The truth.

Speaker 4 How about let's

Speaker 4 for the truth?

Speaker 49 You were like a one-woman good cop, bad cop.

Speaker 4 I never heard that one before.

Speaker 41 Kind of fits though, right?

Speaker 4 Kind of.

Speaker 4 You know, you know what? When you want to get honest, you want to get real and you want to try and save your own ass, call me back. But until then, I'm done, okay?

Speaker 42 Lyssa hung up the phone.

Speaker 35 It was an impulsive move.

Speaker 34 Maybe the wrong move.

Speaker 33 She'd just have to wait and see.

Speaker 27 Lyssa updated Carla's mom, Loretta.

Speaker 7 How much of all this that was going on is Lyssa sharing with you?

Speaker 4 She shared me everything.

Speaker 46 His whole conversation was a lie. He was just lying and pure lying.

Speaker 34 Mandan police were still running a parallel investigation, but Detective Bowman said she wasn't hearing back from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Speaker 21 You've reached out. You're not getting calls back.

Speaker 10 I'm not, yeah, I'm not getting the information I need back.

Speaker 8 How frustrating is that?

Speaker 10 It's really frustrating.

Speaker 33 Bowman documented her calls to the Spirit Lake BIA office in her investigative report.

Speaker 19 However, when we contacted the BIA, we were told that the BIA agent assigned to the case had no knowledge of Detective Bowman's attempts to reach its offices.

Speaker 33 Lysa says she also called the BIA and left messages.

Speaker 4 Why are you not searching for her? You know, and

Speaker 4 what are you guys doing? Who's doing what?

Speaker 6 You didn't feel like they were doing enough.

Speaker 4 They weren't doing anything to begin with. Yeah,

Speaker 4 that's just kind of how they operate.

Speaker 36 The BIA told us that in Carla's case, BIA agents assisted the FBI with search efforts on foot and with helicopters, drones, and ATVs.

Speaker 40 But Lyssa was not counting on the BIA to find Carla.

Speaker 29 Suna was still her biggest lead, but she'd hung up on him.

Speaker 6 Did you think then I'm never going to hear from him again?

Speaker 4 No.

Speaker 36 Turned out, she was right.

Speaker 9 Hello, Lysa.

Speaker 4 Who's this?

Speaker 21 He called you back.

Speaker 4 He did.

Speaker 40 The power dynamic had shifted.

Speaker 42 Suna was seeking her out, seemed to want to tell her something.

Speaker 9 You know, I'm just trying to help you.

Speaker 19 Lyssa kept the pressure on.

Speaker 31 She needed Suna to feel guilty.

Speaker 9 You're not trying to help me.

Speaker 6 So, were you kind of betting on his conscience that eventually he would do the right thing?

Speaker 4 I knew he would.

Speaker 28 Lyssa's demands for answers wore away at a now defensive Suna.

Speaker 9 And you know what?

Speaker 4 I can have pity on you. I can have pity on you, but I want my niece's body.

Speaker 9 You know, my parents did raise me right. I come from a great family, you know what I mean?

Speaker 52 All this time, Suna is telling you he wants to help, that his parents raised him right.

Speaker 4 That's him trying to negotiate with himself. That's the way I thought.

Speaker 26 And she just kept turning up the heat.

Speaker 12 And Suna would go on, and she would listen to him, and yeah, then she would kind of turn it on and try to get some truth out of him.

Speaker 45 But after too many sleepless nights, fatigue caught up with Lyssa.

Speaker 4 I was just tired and exhausted and spent.

Speaker 38 The breaking point for Lyssa came as Suna told her his life was in danger.

Speaker 20 Men from out of state were following him.

Speaker 39 Suna had spun so many stories, so many lies.

Speaker 35 This was one too many for Lyssa.

Speaker 4 I maniacally thought that was funny at some point.

Speaker 49 Suddenly, every word he said made her laugh.

Speaker 9 I called for Tom PD to even tell him about this and he ain't even concerned about it. You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Speaker 30 I didn't realize what I just said.

Speaker 9 Oh,

Speaker 31 you might think Suna would be offended.

Speaker 30 I was out of line for that. I just didn't.

Speaker 19 But no, it seemed to knock him into some sort of reality.

Speaker 4 That was the turning point for him.

Speaker 6 He was almost persuaded by your laughing and your sense of humor.

Speaker 41 Yeah.

Speaker 30 Suna was about to give it all up.

Speaker 3 Coming up.

Speaker 4 You still had that little tiny glimmer of hope.

Speaker 46 I mean, this is something you don't ever want to hear in your life.

Speaker 3 A new revelation from Suna. But is he now in danger too?

Speaker 10 He's absolutely convinced that he's being monitored.

Speaker 3 When dateline continues.

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Speaker 26 Too often, in this vast, unforgiving land, all Lissa Yellowbird can hope for in her searches is to find a body.

Speaker 31 A suspect, let alone a cooperative one, is all too rare.

Speaker 35 And then there was Suna Guy.

Speaker 33 He was calling again.

Speaker 9 Good afternoon.

Speaker 36 And he had cracked.

Speaker 4 You're going to come to Spirit tomorrow afternoon? Why?

Speaker 20 After all those wrenching hours on the phone, Suna now said he'd take Lyssa to Carla's body. You're too good of a lady, and dude, I'm not going to lie to you.

Speaker 36 He admitted to what Lyssa had long believed.

Speaker 30 Carla was dead.

Speaker 49 Suna insisted he didn't pull the trigger, but he said in the aftermath, Dakota Charbonneau and Daylon St.

Speaker 31 Pierre demanded he help move her body.

Speaker 31 They both had guns, you know what I mean? And they were trying to ask me to touch her and hold and grab her, but I ain't gonna touch no dead body. I wasn't gonna grab it.

Speaker 31 And I'm just like, what's the f now?

Speaker 31 And I know where the body's at.

Speaker 31 I know who the individual that did.

Speaker 6 Did he explain to you the motive?

Speaker 4 Um, yeah. The drugs.
the money.

Speaker 6 So they had stolen her money and her drugs?

Speaker 9 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 43 Why kill her?

Speaker 41 Why not just steal it and just leave her there?

Speaker 4 The intention was to rob her. It didn't go as planned, obviously.
And when it happened the way it did, he claims that it was just as big of a shock to him.

Speaker 9 I didn't know that was going to happen. It should never happen.

Speaker 46 Melissa called me. That's when she told me, you know, they might know where she's at.
And then I just said, you know, is she alive?

Speaker 1 And she was like, no.

Speaker 56 So you still had that little tiny glimmer of hope?

Speaker 46 Even though I knew, but it still, when she told me no, it was like, oh my God, I started, you know, really crying. And I mean, it's just something you don't ever want to hear in your life.

Speaker 8 This was your firstborn.

Speaker 9 Yes.

Speaker 46 So I didn't think. I mean, I didn't want it to ever be true, but.

Speaker 51 In Mandan, Detective Bowman had also spoken on the phone with Suna that day.

Speaker 27 He told her he feared the men involved in Carla's murder were now after him.

Speaker 10 He's absolutely convinced that he's being monitored, too. He's just very paranoid at this point.

Speaker 31 Bowman thought Suna could well be in danger.

Speaker 49 This is a monumental moment in this case, and you need help.

Speaker 10 I know that the FBI can cover everything. They can go anywhere,

Speaker 10 and so I need the FBI.

Speaker 37 The FBI is responsible for investigating major crimes on reservations.

Speaker 31 Special Agent Birchler had been in contact with Detective Bowman about Carla's disappearance.

Speaker 40 On the day Bowman found out that Suna had turned, Birchler's team was out on the reservation with the BIA and a helicopter looking for Carla.

Speaker 37 Birchler thought they needed to bring Suna in that night, but it turned out that wouldn't be so easy.

Speaker 12 Suna was hiding, and he even shut off his phone. His phone couldn't be located.
He went completely off the grid.

Speaker 52 Were you starting to get worried as he's not responding now?

Speaker 6 He's stopped communicating?

Speaker 12 Absolutely starting to get worried that he's kind of going to lead us on a wild goose chase.

Speaker 30 Nevertheless, the next day, Lysa and Detective Bowman headed up to Spirit Lake to connect with Berchler's team. All of them counting on Suna's promise to take them to Carla's body.

Speaker 43 As you're pulling up to Spirit Lake, how are you feeling?

Speaker 4 I was just feeling like I was in full anticipation. I just wanted to hurry up and get this over with and

Speaker 4 make sure it was her.

Speaker 51 But Suna wasn't there.

Speaker 31 FBI agents eventually found him at a relative's house.

Speaker 28 Suna got into an FBI vehicle and they drove a few miles down the road.

Speaker 7 This is where Suna led you to.

Speaker 12 This is the spot, yep.

Speaker 51 You're really an isolated field on the reservation.

Speaker 12 It's kind of surreal, I think, at this moment. We've got three or four or five law enforcement vehicles coming out here.

Speaker 12 Suna gets out of the car.

Speaker 9 We're all walking.

Speaker 12 Anticipation is kind of built up to this moment. We're probably right around this area, and we kind of stop.
And the Suna just points, and he says, it's going to be over there and

Speaker 12 where the bushes are. And then as we walk a little bit further, once we get to a certain point in time, we can see some of Carla's clothes.

Speaker 53 You could see the body from...

Speaker 12 yeah

Speaker 12 we could see we probably walked up a little bit further and then we could see some of those bright color clothes.

Speaker 40 So you knew you knew you'd found her.

Speaker 12 We knew we had found her at that point in time and this is kind of the point where Soona gets a little choked up.

Speaker 12 He becomes a little emotional and that's when Suna says you know this wasn't supposed to happen.

Speaker 51 Lyssa waited at a house nearby.

Speaker 33 Later the agents brought photos and she ID'd the body.

Speaker 4 First thing that I noticed was that ring.

Speaker 6 There was the big gaudy ring.

Speaker 41 Wow she still had it on.

Speaker 4 I looked at the ring, I mean it was right there. And just to see the condition she was in,

Speaker 4 definitely not my first time

Speaker 4 seeing anybody in that condition, but...

Speaker 41 It was your niece.

Speaker 4 Definitely my first time seeing somebody I loved, you know.

Speaker 4 I guess I have never

Speaker 4 felt like I had such an open wound, like in the middle of nowhere with seeing somebody you care about just discarded like that.

Speaker 4 They discarded her. They just left her.

Speaker 37 Then, Lyssa made the awful call to Loretta to tell her they'd found Carla's body.

Speaker 35 The news came as a sad relief.

Speaker 7 Did it help you knowing that she was coming home?

Speaker 56 That you wouldn't have to wonder anymore where she was or what happened?

Speaker 46 Yes, that made me feel better, that at least I knew where she was and that, yes, I got to bring her home.

Speaker 49 We need to continue looking for them.

Speaker 32 For so many other Native American mothers, bringing their missing children home is something they can only hope for.

Speaker 37 But some think there's new reason for hope.

Speaker 13 It's been a sad history, and so we're trying to change it.

Speaker 3 Coming up.

Speaker 3 In court, a surprise that would divide Carla Yellowbird's family.

Speaker 41 You actually spoke on behalf of Suna.

Speaker 6 Why would you do that?

Speaker 3 And so many forgotten families. It's change coming at last.

Speaker 13 We're seeing some action on it right now.

Speaker 30 The story of Carla Yellowbird was, in many ways, tragically routine.

Speaker 49 A Native American woman goes missing and later turns up dead.

Speaker 54 What was unusual in Carla's case was that her killers were brought to justice.

Speaker 30 Daylon St. Pierre said he hit Carla on the head with a gun and it accidentally discharged.

Speaker 36 He pleaded guilty to felony murder and related charges and was sentenced to 27 and a half years. Dakota Charbonneau pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for aiding and abetting the killing.

Speaker 37 He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for Carla's murder and other charges.

Speaker 21 As part of a plea deal, Sunagai was sentenced to 15 years for second-degree murder and related charges.

Speaker 24 You came face to face with Sunagai.

Speaker 38 Yes, I did. What did he say to you?

Speaker 46 He just told me he was sorry and I didn't want to listen to him.

Speaker 18 Did you say anything to him?

Speaker 46 Well, I just was happy that he showed where my daughter was.

Speaker 25 There was a surprise witness at Suna's sentencing.

Speaker 24 You actually spoke on behalf of Suna.

Speaker 5 Why would you do that when Suna was a part of something that was so horrific?

Speaker 4 First of all, Suna did not plot to kill Carla. He did not pull a trigger.
Without Suna, we would have never got Carla back.

Speaker 20 Lyssa was risking any relationship with Loretta to support Suna, but she wanted to encourage others to come forward as he had.

Speaker 4 It would send a clear message to the rest of society in Indian Country that it is okay to provide information to give other people closure.

Speaker 42 Loretta told us she's grateful to Lyssa for helping to find Carla, but she can't forgive her for advocating for Suna.

Speaker 21 She's spoken out about her feelings on social media.

Speaker 8 Do you think that you will ever be able to repair things with Lyssa?

Speaker 46 Maybe in time.

Speaker 30 I pray for whoever's out there missing to go.

Speaker 51 Change has come slowly for the missing and murdered women's movement, but that hasn't stopped those who fight for the cause.

Speaker 21 Just the opposite.

Speaker 4 It's up to us to keep law enforcement and the authorities on their toes when it comes to getting justice.

Speaker 27 I want all you families that have lost a loved one.

Speaker 49 I want you to know that you are not alone.

Speaker 43 We are here with you.

Speaker 19 Lynette Grabel says they want people everywhere, not just in Indian country, to mobilize for missing and murdered women.

Speaker 16 We know it's the time to speak up and we know it's the time to fight and we know it's the time to bring light to our issues.

Speaker 42 As we reported this story, many people like Lynette shared their concerns about law enforcement's handling of crimes against Native Americans.

Speaker 52 You see this all too often where their daughter's case just isn't being taken seriously enough.

Speaker 5 Yes, enough. Or their sister or their mother.

Speaker 14 Right, exactly, or their sons. And I've heard law enforcement tell the family and even myself that this person is an alcoholic or this person is known to party.

Speaker 14 And I always cringe when I hear that because that doesn't matter.

Speaker 15 They're still a human being.

Speaker 4 The issue with missing a murder is so systemic that there are no easy answers.

Speaker 56 You bring such a unique perspective.

Speaker 33 One thing does bring hope to Native American communities: the appointment of Deb Holland as Secretary of the Interior.

Speaker 37 In that role, she oversees the BIA, the first Native American to do so.

Speaker 13 When I see an Indigenous woman missing,

Speaker 13 I see one of my own sisters, or my cousins, or one of my aunties or even my own child. I take this obligation freely.

Speaker 25 Once a single mother on food stamps, Holland put herself through law school and was elected to Congress before being named to the cabinet.

Speaker 15 When Indigenous women look at you, what do you hope they see?

Speaker 13 I've lived that life and I want their voices to be represented here.

Speaker 35 Tackling the missing and murdered Indigenous women's crisis is a priority for Secretary Holland.

Speaker 13 This is a crisis that's been happening in our country since colonization, and it's very, very deep. And so I'm grateful that we're seeing some action on it right now.

Speaker 56 In 2019, the Trump administration set up a special task force to address the problem.

Speaker 50 In 2020, Congress passed Savannah's Act and the Not Invisible Act to improve law enforcement cooperation and to increase the focus on missing and murdered women.

Speaker 35 Secretary Holland and the Biden Biden administration created several new measures, among them a first-of-its-kind missing and murdered unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Speaker 7 Is this kind of a boots-on-the-ground operation where you're going to literally go through case files and

Speaker 24 go case by case?

Speaker 13 Absolutely, yes. Boots on the ground is a good way to say that, but yes.

Speaker 37 In a written statement, the BIA told us it welcomes the additional resources.

Speaker 21 BIA Office of Justice Services takes seriously each and every case they are working to solve because agents, who are often members of the same tribal community they serve, know that cases aren't just a case file.

Speaker 37 They represent a family missing a loved one that deserves closure.

Speaker 44 Secretary Holland says changes to policy and law enforcement are critical, but so is raising awareness.

Speaker 30 Not just in Indian country, in the whole country.

Speaker 13 In some cases, these missing persons, cases, the murders, they don't get reported. If they're not reported, nobody knows to investigate them.

Speaker 13 And that is something that I am very passionate about because families deserve some answers.

Speaker 30 The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's Movement fights for thousands of people, and they are not anonymous.

Speaker 26 Everyone has a name.

Speaker 30 Like Olivia Lone Bear,

Speaker 32 Ashley Loring Heavy Runner, Cecilia Barber Finona, Joseph Bruce Sr., Faith Hedgepeth, Monica Bercier Wickery,

Speaker 28 and Carla Yellowbird.

Speaker 26 Each one beloved by someone, like Lyssa and Loretta, who laid her daughter to rest on the Standing Rock Reservation where Carla was raised.

Speaker 46 I always go to the cemetery a lot, but I always take the kids out there too. Tom, we're gonna go see their mom.

Speaker 53 How does it feel to be back here?

Speaker 33 As for Lyssa, she went with us to the field where her niece spent her final moments.

Speaker 4 You know, I miss Carla.

Speaker 4 Everybody does.

Speaker 4 I guess I just try to do the best I can to make sure

Speaker 4 this doesn't happen to anybody else.

Speaker 53 Carla represents so many other women.

Speaker 4 She does.

Speaker 53 Are you going to keep fighting?

Speaker 5 Keep searching?

Speaker 4 For sure.

Speaker 4 Most definitely.

Speaker 4 I don't want another family to ever feel like how we felt.

Speaker 3 That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt.
Thanks for joining us.

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