Dozens of people marched this week on the Flathead Reservation for Mika Josephine Westwolf, who was hit and killed by a vehicle along Highway 93 earlier this year. The walk was part of a weeklong effort to bring awareness to the case and others like it.
Over three days of events, people from across the Flathead Reservation walked near Highway 93 wearing red shirts, the official color representing the disproportionate number of Indigenous people that go missing or are murdered.
Westwolf’s mother Carissa Heavy Runner says the Montana Highway Patrol, which is investigating her daughter’s death, hasn’t explained why they haven’t charged the suspect in the case.
“Nothing much has changed sadly. I’m hoping that after this walk and with the recent articles being released, that’s going to change because it’s now over two months,” Heavy Runner said.
The Montana Highway Patrol did not immediately respond to Montana Public Radio’s request for details about their investigation into the incident.
Heavy Runner says her daughter’s case follows a familiar trend of law enforcement agencies struggling to solve missing persons or murder cases on reservations.
She blames jurisdictional issue confusion over which agency is responsible for investigating crimes. Advocates have long said that confusion leads to cases falling through the cracks.
Heavy Runner told a crowd gathered in Pablo that has to change as she worries about the younger generation continuing to struggle with this issue.
“I don’t want them to have a fear or have to go through life where their classmates, their older cousins or siblings go missing or murdered,” Heavy Runner said.
Heavy Runner, who lives on the Blackfeet Reservation, called on Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal leaders and the Blackfeet Tribal Council to push for change at the federal level. She wants funding for special investigative teams dedicated to solving cases on reservations across the country.
