The statistics are appalling: 30% of Alaska murder victims are Indigenous people, even though they are just 16% of the state’s population. Federal authorities in Anchorage Wednesday marked the start of a new effort to bring the perpetrators of those crimes to justice.
“I am proud to announce the opening of the first cold case office in Alaska focused on missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives,” said Assistant Interior Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney, one of the dignitaries on hand for the ceremony.
The new cold case office is one person, an agent from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services. His name is Rick DeCora.
“Right now, it’s just a matter of developing partnerships and realizing that the entities that are here have been doing this already and I’m just going to be here to help, in whatever help that I can,” he said.
Some 300 Alaska Natives are in an FBI missing-persons database. DeCora said he hasn’t yet seen a list of cold cases to tackle.
“I don’t have access to it at this point,” he said. “I’m getting my commission through the Alaska State Troopers and developing that. So at that point I’ll have access to the records.”
Tami Truette Jerue, executive director of the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center, said she’d like to see better communication between law enforcement and the families of missing women.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve had to make a call to law enforcement for a family that’s called me from a village because their daughter came into town. They can’t find her. They can’t get help from law enforcement,” Jerue said. “They won’t listen to them.”
The new cold case office within the BIA building in Anchorage is part of an Interior Department initiative. It’s one of seven such offices nationwide.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
