Melissa Beson photo courtesy LDF Police Department

The authorities searching for Melissa Beson, 37, a missing member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Vilas County, who has been missing since March 17, say they have followed up on reports that Beson was seen around the city of Wausau as they continue searching the forest near her home.

On March 17, Beson was noticed walking on Village Road near Wayman Lane toward Hwy. 47 on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation.

Six days later, family members reported Beson missing on March 23.

Beson was last seen wearing red sweatpants, a black sleeveless shirt, and a gray sweatshirt. She is a Native American female, 5’7”, with a medium build, brown hair, and brown eyes. She has numerous tattoos on her neck, arms, and legs.

Ground searches began on March 24 and 25, and aerial and underwater drones covered the Bear River in the vicinity where Beson was last seen.

Over 360 surveillance cameras positioned near tribal properties and monitored by full-time police employees had recorded footage reviewed without any evidence of Beson.

Subsequent ground searches were hampered by the heavy snowfall, but since most of the snow has melted, ground searches have resumed.

Lac du Flambeau Tribal Police Chief TJ Bill reports that on April 16, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) plane provided aerial coverage, and he expects the DNR aircraft will again be available on Monday, April 21.

So far, Bill said, searchers have covered over 824 acres of forest.

“We are not saying she is out in the forest, but we need to make sure, and this is why we are doing the searches,” said Bill.

Recently police received reports that Beson was seen in the Wausau area. 

Beson’s mother, Winifred Ann Beson, “Winnie,” told the Wisconsin Examiner on Tuesday, April 8, that her daughter might be with friends and she noted her daughter also likes to travel to other states, but in the past, Beson has always stayed in communication.

“Usually, she calls me if she needs money or is in trouble, but she hasn’t called me,” she said.

“We have been getting numerous reports Melissa is in the Wausau area,” said Bill, “but nothing has been substantiated. We have our officers travelling to Wausau and other areas.”  

Beson’s mother also said she is afraid Melissa might have been kidnapped by human traffickers. Native Americans have been targeted by human traffickers who prey on vulnerable populations where there is poverty and high drug use.

According to the Indian Law Resource Center, Native American women experience the highest rates of sexual assault of any group and are10 times more likely to experience domestic violence than white women. On some reservations, Native American women are murdered at a rate that is 10 times the national average. 

The missing and murdered Indigenous women plus relatives (MMIW/R) movement has strived to raise awareness of the plight of Indigenous people in North America. 

May 5 is Red Dress Day,  a national day of awareness for MMIW/R.

Wisconsin has a MMIW/R Task Force that is part of the Department of Justice, but Wisconsin doesn’t have a full time office as in Minnesota, which monitors  MMIW/R cases, assists families,  coordinates information for r law enforcement agencies and offers rewards for information.

Concerning the search for Beson, Bill said his office has one officer dedicated to the case who is also coordinating the searches with the help of the tribe’s emergency management office.

“Our two detectives are spending the majority of their time on the case, working social media search warrants for cellular telephones (Verizon), Facebook, Snap Chat and Google, working with these entities on past history locations,” said Bill. “If we’re not handling current cases/calls coming into the PD, we are working this case non-stop.”

Bill said the public may be invited to help in the search for Beson, but he is concerned that volunteers stay safe in the large forest where it is easy to become disoriented and lost.

“These areas are dangerous to the novice, and we cannot afford the volunteers to work the swamp and bog areas,” he said. “There is still some ground freeze, but areas of the swamps have thawed areas with deep mud. We got stuck at times [Thursday] in the swamps.  When safe and weather conditions are good, we will ask for volunteer support.”

Anyone with any information regarding Beson’s whereabouts should call the Lac du Flambeau Tribal Police Department at (715) 588-7717 or Vilas County Sheriff’s Office at (715) 479-4441.

Acknowledgements

Bill wanted to acknowledge organizations that have helped with  the search for Beson.

“We literally have thousands of hours into this investigation, which involves so many entities, not just ourselves,” said Bill.

Organizations that have helped include:

LDF Emergency Management, LDF Tribal Roads,  LDF Tribal Wardens, LDF Natural Resources, LDF Victim Services, LDF Economic Support, LDF Prosecutor, Newbold Fire Search and Rescue, LDF Fire and EMS, Arbor Vitae Fire and EMS, Vilas County Sheriff’s Office and Dispatch, Vilas County Sheriff’s Office Jail, Vilas County IT Department, LDF IT Department, Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office, DNR, Wisconsin Emergency Management, Wausau Police Department, Mountain Bay Metro Police, Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, Medford Police Department, Forest County Sheriff’s Office, Crandon Police Department, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office, Atkins County Sheriff’s Office – Minnesota, Milwaukee High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) agency, Vilas County Emergency Management, State of Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation, State of Wisconsin Department of Corrections Probation and Parole, Lake of the Torches Casino surveillance, Missing Murdered, Indigenous, plus Relatives  (MMIW/R) Wisconsin Task Force, and Native American Drug and Gang Initiative (NADGI) Task Force.

The tribal police department also received free software  from Intrepid Networks, a company whose platform allows police to monitor searchers via cell phone using  GPS coordinates.”