Family and friends hold posters of missing and murdered Indigenous people on May 5, 2025 in Duluth | Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner

On Monday, May 5, near Duluth City Hall, the mayors of Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin gathered with tribal members from the two states to offer their support for the 5th Annual National Day of Awareness for Missing, Murdered, Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR).

The May 5th event was one of many held in Wisconsin and around the nation to highlight the crises plaguing Native American communities.

Tribal members face violence, both domestic and outside their families, at a higher rate than the general population. Several factors contribute to the MMIWR phenomenon including the fact that missing people belong to a vulnerable population that has suffered historical trauma and is disproportionately affected by poverty and substance abuse; exploitation associated with itinerant workers in mining and oil camps near reservations; and an inconsistent track record of law enforcement committing resources to solve murders or finding missing person.

“On this day, we remember our stolen relatives and honor those who are still missing,” the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition said in a statement. “May 5 also serves as a call to action at the national level, for intervention at both the state and federal levels to the epidemic of our missing & murdered relatives.”

Tribal members, including many holding posters of missing or murdered people, represented family and friends.

Ian Martin is the nephew of Peter Martin, a Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa tribal member  who went missing from the Minnesota reservation in March 2024. Ian noted that May 5 was Peter’s 33rd birthday.

“After this week, we’re going to be starting up our search parties again,” said Ian. “That consists of looking through acres of woods, acres of properties. We have set up meetings with the agencies working this case and tips and leads are still being followed up on, and the investigation is still ongoing.”

Ian said there is no solid theory why his uncle went missing. 

“When a relative disappears from us or is taken from us, it creates a lot of unresolved grief, a lot of incomplete relationships,” he said. “Our family wishes day and night that he comes home.”

He continued, “I don’t have a solution to this MMIR issue in Indian Country, but I do have advice. The best advice is that care of one another. There’s only a handful of us, Indian people on this world. Remember to take care of your well-being.”

The mother of Chantel Moose, 25, a Native American murdered April 12, 2024 in Duluth also spoke. 

“This year has been hard,” said Shauna Moose, speaking in a trembling voice. “Hoping and praying for justice for her.”

Rene Ann Goodrich, a MMIWR advocate who organized the event, noted that the trial is set for the man accused of killing Chantel.

“The family has just completed their first memorial,” said Goodrich. “Now is the time that they’re seeking justice, and they need support from the community…and we want the family to know that we’re here with you. We’re here for the duration.”

Tony Mainville, a tribal member from Northern Minnesota and the uncle of Jeremy Jourdan, 16, who went missing on Halloween 2016, spoke of the family’s pain of missing the young man and their determination not to stop looking for him.

Steve Woodworth, a Leech Lake Tribal Member, filled out information at the event about his sister, Melissa Woodworth, who has been missing since December 2020. Steve said during a RV trip that Melissa’s boyfriend said she walked away in a town in Iowa, a town the boyfriend couldn’t remember, and she has never been heard from again.

Steve said he was the one who had reported his sister missing, and as the only remaining sibling, he had been working with the FBI and the Minnesota, Murdered, Indigenous. Relative (MMIR) Office.

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Three members of the Wisconsin Murdered, Missing, Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR) Task Force who attended a May 4 commemoration in Ashland were (from left) Justine Rufus, chair of the task force and a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Rose Barber of Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Rene Goodwich, a Bad River Tribal member. | Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner

Linda Dunbar, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and marginalized Communities advocate for New Day Advocacy Centers, said when she was in foster care 50 years ago in St. Paul, Minnesota, her mother was murdered and her killer was never charged.

Rose Barber, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, a Wisconsin Murdered, Missing, Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR) Task Force Member, and president of American Indians Against Abuse, said decades ago, an Alaskan Native friend went missing and his body was never found. Even today, nobody knows what happened to him.

After a round dance performed by the Red Cliff Women’s Hand Drum group, dozens of names were read of tribal members from Minnesota and Wisconsin who are officially listed as murdered or missing, names such as Melissa Beson of Lac du Flambeau, missing since March 17, Gene J. Cloud, Jr. of Black River Falls, Lisa Lynn Ninham of Menominee County and Nevaeh Leigh Kingbird of Bemidji, Minnesota.

And then more names were shouted out, names that had never been officially reported but who family members said had just disappeared and were never heard from again or who died a mysterious death.

The names were honored at the No More MMWIR event, which was held Sunday, May 4, in Bayview Park in Ashland by the shore of Lake Superior.

The event is one of several being held around the nation during the month of May to raise awareness of the MMIWR issue that has plagued tribal communities nationwide. On some tribal reservations, the murder rate for tribal women is ten times the national average. Tribal members face violence, both domestic and outside their families, at a higher rate than the general population. Several factors contribute to the MMIWR phenomenon including the fact that missing people belong to a vulnerable population that has suffered historical trauma and is disproportionately affected by poverty and substance abuse; exploitation associated with itinerant workers in mining and oil camps near reservations; and an inconsistent track record of law enforcement committing resources to solve murders or finding missing person.

Justine Rufus, co-chair of the Wisconsin MMIWR Task Force, rural coordinator of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and a Bad River member, spoke about the need for state funding to address the issue.

Rufus said that since the task force was created five years ago, awareness of the MMIWR issue has grown, but the number of MMIWR cases has also risen.

“We can keep creating awareness and education, which is very important,” she said. “What we really need is actual action to address this crisis. Our relatives are going missing at higher rates now since we created this task force. We are being murdered at higher rates. We are being sex trafficked higher than we’ve ever seen, so it takes real action.”

Rufus said no state has designated dollars for the MMIWR issue in its budget. (Minnesota sends a percentage of license plate fees to underwrite its MMIWR Office, part of the Department of Public Safety.)

She noted that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed budget includes $3.5 million to create 11 MMIWR liaison offices with the 11 tribes in the state, working with the Attorney general and the Department of Justice.

“I applaud Gov. Evers for putting this in the budget,” she said. “He’s the first governor in the nation to put any dollars towards this crisis. But now is the time of action. We need to call your legislators to tell them that we demand to continue this work.”

Rufus also called for more funding for law enforcement. “Some of our communities don’t even have law enforcement,” she said. She noted the ongoing search for Melissa Beson in Vilas County has consumed many resources.

Rufus encouraged the crowd to contact legislative Joint Finance Committee members to urge them to approve funding for MMIWR issues.

Rene Ann Goodrich, a Bad River tribal member and MMIWR advocate for the last 10 years, who is a member of the Wisconsin MMIWR Task Force and a board member of the Minnesota MMIWR Office, a member of the Native Lives Matter Coalition and the No More MMIW and Relatives Movement, noted the local effort in the Twin Ports area of Superior and Duluth, Minnesota to raise awareness.

She said MMIWR events feature important Native American elements.

“I wanted to share a little bit about some of the cultural practices that we bring as a people to the contemporary missing and murdered indigenous women and relatives movement that helps to promote the healing for our families and our communities.”

She noted the cultural practice of offering tobacco and prayers to request guidance. And she talked about how the red dress had become the official symbol of the MMIWR movement. For Native Americans, red represents a “connection between the physical and spiritual world.”

“The red dresses began with our sisters doing this work and advocacy for lost loved ones up in Canada, and so we’ve started the work down here about 10 years ago with the red dresses,” she said, “so we’re asking for communities from Minnesota to Wisconsin to please start hanging out those red dresses and hang out red shirts also, because our men, our boys, our two spirits people, they matter, too, and we want to honor them.”

For many tribal people who had dealt with historical trauma, including the legacy of family members being shipped to federal boarding schools, Goodrich said, it is difficult to talk about the MMIWR issue but the red dress or red shirt is a way to raise awareness.

“I understand that it’s a difficult topic, and it’s very difficult for many of us to be able to speak about this movement, this legacy of trauma, this intergenerational trauma that we do carry,” she said. “So the red dresses are a quiet form of advocacy. They speak for themselves. Hang out a red dress on your porch; hang it in your yard. You’re spreading awareness that way. You don’t necessarily need to have all the data or the background, but this is a quiet, honoring form of advocacy that everyone can do.”

Goodrich noted that she and her granddaughter, Alexis, were gathering names family members wanted to honor, including those who have not been officially recognized as missing or murdered.

“As we become more educated and more familiar about this epidemic and how it impacts us, Indigenous people disproportionately across Turtle Island (Earth), leaving us with this legacy, including the boarding school, the legacy from this colonization, how this violence disproportionately impacts our women and our girls …  we’re learning more each year about the broad spectrum of violence that is this movement,” said Goodrich. 

Rep. Angela Stroud (D-Ashland) represents a district that includes the Bad River and Red Cliff bands of Lake Superior Chippewa.

“We know that part of what makes this such a major issue that has been so difficult to solve as a country, as a state, is that we’ve just failed to make missing and murdered Indigenous people a priority,” said Stroud.

“My experience tells me that when native people are struggling, too often there’s a tendency for systems of power to have an attitude that it’s not our problem, like it’s a problem of tribes or just the problem of local communities,” she added.

Stroud said the legacy of state violence and the scourges of drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, homicide and human trafficking are connected. 

She called on people living on ceded Native American land to recognize  “the moral responsibility of our government to prioritize missing and murdered Indigenous people.”

“So as the state representative of this area of Bad River and Red Cliff and any other indigenous people who live in the 73rd, I want you to know that I care, that I see you, and I will do what I can to walk this journey with you of finding those who are missing and sitting together in the pain of those who are gone,” she said.

Dunbar noted that the Red Cliff Women’s Hand Drum Group, performing for the event, had formed to support the community, and each woman had made her own hand drum as part of her spiritual quest.

“These women wanted to come today and sing songs for everyone here for healing and for their own healing,” she said.

Those who are left behind after a family member goes missing or is murdered have a need to heal, Dunbar said, and she recounted her own experience.

“People ask me why I am so motivated to work on the MMIWR issue,” she said. “When I was a little girl, my mother was killed in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They never, ever arrested the person who killed her. They took her body and placed it in a grave, and for some 50 years my family has been looking for her grave, and as the Creator would have it, this past fall we were able to find her grave. Most of my brothers have passed on. There are only three of us left out of nine. And so our nieces and our nephews and our grandchildren are going to journey to her grave this spring to do that ceremony to welcome her home.”

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Young protesters express their support for Sawyer County Judge Monica Isham, who has been criticized by Republicans for her comments about safety in the courtroom after the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan in Milwaukee | Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner

Sawyer County Circuit Judge Monica Isham drew rebukes from Republican elected officials and conservative media outlets after she reportedly expressed concerns for her safety in court after the April 25 arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hanna Dugan.

The Examiner has not been able to confirm the authenticity of the email, but WISN News, the ABC affiliate in Milwaukee, reported that two Wisconsin judges confirmed to the station that they had received it from Isham. In the email, Isham allegedly said she would  refuse to appear in  court unless she received “guidance” and “support” concerning the presence and permissible activities of ICE agents. 

Over the weekend of April 26-27, right-wing media outlets obtained and shared the email they claimed Isham sent to other judges.

On Monday and Tuesday Isham appeared in court via Zoom.

There is also  added security in the court, and a Sawyer County Deputy told the Wisconsin Examiner there had been a threat to a judge.  

Isham was elected in November 2023 to the newly created Branch 2 court in an uncontested race. She is a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and is the first female and first Native American judge in Sawyer County and only the second Native American circuit court judge in Wisconsin.

In the email, Isham reportedly noted she had sworn an oath of support to the U.S. and the Wisconsin constitutions. She also reportedly added that  Judge Dugan was standing by her oath of office when she confronted ICE officers who came to her courtroom in Milwaukee and escorted the defendant they’d come to arrest out a side door. 

“Yesterday, Judge Hannah Dugan of Milwaukee County stood on her Oath in the very building she swore to uphold it and she was arrested and charged with felonies for it. Enough is enough,” the email message said.

“I have no intention of allowing anyone to be taken out of my courtroom by ICE and sent to a concentration camp, especially without due process as BOTH of the constitutions we swore to support requires. Should I start raising ball money?”

Criticism of Isham

Isham’s reported threat to not hold court out of concern about interactions with ICE agents drew criticism from three northern Wisconsin Republican legislators who represent Sawyer County.

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany said Isham should resign.

“Monica Isham is choosing to protect illegal aliens over the law,” Tiffany wrote on X. “She should resign or be removed.”

State Sen. Romaine Quinn and state Rep. Chanz Green,  issued a joint statement: “Wisconsin’s Code of Judicial Conduct requires a judge to uphold the integrity of the judiciary. It further states that ‘a judge shall respect and comply with the law and shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.’

“Judge Isham’s threat to close court certainly does not promote public confidence in our court system or uphold the integrity of her position as a public official in this state. It is a disservice to the residents of Sawyer County.”

In their joint statement, Quinn and Green note that there had been an intensive effort to expand Sawyer County’s court to the second branch, which was officially recognized in 2023, and they go on to say that if Isham will not exercise her duties, then she should resign.

The Republican Party chair for the 7th CD, Jim Miller, who is also the president of the Hayward City Council, said he has empathy for Judge Isham for saying in the email that she had faced racism in her courtroom.

“That’s sad that she’s had to face that,” said Miller. “If that were my court and I faced racism, I would have held those people in contempt of court.”

However, Miller said that Isham’s threat not to hold court was drawing the ire of many people he had talked to.

“That does not sit well with people because they expect her to be a public servant,” said Miller. “If she is going to get a paycheck, she should come in and do her job. You can’t just boycott working as a public servant. It doesn’t work that way.”

Isham has so far continued to hold court via Zoom. 

Miller is also critical of Isham reportedly mentioning those detained by ICE would be sent to a “concentration camp.”

“My recommendation would be for her to at least clarify or maybe apologize for that statement, because that’s a stretch beyond stretch,” said Miller. “People like to throw out the Nazi references on both sides of the aisle, and it really muddies the argument of what’s going on.”

He added, “I think her emotions got the best of her, but I think people have real questions about her ability to make sure that justice is blind at this point, and that’s the biggest concern.”

Support for Isham

On Thursday, May 1, there was a large demonstration at the corners of state highways 27 and 63 in the city of Hayward with many people holding signs supporting Isham.

At 2 p.m. approximately 80 demonstrators left the corner by the state highways and walked two blocks by the Sawyer County Courthouse, and they were joined at the courthouse by over 20 students from Lac Courte Oreilles K-12 school who said they came out to support Isham, a fellow tribal member.

 “I’m here to fight for Judge Isham and what we stand for, and I find it inspiring to be here,” said Ashland Demonie, 14.

However, Denomie was also appalled to see some adults driving by swearing at the students and giving the youngsters the middle finger.

“It bothers me because we are just children here fighting for our rights and fighting for who we are, and seeing how harsh some adults respond, who should be more mature, is troubling,” she said.

Ode’iminke Leach, 15, is also a student who came out to support Isham and advocate for Native Americans.

“I’m out here protesting because I support Judges Isham and Dugan,” said Elizabeth Riley of Hayward, a Democrat who has run twice for the 74th Assembly District.

Riley said she feared that under President Donald Trump, the U.S. would not follow the rule of law but become more like a developing nation where authority is in the hands of a powerful individual rather than the written law and guaranteed rights.

Mary Vintcenda of the village of Exeland said she was at the demonstration to support Isham and the rule of law.

“I support Judge Isham because she is standing up for the rule of law,” said Vintcenda, who was joined at the demonstration with her brother, Tom, who was also holding a sign. “She’s standing up for what’s right, and I wish others would join us.”

“So we’re out here supporting Judge Monica Isham,” said Paul DeMain, former editor and owner of News from Indian Country and a Native American active in Democratic politics who has run for state Senate.

DeMain said Isham’s email represents concerns that many judges have across Wisconsin after the arrest of Dugan.

“My understanding is the entire state is engaged in a discussion about how to deal with potential ICE raids in the courtroom,” he said.

DeMain said ICE actively pursuing suspects in a court will discourage witnesses from appearing in court if they fear being arrested by ICE.

“Are they going to show up in the courtroom to testify if they think they’re going to get hauled out and deported to El Salvador and put in a concentration camp?” asked DeMain. “These courts need to be safe. They need to be involved with respecting that due process for all U.S. citizens and all people in this country and let the process work it out.”

He added, “I think what’s going on with this administration, showcasing for publicity reasons the arrest of the Milwaukee judge with massive law enforcement officers, cuffing the judge outside in the parking lot, inviting all the right-wing media to take pictures — these are staged events meant to [cause]  U.S. citizens to be afraid to speak up, to be afraid to have an oppositional view, to stand up for citizens’ rights in this country.”

Marcie Rendon, author of “Where They Last Saw her,” spoke at the Muir Library in Winnebago, Minnesota | Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner

Marcie Rendon, author of “Where They Last Saw Her,” spoke at the Muir Library in Winnebago in southern Minnesota last Tuesday, where a group of 15-20 white women from a conservative, Republican-leaning farming community came to hear the Native American author talk about her recently published book.

The crime novel explores the theme of Native American women who are missing or murdered.

Rendon is a member of the White Earth Nation in northwest Minnesota who now lives in Minneapolis.

The story begins with the protagonist, Quill, a Native American wife and mother of two, who is jogging on the reservation when she hears a woman scream. That scream sends her into panic, which later leads to an investigation.

Rendon told the admiring audience that she is a crime junkie who loves to create page-turners, and that her goal with the new book wasn’t to provide a sociological study of indigenous life, but to tell a good story.

However, Rendon framed the book’s accounts of missing Native American women taken from a reservation and an infant kidnapped from a Walmart to the movement recognizing the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIW/R) 

Early on, Crow, Quill’s husband, expresses concern about his wife risking her safety chasing  down information on the possible identity of the woman she heard screaming:

“We’ve been hearing these horror stories of four thousand, maybe five thousand women missing across Canada. Missing down here. The stories of what has happened to women and children” – he emphasized children – “in the man camps over the Dakotas. And they are here now.” He jabbed two fingers onto the table when he said the word now. “Those same men are here now.” He jabbed the table again. “I don’t want anyone from my family to go missing. To end up dead in a ditch or a river. No. Not on my watch.”

When the book club members had an opportunity to ask Rendon questions, they didn’t focus on the plotline of the story but on the larger MMIW/R issue, what’s behind it and what could be done to address it.

In mainstream culture, Rendon responded, Native Americans are seen as invisible and their problems have not been taken as seriously.

“When I go out East to talk, most people out there think we’re all dead; that we disappeared with, I don’t know, the Black Hills gold rush, which also makes it easier for us to disappear if people don’t think we exist,” she said. “How can you disappear if you don’t exist?”

Although the MMIW/R issue has benefited from more public discussions, such as the upcoming May 5 MMIW/R Day of Awareness, Rendon said, when she was recently in Madison, she met a college professor who had never heard of the issue.

“Where They Last Saw Her” is an example of a work of fiction that raises awareness of a real crisis and provides insights into subcultures and their struggles.

In 2018, as part of a statewide program called Wisconsin Reads, several book clubs around the state collectively read and discussed “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota. That book also raised awareness of struggles on Native American reservations and, in particular, the complication of prosecuting a crime when there are competing jurisdictional authorities between a tribal nation and county and state authorities.

Rendon is also the author of the “Cash Blackbear” series, which involves a Native American 19-year-old woman who solves crimes in the Red River area of Minnesota/North Dakota in the 1970s. She said her editor at Bantam asked her about writing another book outside the series.

“She said, ‘Well, what’s the current issue in Indian Country?’ and I said, ‘missing and murdered Indian women.’”

However, Rendon was initially reluctant to write a story around the MMIW/R issue.

“I said, ‘there’s no resolution. If somebody’s missing or murdered, there’s no happy ending,” she said. “There’s no resolution to the story. They’re either dead or they’re still missing.’”

Rendon’s story is set in Minnesota at a fictional tribe on the outskirts of Duluth, Minnesota, where in real life there had been a major pipeline project on a reservation in the area, like the one in her book — the replacement of Line 3 by Enbridge on the Fond du Lac Reservation, completed in 2021.

Prior to the Line 3 permit being approved, there had been concerns by Native American groups about man camps and violence and harassment against Native women.

A 2021 article by The Guardian, “Sexual violence along pipeline route follows Indigenous women’s warnings,” reported that a local crisis center for survivors of violence had “received more than 40 reports about Line 3 workers harassing and assaulting women and girls who live in northwestern Minnesota.”

Rene Ann Goodrich, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, and a member of the Wisconsin MMIW/R Task Force is one of several Ojibwe women from Northern Wisconsin who have also expressed concern over Enbridge replacing a portion of Line 5, currently located on the Bad River Reservation, but Enbridge has filed for permits to build outside the reservation. Besides environmental concerns, the new project could result in a man camp in the area and possible assaults against Native women.

Rendon said there is a strong relationship between the extractive industry and the MMIW/R issue, and she makes a strong correlation between the two in her book.

“Anytime you have an extractive industry, like the pipelines, gold mines, uranium mines, anytime you have an extractive industry where large groups of men are pulled in to do the extraction, there’s no police force. They show up without their wives and families. They show up without ministers or priests. It’s just like the Wild West,” she said. “There has to be something done about the extractive industries and this use of men in large groups to actually go out and do these extractive industries. I don’t know how you change this. But I think that awareness is a piece of it.”

However, Rendon said she had heard that some oil companies have responded to concerns about man camps by putting men up in hotels with their families.

“Talk about the power of women, right? Bringing your wife and she’ll make you go to church,” she said.

Rendon said it was vital for her to portray Native American women in a community. In the story, three women, Quill and her friends Punk and Gaylyn, often travel together as they pursue information about missing women or help with searches.

“In Native communities, you almost never do anything alone,” she said. “You know, if I’m going to go to the grocery store, somebody’s with me. There’s one family that, if you see them at the pow wow —  if you see them at the grocery store, if you see them downtown, in the courthouse —  it’s the mom, the grandma, the kids, you know; it’s like, it’s a whole group,” she said.

Regarding Native women and community, Rendon notes it was Indigenous/First Nation women in Canada who first gathered together and spoke out about the phenomenon of Indigenous women missing around the man camps of oil pipelines and mining operations.

“I knew that in this story about missing and murdered Indian women, what was important to me was a community of women, and so I knew that it wasn’t going to be just one person,” she said.

Rendon said she has received some criticism for including a male Native American who is abusive.

“We have bad people in our communities, too,” she said, “and then there’s the thing about domestic abuse, it happens in every community and in smaller communities. People know that it happens, but people don’t talk about it, or there’s this secrecy and stuff that happens around it.”

In Minnesota, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) reports there were 716 Indigenous persons missing in that state in 2024, 57% of whom were women.

In Wisconsin the exact number of missing Indigenous persons is not published, in part because the state does not have a clearinghouse like Minnesota for gathering that data.

Rendon praised efforts in Minnesota to create an MMIW/R office that tracks MMIW/R cases, works with families, and provides support and even rewards for information. And she noted that in Minneapolis, the Indigenous Protectors Movement, a branch of the American Indian Movement, is active in putting out flyers and organizing searches for missing persons.

In researching the novel, Rendon said she was surprised by how often white women who went missing were blamed for causing their own victimization through their behavior, including having multiple sexual partners. In Native American communities, she said, there isn’t that cloud of guilt over women.

“The Native community clearly has said, ‘I don’t care what our women were doing, nobody deserves to be trafficked. Nobody deserves to end up dead in a ditch or in a gunny sack in the Red River Valley,’” she said. “So there’s a difference, a cultural difference that I saw, which surprised me.”

Marcie Rendon, author of “Where They Last Saw her,” spoke at the Muir Library in Winnebago, Minnesota | Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner

Marcie Rendon, author of “Where They Last Saw Her,” spoke at the Muir Library in Winnebago in southern Minnesota last Tuesday, where a group of 15-20 white women from a conservative, Republican-leaning farming community came to hear the Native American author talk about her recently published book.

The crime novel explores the theme of Native American women who are missing or murdered.

Rendon is a member of the White Earth Nation in northwest Minnesota who now lives in Minneapolis.

The story begins with the protagonist, Quill, a Native American wife and mother of two, who is jogging on the reservation when she hears a woman scream. That scream sends her into panic, which later leads to an investigation.

Rendon told the admiring audience that she is a crime junkie who loves to create page-turners, and that her goal with the new book wasn’t to provide a sociological study of indigenous life, but to tell a good story.

However, Rendon framed the book’s accounts of missing Native American women taken from a reservation and an infant kidnapped from a Walmart to the movement recognizing the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIW/R) 

Early on, Crow, Quill’s husband, expresses concern about his wife risking her safety chasing  down information on the possible identity of the woman she heard screaming:

“We’ve been hearing these horror stories of four thousand, maybe five thousand women missing across Canada. Missing down here. The stories of what has happened to women and children” – he emphasized children – “in the man camps over the Dakotas. And they are here now.” He jabbed two fingers onto the table when he said the word now. “Those same men are here now.” He jabbed the table again. “I don’t want anyone from my family to go missing. To end up dead in a ditch or a river. No. Not on my watch.”

When the book club members had an opportunity to ask Rendon questions, they didn’t focus on the plotline of the story but on the larger MMIW/R issue, what’s behind it and what could be done to address it.

In mainstream culture, Rendon responded, Native Americans are seen as invisible and their problems have not been taken as seriously.

“When I go out East to talk, most people out there think we’re all dead; that we disappeared with, I don’t know, the Black Hills gold rush, which also makes it easier for us to disappear if people don’t think we exist,” she said. “How can you disappear if you don’t exist?”

Although the MMIW/R issue has benefited from more public discussions, such as the upcoming May 5 MMIW/R Day of Awareness, Rendon said, when she was recently in Madison, she met a college professor who had never heard of the issue.

“Where They Last Saw Her” is an example of a work of fiction that raises awareness of a real crisis and provides insights into subcultures and their struggles.

In 2018, as part of a statewide program called Wisconsin Reads, several book clubs around the state collectively read and discussed “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota. That book also raised awareness of struggles on Native American reservations and, in particular, the complication of prosecuting a crime when there are competing jurisdictional authorities between a tribal nation and county and state authorities.

Rendon is also the author of the “Cash Blackbear” series, which involves a Native American 19-year-old woman who solves crimes in the Red River area of Minnesota/North Dakota in the 1970s. She said her editor at Bantam asked her about writing another book outside the series.

“She said, ‘Well, what’s the current issue in Indian Country?’ and I said, ‘missing and murdered Indian women.’”

However, Rendon was initially reluctant to write a story around the MMIW/R issue.

“I said, ‘there’s no resolution. If somebody’s missing or murdered, there’s no happy ending,” she said. “There’s no resolution to the story. They’re either dead or they’re still missing.’”

Rendon’s story is set in Minnesota at a fictional tribe on the outskirts of Duluth, Minnesota, where in real life there had been a major pipeline project on a reservation in the area, like the one in her book — the replacement of Line 3 by Enbridge on the Fond du Lac Reservation, completed in 2021.

Prior to the Line 3 permit being approved, there had been concerns by Native American groups about man camps and violence and harassment against Native women.

A 2021 article by The Guardian, “Sexual violence along pipeline route follows Indigenous women’s warnings,” reported that a local crisis center for survivors of violence had “received more than 40 reports about Line 3 workers harassing and assaulting women and girls who live in northwestern Minnesota.”

Rene Ann Goodrich, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, and a member of the Wisconsin MMIW/R Task Force is one of several Ojibwe women from Northern Wisconsin who have also expressed concern over Enbridge replacing a portion of Line 5, currently located on the Bad River Reservation, but Enbridge has filed for permits to build outside the reservation. Besides environmental concerns, the new project could result in a man camp in the area and possible assaults against Native women.

Rendon said there is a strong relationship between the extractive industry and the MMIW/R issue, and she makes a strong correlation between the two in her book.

“Anytime you have an extractive industry, like the pipelines, gold mines, uranium mines, anytime you have an extractive industry where large groups of men are pulled in to do the extraction, there’s no police force. They show up without their wives and families. They show up without ministers or priests. It’s just like the Wild West,” she said. “There has to be something done about the extractive industries and this use of men in large groups to actually go out and do these extractive industries. I don’t know how you change this. But I think that awareness is a piece of it.”

However, Rendon said she had heard that some oil companies have responded to concerns about man camps by putting men up in hotels with their families.

“Talk about the power of women, right? Bringing your wife and she’ll make you go to church,” she said.

Rendon said it was vital for her to portray Native American women in a community. In the story, three women, Quill and her friends Punk and Gaylyn, often travel together as they pursue information about missing women or help with searches.

“In Native communities, you almost never do anything alone,” she said. “You know, if I’m going to go to the grocery store, somebody’s with me. There’s one family that, if you see them at the pow wow —  if you see them at the grocery store, if you see them downtown, in the courthouse —  it’s the mom, the grandma, the kids, you know; it’s like, it’s a whole group,” she said.

Regarding Native women and community, Rendon notes it was Indigenous/First Nation women in Canada who first gathered together and spoke out about the phenomenon of Indigenous women missing around the man camps of oil pipelines and mining operations.

“I knew that in this story about missing and murdered Indian women, what was important to me was a community of women, and so I knew that it wasn’t going to be just one person,” she said.

Rendon said she has received some criticism for including a male Native American who is abusive.

“We have bad people in our communities, too,” she said, “and then there’s the thing about domestic abuse, it happens in every community and in smaller communities. People know that it happens, but people don’t talk about it, or there’s this secrecy and stuff that happens around it.”

In Minnesota, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) reports there were 716 Indigenous persons missing in that state in 2024, 57% of whom were women.

In Wisconsin the exact number of missing Indigenous persons is not published, in part because the state does not have a clearinghouse like Minnesota for gathering that data.

Rendon praised efforts in Minnesota to create an MMIW/R office that tracks MMIW/R cases, works with families, and provides support and even rewards for information. And she noted that in Minneapolis, the Indigenous Protectors Movement, a branch of the American Indian Movement, is active in putting out flyers and organizing searches for missing persons.

In researching the novel, Rendon said she was surprised by how often white women who went missing were blamed for causing their own victimization through their behavior, including having multiple sexual partners. In Native American communities, she said, there isn’t that cloud of guilt over women.

“The Native community clearly has said, ‘I don’t care what our women were doing, nobody deserves to be trafficked. Nobody deserves to end up dead in a ditch or in a gunny sack in the Red River Valley,’” she said. “So there’s a difference, a cultural difference that I saw, which surprised me.”

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.”

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The Bear River flows out of Flambeau Lake. Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner

Tuesday afternoon, April 8, T.J. Bill, chief of police for the Lac du Flambeau (LDF) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, said his department and other agencies had spent over 1,000 hours in the search for Melissa Beson, 37, a tribal member who has been missing since March 17.

As the snow melts under rising temperatures, the plan for Saturday, April 12, is to continue an organized ground, air and water search in and around the surrounding vast forest, thousands of acres where one could quickly become lost.

Beson was last seen between 4:30 and 5 p.m. on March 17 on the outskirts of the Town of Lac du Flambeau, by Indian Village Road and Chequamegon Forest Trail, near the Bear River. Early in the search, the LDF Tribal Police Department flew a drone over the river’s open water and sent a submersible drone under the ice.

A search of the area forest, which covers most of Vilas County, was impeded by  snow cover.

After Beson was last seen on March 17, there was a heavy snowfall of over 6 inches, and then after her family reported her missing on March 23, another 3-inch snowfall covered the area. Some of the snow has melted with rising temperatures, but deeper in the woods snow is still covering downed logs and branches, making it difficult to detect what could be on the forest floor.

“We still have 6 inches of snow in the woods,” said Bill on April 8.

However, Bill anticipated that much of that snow would be melted by Saturday. Once the snow is totally off the ground, he plans to request that the Wisconsin State Patrol search the area by airplane.

On the previous Saturday, April 5, 25 people went out looking for Beson, including those from canine units and others operating drones in the water and air. However, it was difficult with the snow still on the ground.

On Tuesday, Bill was driving on a side road when he came across   LDF Emergency Manager Kat Milton, who was out collecting the GIS coordinates to help organize the Saturday, April 12, search in one of the large sections of woods near where Beson was last seen.

Bill’s concern about covering a large forest is volunteers getting lost while searching for Beson.

On Saturday, he also anticipates needing the drones to look over bogs and swamps scattered around the forest.

“We can’t walk into a bog unless we throw boards down that we can walk over,” he said.

Bill said he has to consider that Beson could have gotten lost in the large forest.

Since joining the department in 2013, he has participated in three searches for lost persons who were found deceased. The missing person is not always found deep in the woods.

“The Newbold Search and Rescue found one individual a half-mile from his residence,” he said.

Surveillance footage

After Benson went missing, the LDF Police Department reviewed recordings from over 360 surveillance cameras located around the reservation but didn’t turn up any footage of Beson.

“We didn’t have any surveillance cameras where Mellisa was last seen,” said Bill.

But the police department has other cameras that record the license plates of vehicles on the roads on March 17.

“We recorded the license plates of hundreds of vehicles,” he said.

Looking at all leads

As Bill’s office prepares for the weekend ground search, it is also coordinating with law enforcement in other areas of the state on leads that Beson might be living with friends off the reservation in larger communities.

“We are following up all the information we have, but we are also searching locally to eliminate the possibility that she might have walked off into the woods and gotten lost,” he said.

Beson’s mother, Winifred Ann Beson, “Winnie,” said her daughter might be with friends, but she also said she is afraid Melissa might have been taken by human trafficking. Native American populations have been targeted by human traffickers who prey on vulnerable populations where there is poverty and high drug use.

Winnie said her daughter likes to travel to other states, but she 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.

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Relatives MMIW/R movement has been raising awareness of the plight of Indigenous women who have a much higher rate of being victims of violence.

The MMIW/R issue has touched the LDF band. On the edge of the Town of Lac du Flambeau, there is a new billboard asking for information on the death of Susan Poupart, a tribal woman who was murdered on May 20, 1990, and her case remains unsolved.

Winnie, who suffers from lung cancer, said it is difficult for her emotionally to not know where her daughter is or if she is safe.

“It’s hard,” Winnie said of her missing daughter. “She is big-hearted, loveable, funny. She is right by me all the time. Me and her are close.”

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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.”

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The Bear River flows out of Flambeau Lake. Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner

Tuesday afternoon, April 8, T.J. Bill, chief of police for the Lac du Flambeau (LDF) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, said his department and other agencies had spent over 1,000 hours in the search for Melissa Beson, 37, a tribal member who has been missing since March 17.

As the snow melts under rising temperatures, the plan for Saturday, April 12, is to continue an organized ground, air and water search in and around the surrounding vast forest, thousands of acres where one could quickly become lost.

Beson was last seen between 4:30 and 5 p.m. on March 17 on the outskirts of the Town of Lac du Flambeau, by Indian Village Road and Chequamegon Forest Trail, near the Bear River. Early in the search, the LDF Tribal Police Department flew a drone over the river’s open water and sent a submersible drone under the ice.

A search of the area forest, which covers most of Vilas County, was impeded by  snow cover.

After Beson was last seen on March 17, there was a heavy snowfall of over 6 inches, and then after her family reported her missing on March 23, another 3-inch snowfall covered the area. Some of the snow has melted with rising temperatures, but deeper in the woods snow is still covering downed logs and branches, making it difficult to detect what could be on the forest floor.

“We still have 6 inches of snow in the woods,” said Bill on April 8.

However, Bill anticipated that much of that snow would be melted by Saturday. Once the snow is totally off the ground, he plans to request that the Wisconsin State Patrol search the area by airplane.

On the previous Saturday, April 5, 25 people went out looking for Beson, including those from canine units and others operating drones in the water and air. However, it was difficult with the snow still on the ground.

On Tuesday, Bill was driving on a side road when he came across   LDF Emergency Manager Kat Milton, who was out collecting the GIS coordinates to help organize the Saturday, April 12, search in one of the large sections of woods near where Beson was last seen.

Bill’s concern about covering a large forest is volunteers getting lost while searching for Beson.

On Saturday, he also anticipates needing the drones to look over bogs and swamps scattered around the forest.

“We can’t walk into a bog unless we throw boards down that we can walk over,” he said.

Bill said he has to consider that Beson could have gotten lost in the large forest.

Since joining the department in 2013, he has participated in three searches for lost persons who were found deceased. The missing person is not always found deep in the woods.

“The Newbold Search and Rescue found one individual a half-mile from his residence,” he said.

Surveillance footage

After Benson went missing, the LDF Police Department reviewed recordings from over 360 surveillance cameras located around the reservation but didn’t turn up any footage of Beson.

“We didn’t have any surveillance cameras where Mellisa was last seen,” said Bill.

But the police department has other cameras that record the license plates of vehicles on the roads on March 17.

“We recorded the license plates of hundreds of vehicles,” he said.

Looking at all leads

As Bill’s office prepares for the weekend ground search, it is also coordinating with law enforcement in other areas of the state on leads that Beson might be living with friends off the reservation in larger communities.

“We are following up all the information we have, but we are also searching locally to eliminate the possibility that she might have walked off into the woods and gotten lost,” he said.

Beson’s mother, Winifred Ann Beson, “Winnie,” said her daughter might be with friends, but she also said she is afraid Melissa might have been taken by human trafficking. Native American populations have been targeted by human traffickers who prey on vulnerable populations where there is poverty and high drug use.

Winnie said her daughter likes to travel to other states, but she 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.

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Relatives MMIW/R movement has been raising awareness of the plight of Indigenous women who have a much higher rate of being victims of violence.

The MMIW/R issue has touched the LDF band. On the edge of the Town of Lac du Flambeau, there is a new billboard asking for information on the death of Susan Poupart, a tribal woman who was murdered on May 20, 1990, and her case remains unsolved.

Winnie, who suffers from lung cancer, said it is difficult for her emotionally to not know where her daughter is or if she is safe.

“It’s hard,” Winnie said of her missing daughter. “She is big-hearted, loveable, funny. She is right by me all the time. Me and her are close.”

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Melissa Beson photo courtesy LDF Police Department

On Tuesday, April 1, the Lac du Flambeau (LDF) Tribal Police Department said in a press release that it is continuing a search for Melissa Beson, 37, who has been missing since March 17 from the Lac du Flambeau Reservation in Vilas County.

Chief of Police T.J. Bill said there had been ground, air and water searches using drones and dogs, and images from over 300 reservation surveillance cameras have been reviewed for clues.

Beson, a member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, was last seen in the vicinity of Indian Village Road and Chequamegon Forest Trail in Lac du Flambeau.

She was last seen wearing red sweatpants, a black sleeveless shirt, and a gray sweatshirt.

Beson is a Native American female, 5’7”, with a medium build, brown hair and brown eyes. She has numerous tattoos, including on her neck, arms and leg.

Beson’s family reported her missing on March 23, six days after she was last seen.

“Finding her has been the number one priority of the LDF Police Department,” Bill in a statement. “We have conducted extensive ground searches on foot, even in severe weather conditions. Our officers have even come in on their days off to search for her. The dedicated members of Newbold Search and Rescue have once again come to our aid and have assisted us by searching with their specially trained canines.The dogs have shown interest and appeared to pick up Melissa’s scent in the area of her last known sighting.”

The LDF Police Department has used two high-quality drones to search a portion of the Bear River’s open water and plans to use an underwater drone to dive under ice.

“Although we are expending monumental efforts in searching the area in which Mellisa was last seen, we are in no way ignoring the possibility that she may be elsewhere,” said Bill. “Our officers are working non-stop, during every shift, to follow up on every lead and tip that we receive. We have combed through countless hours of surveillance footage, have interviewed dozens of people, and have reached out to law enforcement agencies in various areas of the State of Wisconsin, who have assisted us by contacting persons with possible information and even conducting searches of residences in their jurisdictions.”

Bill told the Examiner that the LDF Police Department has reviewed surveillance footage from over 300 cameras monitored around the reservation.

“So nothing’s been revealed on them, on the surveillance of the cameras, where she was last seen,” he said. Where Beson was last seen is “in more of a desolate area,” he added, “so we don’t have cameras that go out that far.”

He also noted that the ground searches using dogs had been hampered by recent weather, including snow.

“We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to LDF Emergency Management, LDF Tribal Roads Department, LDF Economic Support Department, Newbold Search and Rescue, the Vilas County Sheriff’s Department, and Vilas County Dispatch for their vital assistance to our investigative and search efforts,” he said.

He added, “We would also like to thank everyone in the community who has provided assistance to our Department and been supportive to Melisa’s family during this difficult time.”

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Lac du Flambeau Tribal Police Department. at (715) 588-7717 or the Vilas County Sheriff’s Office at (715) 479-4441.

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Melissa Beson photo courtesy LDF Police Department

On Sunday, March 23, the Lac du Flambeau (LDF) Tribal Police Department in Vilas County reported an LDF tribal member, Melissa Beson, 37, has been missing since Monday, March 17.

The LDF Police Department said Beson’s family reported her missing.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Beson was last seen late Monday, March 17, walking on Village Road near Wayman Lane toward state Highway 47 on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation in Vilas County.

Beson was last seen wearing red sweatpants, a black sleeveless shirt and a gray sweatshirt.

Beson is a Native American female, 5’7”, with a medium build, brown hair, and brown eyes. She has numerous tattoos, including on her neck, arms and legs.

Melissa Beson – PD Poster (1)

The LDF Police Department reports that Beson’s family is extremely worried about her and joins the LDF Tribal Police Department in seeking the public’s help in locating her.

The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa — Waaswaaganing in the Ojibwe language — is a federally recognized Ojibwe Native American tribe.

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

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Attorney Steve Hurley with documents of the type Wisconsin prisons are shredding. | Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner

The Office of the Wisconsin State Public Defender and other attorneys are expressing concerns over attorney-client confidentiality and the timely and accurate delivery of legal mail for clients incarcerated in state prisons. 

On Sept. 10, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) adopted a new policy for external paperwork sent to prisons. The protocol calls for incarcerated residents to watch the copying of their legal mail and allows them to review the copies; then the original mail is shredded. 

Mail covered under the policy includes letters from an attorney, law office, clerk or judge of any state or federal court, court staff or tribal court. It also covers correspondence with federal and state elected or appointed officials including the governor, Wisconsin legislators, the secretary of the DOC and others. 

The process of opening and photocopying the mail, providing the copy to the incarcerated person and shredding the original mail is documented with the facility’s camera system, the DOC policy states. 

The policy’s general guidelines allow staff to inspect legal documents “to the extent necessary to determine if the documents contain contraband or if the purpose is misrepresented.” If staff have reason to believe a letter is not a legal document “and the safety and security of the institution is implicated,” the policy allows them to read legal documents. 

The DOC’s protocol has garnered criticism from the Wisconsin public defender’s office. Public defenders’ primary concerns are timely delivery of information to clients, the accuracy of the copying and protecting attorney-client confidentiality.

“Unfortunately, with DOC’s new mail policy we have experienced significant delays with mail delivery, compromised confidentiality, and in some cases legal documents have been lost,” said Deputy State Public Defender Katie York. “This has impacted our ability to develop trusting attorney/client relationships and has caused unnecessary delays for our clients and others impacted by the legal system. However, in our continuous efforts to provide the highest quality defense for our clients, we will keep doing everything we can to maintain communication with our clients.”

The Wisconsin American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has also raised concerns about how the DOC’s handling of legal mail is affecting incarcerated people and the legal process.

“Alarmingly, the DOC continues to introduce new restrictions that have made it increasingly difficult for people in DOC custody to receive legal mail and books,” Emma Shakeshaft, senior attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin said in an October statement, “and we are very concerned about how these policy changes are negatively impacting those in custody. Legal mail is essential to incarcerated individuals’ ability to access the courts and to communicate confidentially with their legal counsel.”

Beth Hardtke, director of communications for the DOC, said the department was not aware of any recent concerns from the Office of the State Public Defender about the DOC’s legal mail policy, and that the DOC would follow up with them to learn more. 

Hardtke said the public defenders’ office had input into the development of the policy, and that the policy was revised based on the office’s feedback before it went into effect in September 2024. The DOC is not aware of any significant delays regarding legal mail, she said. 

She said the postal service delivers legal mail directly to facilities, “where it is promptly processed in front of the individual to whom the mail is addressed.” 

“The policy also details a number of steps that are taken to protect the confidentiality of the process including having the process take place in front of cameras placed so that writing is illegible, special copiers just for this purpose and ensuring that the person in our care is part of the process,” Hardtke said. 

Drug concerns 

DOC’s goal with the legal mail policy was to prevent intoxicating substances from entering facilities through legal mail, Hardtke said. 

In November2021, the DOC announced that it would start partnering with a company to photocopy the personal mail of all incarcerated adults in an attempt to keep drug-laden mail out of prisons. The department began giving residents photocopies of their mail instead of original letters. 

In a 2021 press release about the new policy, the DOC said that despite its previous efforts, in September 2021 alone there were 182 drug incidents within Wisconsin prisons, with 16 people needing emergency medical treatment. 

The department said it had seen an increase of drug incidents among incarcerated people. This included the use of synthetic cannabinoids, which can cause violent behavior or a need for emergency medical treatment, the department said. The DOC said paper and envelopes could be sprayed with or soaked in the drugs and sent into prisons through the mail.

In August 2022, the agency said it had seen a decrease in the total number of drug incidents at adult facilities between November 2021 and February 2022. The agency attributed the decrease to its new policy of photocopying mail. The DOC also said it saw a decrease in overdoses requiring transport to a medical facility. 

After receiving inquiries about the department’s controversial ban on used books, the department sent data to reporters in late September. DOC staff reviewed contraband incident reports that facility staff had flagged as drug-related between 2019 and Sept. 18, 2024. 

The department said some drug-related incidents recorded through a medical record or conduct report may not be reflected in their numbers. The DOC also said not all incident reports flagged as drug related turn out to actually be drug-related.

The DOC said legal mail tested positive in five incidents in 2021, and in 2022, there were 10 instances of material “purporting to be legal mail” that tested positive for drugs. 

Six incidents in 2023 involved legal mail, the department said. The DOC said legal mail tested positive for drugs in at least seven incidents in 2024, as of Sept. 18. 

When it comes to mail or donations that tested positive for drugs, the department said it is “often unable to say” whether they are from a legitimate entity, or from someone impersonating another person or organization. 

In an email to the nonprofit Wisconsin Books to Prisoners in August, then-Administrator of the Division of Adult Institutions Sarah Cooper spoke about impersonation. She said “bad actors” impersonated agencies to send drugs into prisons. 

“To provide some examples, there have been many instances of drugs coming in via mail (and publications/books) which appear to be sent from the Child Support Agency, the IRS, the State Public Defender’s Office, the Department of Justice and individual attorneys,” Cooper said.

In the August email, Cooper said the DOC had had to “implement a whole new process” for handling mail from the entities she mentioned. 

The number of drug incidents involving legal mail has fallen to zero, according to a review of contraband incident reports that facility staff flagged as drug-related, Hardtke said. She said between Sept. 19 and Feb. 28, there were no incidents documented in those reports of legal mail testing positive for intoxicants.

She said these records may not include all incidents, since some incidents may be documented in conduct reports, other types of incident reports or medical records. 

“The most important thing to know about the legal mail policy is that it works,” Hardtke said. 

But York said she also knows there have been instances of false positive tests. 

“I know it has happened because I’ve talked to both staff and private bar attorneys where the institution has sent back materials because they tested positive,” York said. Transcripts that were not drug-laced have been returned after positive tests, she said. She could not provide a number of such incidents and said she also believed some documents that were confiscated after positive tests were not sent back.

Hardtke said the DOC uses the IONSCAN 600 testing technology to test books, packages and other materials coming into DOC facilities. She said the technology was chosen in consultation with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories “in part because its results have held up to court scrutiny.” 

Some family members of incarcerated people in Canada expressed concern that ion scanners yielded false positive test results, and some experts have raised questions about ion scanners’ ability to distinguish between banned drugs and everyday chemicals. 

Steve Hurley, a defense attorney at Hurley Burish, S.C. in Madison, told the Examiner about a case a few years ago in which his firm represented a lawyer who was accused of sending drugs to a client. 

He said their investigation used the test used by the DOC and got a false positive, and that the department relied on a presumptive test that was not intended to give a conclusive result.

This test was not the IONSCAN 600. The DOC did not say whether it currently uses other tests as well as the IONSCAN 600. 

“They didn’t charge him criminally because I think they knew that they had misused the [drug] test,” Hurley said. “So when I called them on it, eventually, they just dropped the whole thing and reinstated his ability to communicate with his client.” 

Attorneys suggest creating a verification method for legal mail 

Shakeshaft said attorneys attempting to communicate with their clients are not the source of drugs in prison. She thinks there should be an alternative method of getting legal mail to clients without having all the documents copied and the originals shredded.  

“To the extent that third parties are attempting to disguise contraband as legal mail, there’s a lot of less restrictive ways to address that, to ensure that legal mail is coming from licensed attorneys… [Methods that] are not nearly as much of a threat to attorney-client confidential communications,” she said. 

York said her office asked about creating a process that would certify the mail was from the assigned attorney and not from an impersonator. 

“We asked if there was some sort of system, if it was like, some sort of changing numbering system, or something that we could put on the envelopes that would ensure that they knew that it was coming from our office,” she said.

York said her office also made an offer to reach out to a facility beforehand when they’re sending a client their file. The public defender’s office would let them know how many boxes they would be sending with a client file, so the facility would know in advance that the documents were coming from their office. She said the offer was not accepted. 

York said her office used to receive calls seeking to verify that her office had sent mail to a resident. She didn’t think this was consistent across all facilities. 

“They would call our office and ask, ‘Did you send mail to this person?’ when they got letters,” said York. “I used to get those calls when I was the appellate division director. So that was another way that they used to try to kind of validate the fact that it came from an attorney.”

Confidentiality concerns 

Hurley said that as a defense lawyer, it’s his job to not trust the government when it comes to his clients. He believes his clients should receive their legal mail unopened.

“The minute you open a lawyer’s mail, somebody is going to look at it,” Hurley said. “I don’t care what they say about their policies, somebody’s going to look at it. And you can’t do that.”

If others know what someone is convicted of, it could lead to a more difficult time in prison, Hurley said. He also said information in an incarcerated person’s legal mail isn’t necessarily about their criminal record.

“If you were getting divorced, do you want your neighbor to know what you’re arguing with your spouse over about what the extent of your property is?” Hurley said. “No, and you don’t want a guard to know that either.” 

Nicole Masnica, an attorney with Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown LLP in Milwaukee, said prison staff reviewing privileged communications and legal mail from counsel creates a concern about the safety and security of incarcerated people in the DOC.

Legal correspondence and materials “may very well contain” information detailing a person’s cooperation with authorities against other incarcerated people “and even sometimes staff employed by the Department of Corrections,” she said in a statement emailed to the Examiner.

“I have represented individuals who have expressed concerns about confidential information from legal correspondence getting into the wrong hands at the prisons, and policies like those currently in place with the DOC that permit the reviewing of confidential information by DOC staff only amplifies those risks to individuals assisting law enforcement investigations,” Masnica said. 

Shakeshaft said there are opportunities during the copying and shredding of legal mail for someone to view the documents. She also raised the question of how the process would be filmed without the camera viewing information in the legal mail. 

“There’s a number of different parts of the policy where confidentiality is threatened overall,” she said. 

Attorney Lonnie Story sent the Examiner a conduct report from when an incarcerated man, Justin Welch, was written up by a DOC staff member in February 2024. The report indicates a staff member read a letter from Welch that was “addressed to Story Law Firm Attorney Lonnie Story.”

According to the report, in the letter, Welch referenced a recent assault he was involved in with another person. Welch said that he was going to be placed by this person and “will have no choice but to fight him again. This is what the WCI does this time I will hurt him.” The staff member wrote the conduct report, saying Welch was making direct physical threats to the other person. 

Story said he contacted Department of Justice attorneys, who called the warden. Story sent the Examiner a letter from the warden on which Welch was copied, dated March 25, 2024. The letter said the warden had initiated a review of the incident, and the hearing officer’s decision and the punishment of 30 days in restrictive housing were reversed. 

Welch sent the Examiner a complaint he made to the DOC about a prison denying three of his emails, preventing them from reaching the intended recipients. (Electronic correspondence is not treated as legal mail under DOC policy.) 

Two emails were intended for a reporter, while the third was sent to Story. According to Welch’s complaint, a staff member told him that emails were not for legal communication and an attorney call should be set up instead. Welch’s complaint was successful, leading to a ruling that his emails should not have been denied. 

Devin Skrzypchak, a resident of Oshkosh Correctional Facility, said he has concerns that the prison staff have had access to his legal mail for up to three days while the prison was setting up a time for the copying and shredding when he could be present. He has concerns that his legal mail could have been read during that wait time.

Not all legal mail involves physical documents, according to Masnica. If there are large files, it’s cheaper to send a hard drive or USB. In one case, Masnica said she sent documents related to potential jurors and received an email from the prison. 

The person from the prison who contacted Masnica didn’t necessarily think the documents were related to litigation, she said. To her, it was clear that the prison had reviewed the mail in detail. 

“They had made remarks that it was not just the jurors in the case, but all jurors potentially that were going to be called that week, or that month,” Masnica said. 

Masnica said she complained and was sent a policy. DOC policy says that when a facility receives new digitally formatted legal material, it shall assign staff to review the content with the incarcerated person present to make sure it is “legal in nature.”

The policy states that “if any file is found to contain contraband, the data storage device may be subject to disposal” in accordance with the DOC’s contraband policy after consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel. 

Timeliness concerns 

“We’ve heard of attorneys having to push back court deadlines and delays because they can’t continue that communication [with clients],” said Shakeshaft. “They can’t get the legal documents to clients in time, or clients aren’t getting the correct legal documents.”

The Examiner asked York about specific situations that make it critical for the incarcerated person to have the legal mail for the case to proceed in court.

“There is not a super clean answer to this, but there are some situations, for example, we need clients to sign documents,” said York. “One example of that is notice of intent to appeal in a termination of parental rights case; we have to have a wet signature from the client on the notice before we file it, and it’s a pretty tight turnaround. It’s 30 days.”

York said there’s also a problem when clients don’t accept their mail due to the policy of copying and shredding. This leaves the attorney with the option of meeting in person to get a signature on a form, which can be time consuming. 

Lost in the mail

Masnica recalled her firm having to send mail multiple times because a client didn’t receive it. 

“If we’re sending something to a client on the street who is living in their home, we never really have issues,” Masnica said. 

Story said he’s had an issue with not receiving mail that a client said they sent to him. 

“Most disturbing is when my clients have part of their case record from their legal materials disappear,” Story said. “Their file doesn’t follow them to the next institution, or part of it is mailed to me and not the whole of it.”

Dorin Ferguson, who is incarcerated at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility in Boscobel, said he has sent mail to Story that didn’t arrive, including mail that was returned to Ferguson.

DOC policy allows the resident to check the copied legal documents and request two rescans. York said sending large files poses a risk of miscopying.

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Attorney General Josh Kaul speaks with reporters outside the Wisconsin Supreme Court in February 2023. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul spoke Tuesday to the Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Response Team about cuts to the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) that reduced Wisconsin payments from $40 million to $13 million a year. The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested an additional $66 million in the 2025-27 state budget to make up for the reduction.

Kaul also discussed lawsuits by his office and other state AGs around the country against the Trump administration to try to ensure funds designated to states continue to be issued.

“My office works closely with a number of other AGs around the country, and we have been in regular communication both about what’s happening and about potential litigation strategies to address policies that would be harmful to the people of our states and that can be challenged on legal grounds,” he said.  

He recounted how Wisconsin and 22 other states challenged an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) freeze on funds (grants and loans) resulting in a Jan. 31 temporary restraining order and the release of funds.

“The Trump administration’s attempts to withhold federal funding from Wisconsin hurts kids, families, seniors and communities across our state,” Gov. Evers said in response to the January order. “This was a bad idea from the beginning, and I will continue to fight these efforts every step of the way.”

Kaul told the sexual assault response team members the freeze would have affected such programs as Meals on Wheels, Head Start, VOCA, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, which supports law enforcement and multi-jurisdictional enforcement efforts as well as programs funded under the Violence Against Women Act. He expressed concern about other efforts to freeze “categories of funding or to essentially shut down agencies.”

Kaul said, there are two questions he has to answer in deciding if Wisconsin has legal standing to challenge a Trump administration policy:

1. Is it harmful to Wisconsinites?
2. Is there a strong legal basis for bringing a challenge?

“Different people have different opinions about what’s harmful to Wisconsinites, but it’s helpful to us to hear about the impacts that these policies are having so that we can assess them as fully as possible and share that information with our colleagues,” he said. “On the legal basis for a lot of the actions that have been being taken recently, we have had strong legal bases for the challenge because they either were made in contradiction to existing contracts, or they weren’t done consistent with the way that policies need to be adopted by the federal government.”

Kaul asked the sexual assault response team attendees to communicate with the DOJ about effects they are experiencing to the agencies they represent.  

“Please let us know if you’re seeing impacts on programs because we’re committed to stepping up,” he said.

“We want to make sure that people in policy-making roles in Washington are aware of the impacts that some of these changes are having,” said Kaul. “Because while litigation is one approach, it’s not the only thing that can be done to respond to these things.”

Kaul was also asked whether the Trump administration was respecting the orders of the courts.

“In terms of ensuring compliance with court orders, that’s something that we’ve monitored closely in the case involving the federal funding freeze,” he said. “For example, we initially saw that there were areas where we believed the federal government was not fully in compliance with the court’s order, so the states went back to court and filed what’s called a motion to enforce; we identified areas where funding had remained frozen, and we asked the court to follow up. In response to that, the federal government did follow up. They worked to address issues.”

He also talked about the “disconnect” between the federal government complying with court orders and Trump administration statements.

“In court, the federal government has been clear that they’re trying to comply with court orders, and they’re trying to meet those obligations,” he said. “I know there have been some incidents in just the past few days where that’s been in dispute, but generally speaking, that’s what we’ve seen so far. The rhetoric we’ve seen has been somewhat different.”

However, on Feb. 7 Kaul and 22 other AGs filed a motion that the Trump Administration was blocking dollars to states under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act, that should have been unfrozen after the January temporary restraining order was issued.

Kaul said that if the Trump administration defies court orders, Democratic AGs will sue to seek relief in cases they are involved in.

“We have three co-equal branches of government, and for hundreds of years, the principle that the courts get to say what the law is has been respected by different administrations,” Kaul said. “So it’s vital that we uphold that principle.”

State asked to fill the gap after big cut 

In 2024 approximately $40 million Wisconsin had been receiving annually under the Victims of Crimes Act (VOCA), collected from federal prosecution of crimes with the fees and penalties distributed to states, dropped to $13 million.

Kaul noted that the decrease in VOCA funding began as a result of policies implemented during the first Trump administration, but the funding hadn’t “rebounded” under President Biden.

VOCA dollars are the largest funding source for Wisconsin’s  victim service organizations.

Kaul said his office has tried to “smooth” the distribution of grant funds by not having big swings in the amount awarded to agencies year to year and by using American Rescue Plane Act (ARPA) dollars to supplement funding during the Biden Administration.

“As many of you who work with victim advocacy organizations know, there has been a significant cutback in funding to organizations around the state,” said Kaul. “I’ve had a chance to talk to many organizations and hear from people about the impacts of those cutbacks, and we’re hearing everything you expect. There have been places where they’ve had to lay off staff. There have been places where programs have been cut. There are places where essential services can no longer be provided. That is a travesty for crime victims who aren’t getting the same level of services they used to, and it’s also damaging to public safety because enforcement often relies on the critical work that victim advocates do in supporting victims who subsequently feel empowered to work with law enforcement.”

Kaul said that for the 2025-27 state budget, the DOJ had requested “significant additional investment in victim services,” $66 million, which was supported by the governor’s office and Badger State Sheriffs Association to fund victim service organizations.

“So now the funding proposal is at the Legislature, and legislators are going to make a decision as to whether to provide additional funding for victim services and if so, at what level,” Kaul said. “We’re hoping to find legislators who will champion victim service funding, and I know that others have been involved in talking to legislators to make sure that they’re familiar with the importance of this issue as well.”

Kaul encouraged the sexual assault response team members to participate in hearings of the Joint Finance Committee (the Legislature’s budgeting committee) which will be holding listening sessions around the state.

“They’re interested in public input, and so I encourage those of you who have seen the impacts of these funding cuts to reach out and let legislators, and in particular, members of the Joint Finance Committee, to let them know what the impacts have been from these reductions in funding and why it’s so important that we keep victim service funding in Wisconsin,” Kaul said.

Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield) testifies March 4 in favor of requiring a revocation recommendation when a formerly incarcerated person who is released on community supervision is charged with a new crime. Sitting with him is the bill's Assembly author, state Rep. Brent Jacobson (R-Mosinee). (Screenshot/WisEye)

An Assembly committee will vote Monday on a bill that could result in more people on correctional supervision — parole, probation, or extended supervision — facing revocation, resulting in a portion of their remaining sentence being served in incarceration. It is one of five bills to receive a committee vote. 

Revocation occurs when those on correctional supervision, as part of their sentencing, violate a condition of their release, such as consuming drugs or alcohol or re-offending.  In a hearing, an administrative judge determines if they have sufficiently violated their conditions to return to prison and serve some or all  of their remaining sentence.

Presently, parole or probation officers can decide whether  to recommend a revocation hearing, which can result in a temporary jail hold while an administrative judge considers the request.

The proposed legislation, AB 85, would mandate that those same probation and parole officers must recommend a revocation if the person on supervision is charged with a new offense.

Two Republican authors of the bill and law enforcement representatives spoke in favor of the bill at the March 4 Assembly Committee on the Judiciary public hearing. Proponents said  the legislation is needed to ensure at least a revocation hearing is held after a new offense is charged. They said leaving it up to the parole or probation officers’ discretion doesn’t automatically result in a revocation hearing.

Supporters of the bill also said it is necessary to hold repeat offenders accountable and ensure public safety.

Opposition to the bill comes from those advocating for prison and judicial reform, who argue that the present system already results in too many people being revoked for technical reasons. They argued  that current protocols are sufficient to protect the public. Instead of focusing on revocation, they said the state should support services that help those on supervision be more successful in reentering society. 

Hearing witnesses said that , in most cases, when a probation or parole officer recommends revocation, the administrative judge supports it.

In its 2025-2027 budget request, the Department of Corrections (DOC) set reducing revocations as one of its goals over the next three years. As part of the public hearing, the DOC submitted written testimony opposing the proposed legislation.

For AB 85

The committee’s vice chair and  the bill’s Assembly author, state Rep. Brent Jacobson (R-Mosinee), said the legislation is needed to ensure an administrative hearing is held to consider a revocation.

“It may come as a surprise, but a convicted criminal on community supervision is not immediately revoked if they’re charged with another crime,” said Jacobson.  “Under current statute, whether such individuals are reincarcerated or allowed to remain on our streets, is decided by an administrative law judge. However, in order for a judge to hear a revocation case, revocation must first be recommended by an agent of the Department of Corrections. According to the DOC’s own estimates, in 2019 there were 6,280 individuals on community supervision who were charged with a new crime but not revoked.”

Jacobson and others who spoke in favor of the bill all said they were for giving “second chances” to those who had violated the law, but they also noted a responsibility to protect the public from repeat offenders.

The bill’s Senate coauthor, Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), said AB 85 is part of a package of bills that are “addressing the revolving door of crime and the cycle of lawlessness” that, he said, is allowed by the “lenient part of our judicial system.”

“Far too often, law-abiding citizens become victims of crimes committed by repeat offenders” who have been released on parole, probation or extended supervision, he said. 

“When a prisoner is granted release before the completion of their sentence, it becomes an expectation of good behavior, and that release is only as good as that person behaves,” Hutton said. “An individual who has been charged with a new crime while on release has violated their promise of good behavior and should have their release revoked. However, under current law, that is, frankly not the case.”

Joel Moeller, vice president of the Milwaukee Police Association, talked about working in a probation parole unit with a representative of the DOC looking for parole violators who had committed crimes after their incarceration.

“We were looking for serious guys that were in prison for serious things, and they committed serious crimes again,” Moeller said.  “A lot of times we would find them, arrested them. They’d sit in jail for four or five days, and then they would just be out with the hearing date where they were just committing more crimes.”

Moeller said it was critical to ensure those who were charged with another offense had an appearance before an administrative judge to determine whether probation should be revoked.

“Some of these people are model citizens when they come out [of incarceration], but a lot of them aren’t,” Moeller said. “They go back into the same lifestyle they were living when they went into prison, and sometimes they need to go back to learn a lesson.”

Alexander Ayala, president of the Milwaukee Police Association, said that while he served in the robbery unit, some of the robberies he investigated wouldn’t have happened and citizens wouldn’t have been “victimized” if the suspects had their parole revoked.

Committee Chair Ron Tusler (R-Harrison) noted that the argument could be made that passing the bill  would increase costs for the state. But he said consideration should be given to the “cost of recidivism” of parolees violating the law, such as the expense incurred by district attorneys prosecuting new complaints.

Against AB 85

Sean Wilson, the senior director of organizing and partnership at Dream.Org, a non-profit for “closing prisons doors and opening doors of opportunity,” spoke against AB 85.

“Rather than implementing measures that may increase revocations, we urge the legislature to introduce and pass legislation that supports the successful reintegration of individuals in supervision, investing in programs that provide education, job training, mental health, and substance abuse treatment, which can significantly reduce recidivism rates and promote public safety,” Wilson said.

He noted that many on supervision are required to make restitution to victims or must pay child or marriage support, but when supervision is revoked, that delays those payments. 

Wilson said In Wisconsin many have already been revoked for a “technical” violation of the condition of their release.

“Between January 2019 and May 2024, there were over 13,000 such admissions [revocations back to prison], accounting for approximately 34% of all prison admissions during that period,” said Wilson. “Implementing AB 85 could exacerbate this existing problem by increasing the number of individuals recommended for revocation based solely on criminal charges, regardless of conviction.”

Revocation before a person is tried for a new offense “undermines the presumption of innocence and will disproportionately affect marginalized communities, further exacerbating existing inequalities in our criminal justice system,” he added.  “While we acknowledge the intent to enhance public safety, it is crucial to consider the broader implications of AB 85. Enacting legislation that may increase revocations and contradicts the direction of effective criminal justice reform and does a disservice to the people of Wisconsin.”

Tusler asked Wilson  whether a revocation could intervene and stop criminal behavior.

“We send over 3,000 people back to prison each year as a result of technical revocations,” Wilson responded. “Often in those cases, there’s not a new crime; there’s an allegation of a crime, and individuals are sent back to prison as a result of that. I’ve traveled this state from North Wisconsin all the way down south, east and west, and I’ve heard stories of individuals going back to prison just for the sake of moving, just as a result of moving from apartment A to apartment B without getting proper approval from their probation agent”

Wilson claimed the annual fiscal impact of the technical revocations is $200 million.

He contended the DOC typically recommends revocation in most cases and it made no sense to have a mandatory recommendation.

Tessler said the bill didn’t address “technical” issues of revocation. He conjectured that even when there is a technical revocation, there were probably other issues that had exacerbated a parolee’s standing.

Two representatives of Ex-incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO) — Operations Director Marianne Oleson and Executive Director Jerome Dillard — also spoke against the bill.

Oleson advocated for the state to allocate more resources to help those on probation become successful. She discussed the typical struggles people face in obtaining housing and employment and advocated for “true wraparound services that support people in recognizing we are more than the choices we regret.”

AB 85 would “overtax an already over-taxed system,” said Oleson, and she encouraged more support for organizations like Dream and Expo.

Dillard said that after working 20 years in prisons and outside, most probation and parole officers are doing their jobs correctly, and the current process works.

He argued  that not every charge should result in a revocation, such as retail theft or a misdemeanor offense. Dillard said he knew of someone who was revoked for a misdemeanor, returning to prison for  24 months, but the judge in the misdemeanor case only sentenced the person to 90 days.

A new charge could also result in a revocation hearing even if the charge is later dismissed.

“I don’t see where this legislation is really needed in the systems that we have today, because community corrections do their job, and sometimes I feel [they are] overzealous because individuals are locked up on hearsay,” said Dillard.

The Wisconsin State Public Defenders office and Wisconsin’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also registered in opposition to the bill.

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The Wisconsin Department of Corrections Madison offices. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)

On Wednesday, April 9, at the Kolb Center of the Fox Lake Correctional Institution, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) will hold a Family & Friend Forum where relatives and friends of the incarcerated can  provide feedback to the DOC about the prison system’s policies.

The DOC “recognizes the crucial role that support from family and friends plays in rehabilitation and successful reentry into the community,” the department stated in its announcement of the session. 

“As part of our commitment to serving the people of Wisconsin with transparency and accountable decision-making, Secretary Jared Hoy and department leadership want to hear directly from the loved ones of those engaged with the DOC,” the announcement said.

The Family & Friends event will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9, at Kolb Center at Fox Lake Correctional Institution, W10237 Lake Emily Road, Fox Lake.

Registration is required, and the event is limited to 100 people. Spots will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Registrants must be 18 years or older.

All registrants will receive an email confirming their seat along with additional instructions.

To register online, go to https://doc.wi.gov/Pages/AboutDOC/FriendsAndFamilyForums.aspx and tap the “Reserve A Seat” button.

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After a homeless woman died in the Eau Claire County Jail more than a year ago, Wisconsin DOJ has yet to release a report | Getty Images

Silver O. Jenkins, 29, a homeless woman, was found unresponsive in the Eau Claire County Jail on March 12, 2023. The investigation of her death was completed in August 2023 but has not been released pending a Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) review.

It is not clear why the DOJ has taken more than a year to review the death investigation and release it to the public.

In July 2024, the Wisconsin Examiner made a record request of the death investigation to the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office, the authority charged with conducting the investigation. Sheriff Scott Knudson noted the death investigation had been completed in August 2023 and had been passed on to the Eau Claire Sheriff’s Office, but he was uncertain when the DOJ obtained it.

The completed investigation was not released to the Examiner, because, Knudson said, the DOJ’s review outweighed the public interest in having the investigation released.

Knudson said there was a “balancing test” of “public interest” versus “integrity of the legal system” to “…allow the Department of Justice ample time to make a determination related to the investigation prior to the records being disclosed to the public.”

He added, “Public policy favors public safety and effective law enforcement, which is supported by the decision to deny your request at this time until the Department of Justice has completed their review of the investigation.”

In August 2024, the Examiner submitted another record request to the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office for two items:

• All powerpoint presentations produced by the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office which, during 2023 or 2024, were shared with and/or presented to personnel from any Wisconsin District Attorney’s Office and/or the state Department of Justice (DOJ), and which mention or are related to the March 12th, 2023, in-custody death of Silver O. Jenkins at the Eau Claire County Jail. 
• Any jail security camera footage relevant to the sheriff’s investigation into Silver’s death.

Like the July 2024 request, Sheriff Knudson denied the August 2024 record request based on the same justification he offered in July 2024.

In January 2025, the Examiner contacted Eau Claire County Medical Examiner Marcie Rosas for a copy of Jenkins’ autopsy report. Rosas responded via phone that the report would not be released pending the ongoing DOJ review.

Based on a July 15, 2024 email exchange between the St. Croix Sheriff’s Office and the DOJ, in July 2024, it appeared then that the DOJ review was coming to a close. The email exchange was between St. Croix County Sheriff Captain Tim Kufus and DOJ Assistant Attorney General James Kraus.

“Requests for reports are continuing to come in, when can we expect a decision from your office? We would like to fulfill the requests,” Kufus wrote about record requests on the Jenkins death investigation to Kraus.

Kraus responded, “Now that we have the policies, I hope to complete my part of the case by the end of this month (July 2024).”

Subsequently, the Examiner has submitted several email requests to the DOJ on the review status, but there has been no reply.

On March 14, 2023, the Eau Claire Sheriff’s Office put out a press release about Jenkins’ death and noted that she was “…listed as homeless, was charged on February 10 for disorderly conduct and bail jumping,” and added that she was in jail on $500 cash bond and had made her first appearance in court on Feb.14.

Court records also reveal that Jenkins had also been charged with bail-jumping, a misdemeanor and that Jenkins was supposed to have a competency hearing on March 7, but on March 6, that appears to have been changed to March 16, four days after she died.

Jenkins was also cited for trespassing, disorderly conduct, and bail jumping on Jan. 31, 2023.

From 2019-2023, Silvers had been charged with several violations in Eau Claire County, mostly misdemeanors.

Circuit court records from Eau Claire County show Silver’s address as “homeless,” however earlier court records from Racine and Kenosha counties cite her address as either 618 S. Barstow Street in Eau Claire, the site of The Sojourner House, a Catholic Charities homeless shelter, or 211 Howard Avenue in Racine, an apartment building.

The Examiner has contacted Catholic Charities and other homeless shelters in Eau Claire for anyone who knew Jenkins, but so far, there have been no responses.

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A fatal police shooting of an unnamed person in Fond du Lac is under investigation. | Getty Images

During a stop by law enforcement officers Monday night, Feb. 24, in the Town of Fond du Lac, a Fond du Lac County Sheriff deputy shot and killed a person the deputy believed was producing a firearm.

The person’s name has not been released, nor the name of the deputies involved with the stop.

According to a press release by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), on Monday evening, Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s deputies contacted someone via phone who was known to have a felony warrant. 

Law enforcement also received information from a civilian that this same person appeared to have a handgun.

A short while later, deputies located the person in the 6300 block of Cherrywood Drive, near a trailer park.  

The person refused to follow repeated commands, and one of the deputies discharged a non-lethal weapon. (The non-lethal weapon was not named in an official statement on the incident.)

The person then produced what deputies believed to be a firearm, and in response, a second deputy discharged a firearm at 6:22 p.m., striking the person.

Emergency medical specialists (EMS) were contacted, and law enforcement and EMS attempted life-saving measures.

The person was transported to a nearby hospital before being pronounced dead.

No members of law enforcement or other members of the public were injured during the incident.

The deputy involved in the shooting is on administrative assignment, per agency policy.

Law enforcement officers involved with the stop were wearing body cameras during the incident.

Additional details are being withheld during  the investigation and will be released to the public later.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is investigating the officer-involved shooting, assisted by Wisconsin State Patrol, the Fond du Lac Police Department, and the Village of North Fond du Lac Police Department.

When the DCI investigation concludes, it will turn over the investigative reports to the Fond du Lac County District Attorney’s office.

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