FORT BRAGG, 8/12/25 — Native American communities remain plagued by near-epidemic levels of unresolved violence, according to a report at an Aug. 2 conference in Fort Bragg.
Among the troubling statistics: More than half of Indigenous women experience sexual violence in their lives, and homicide is the second leading cause of death among Native people.
Tatiana Cantrell, director for Pinoleville Pomo Nation’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples program, called the situation in California and across the country an urgent crisis that stems from centuries of generational trauma.
Cantrell, who is also a faculty member at Mendocino College’s Ukiah campus, was the featured speaker at the event at the college’s Fort Bragg campus. The event was held in collaboration between MMIP and the Noyo Bida Truth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying the voices of Native Americans in Mendocino County.
She said there are more than 160 unsolved cases involving Native people who are missing or have been murdered in Lake, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, the tricounty area the MMIP program serves.
“I thought about reading the names but that would have taken my whole 30 minutes,” she said, “so I just want to acknowledge that this is a huge issue here.”
Cantrell said efforts to address the issue of unresolved violence include community-led programs, education, advocacy for better policies and greater resources, and improved relationships with law enforcement. The latter was a recurring theme in discussion at the meeting.
Cantrell said that because tribes are located in rural parts of the three counties, Native people rely on the local sheriff’s office to respond, but that doesn’t always happen.
Push for tribal liaison highlights trust gap with law enforcement
One goal of the MMIP program is to create a role within the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office to serve as a tribal liaison, building relationships — and trust — between tribes and the department.
“This is the person you would call if you need help – making sure that somebody’s going to answer when we call the Sheriff’s Office,” said Cantrell. She added she’s often the person whom crime victims and witnesses call before calling police.
She said a huge win for the MMIP effort came in 2023 when the California Highway Patrol enacted the California Statewide Feather Alert Program, a system used to seek help from the public when an Indigenous person is missing and believed to be in danger.
She said the CHP works closely with her group and does have a local tribal liaison, and that her next goal is to create that same position within the Sheriff’s Office.
In a follow-up interview, Sheriff Matt Kendall said a detective sergeant follows up when calls come in to the Sheriff’s Office about crimes. “He basically becomes the liaison on almost all cases.”
Kendall said the department doesn’t have the personnel for a permanent liaison specifically designated for the Missing and Murdered program, but he added that the issue is more complex than just whether the department has such a role.
He said it can be difficult to get crime witnesses to talk to police, either because they don’t trust the police or fear retaliation from those who may not want them to talk.
“I understand. I grew up in Covelo. I understand there is concern about talking to the police and telling on people,” Kendall said, “But at the same time, we need to start looking at this like being good neighbors, like being good residents, being good tribal people, and having those relationships where they’re willing to talk to us.”
He also cited distance as a factor in addressing many cases with minimum response times for law enforcement to some tribal locations, such as Round Valley, being close to an hour. Because of these remote locations, he said, the likelihood of a crime being committed against a Native American by another Native American is high, and due to family and tribal politics, it can be hard for police to get a clear story of what happened.
“Some people want to put some racial overtones about ‘why aren’t the police solving this?’ Well, because nobody’s talking to us. And so, is that the fault of the police? And I understand that we do have some historical trauma in these areas, like I said, I grew up in Covelo,” Kendall said.
Speaking after her address, Cantrell said that, while she can’t speak for everyone, there are cases in which crimes were committed against Native people, and law enforcement in Lake and Mendocino counties either didn’t respond or responded but didn’t take action.
“I’ve had the experience of trying to report a Native youth missing and being ignored by Lake County Sheriffs, and I’ve had the experience of reporting a white child missing and it was posted immediately on Facebook all over the place,” she said.
Without tribal enrollment, victims often can’t get MMIP help
The situation is even more difficult for Native Americans who have been “disenrolled” from a tribe, which can happen because of unproven or insufficient lineage or, in some cases, allegedly because of politics. Disenrolled Native Americans generally cannot get representation from the MMIP program.
Saturday’s event was attended by a group of Indigenous women who drove to Fort Bragg from Lake County specifically to seek representation for disenrolled tribal members who have been victims of crime.
One of the women, Jessica Brown, who described herself as Elem Indian, said she drove two hours to attend the event. She said her Native American community has been disenfranchised since 2009, meaning that while they face the same issues with law enforcement that enrolled communities face, they can’t get help from MMIP.
Like Cantrell, Brown spoke of generational trauma and a distrust between law enforcement and Indigenous people. She also said police don’t always believe witnesses when crimes occur.
“A lot of times when these things happen, they don’t believe anybody because they say, ‘Oh, they’re alcoholics and drug addicts or just really bad teenage kids.’ A lot of the time, it’s not important. I think they should be taken seriously, that things do happen,” she said.
“We’re still looking for Khadijah Britton,” Brown added. Britton was last seen in Covelo in 2018 after allegedly being forced into her ex-boyfriend’s car at gunpoint. No one has been arrested or charged, even though her case received national attention.
While Kendall said that tribal members often don’t want to talk to police for fear of retaliation, and Brown said police don’t always take witnesses seriously, Cantrell said a liaison could help bridge that gap in both directions.
“There needs to be some sort of relationship building, trust building happening,” she said, “and we can’t have that if we don’t have a go-to person, right?”
Local LEO’s are directly responsible for the missing and murdered natives, of course no one wants to involve them.