Kaysera Stops Pretty Places
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In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends, and I've discovered that everyone has a different version of events.

Hear the story on Where's Dear? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder.

This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

Today I'm discussing the suspicious death of 18-year-old Kaysera Stopps Pretty Places. I think most of us have had plenty of nights out with our friends in our teenage years. In Phoenix, I spent more summer nights than I can count hanging out at random houses with friends and a lot of people I didn't know. Most of these nights ended up with drunk kids getting into a fight.

Other times, it was the cops that broke us up. We'd run scrambling over fences, hiding in bushes, under cars, or whatever else we could find if we couldn't run fast enough. I'm sure a lot of you have experienced this at least once, or know someone who did. So I have a question. Have you ever heard of a story of a kid that ran from the cops, jumped a fence, and then just laid down and died?

Well, that's exactly what authorities said happened to 18-year-old Kaysera Stops Pretty Places in August 2019. She was at a party, hanging out with some people in front of a house when a cop drives by. They all go running, and everyone makes it out alive. Except Kaysera. Kaysera is found days later in a backyard just a few houses away. And this house faces a very busy street with just a chain-link fence separating the backyard from the main road.

Cause and manner of death, undetermined. This is the case of Kaysera Stops Pretty Places. On Saturday, August 24th, 2019, Kaysera Ruth Stops Pretty Places was visiting her Aunt Persilia in Hardin, Montana. Kaysera had just turned 18 on August 14th, so she wanted to go out and celebrate with her friend Nakia and her cousin Isabella, who lived with Persilia.

Now, a lot of what we know about this night comes from Nakia, who spoke to Showtime's Murder and Bighorn documentary series. Nakia said that she, Kaysera, and Isabella waited until it was nighttime, then got ready to go out. Isabella mentioned that her boyfriend, Natosi, could get them some alcohol. So, they decided to go to his mom's place, which was on nearby Rangeview Drive. After they went to Natosi's, they started drinking.

At some point, Nakia could hear Isabella and Natosi having a heated argument. Natosi then grabbed Isabella, who kept trying to pull away, but Natosi wouldn't let her go. That's when Kaysera intervened, telling Natosi to leave Isabella alone, that she didn't have to stay. That's the kind of person Kaysera was, a protector.

Now, at this point, it's obviously bad news, so Kaysera, Isabella, and Nakia leave the house. But Natosi runs after them, asking Isabella to stay. While standing on the edge of Rangeview Drive in front of a house, Isabella and Natosi continued fighting. Suddenly, Nakia and Kaysera hear the sound of a car unlocking. Then a police car passes by.

Because most of them were drinking underage, they all scattered and lost sight of each other. Nakia hid under a truck and waited there for a while. Eventually, Isabella called out and asked where Keisara was. Nakia said that she didn't know. They yelled out for Keisara, but received no reply, and they couldn't see her anywhere, so they began walking back towards Natosi's house. As they got close, they saw him pulling out of the driveway.

When he noticed them, he sped up and started chasing them in his truck. They tried to lose him by running between houses and down alleyways, but he kept following them. But they did manage to lose him by going around a house and hiding in some bushes. As they watched him drive by quickly, seemingly searching for them, they could tell he was headed back to his house. At this point, Isabella starts crying, saying that she's scared and she wants to go back.

And even though they can't find Caesara, they figure that she'll probably just go back home. Isabella and Nakia then make their way back to Brasilia's house. But Caesara isn't there. Nakia sat on the porch waiting for Caesara to return, but she never did. So Nakia eventually just headed home herself.

The following day, August 25th, Kaysera was supposed to meet up with her mom. They had plans to go to North Dakota to see a relative, but no one was able to get a hold of Kaysera. Multiple people texted and called her, but there was no answer. And this was really unlike Kaysera. Even though she was just 18, she always kept in close contact with her whole family.

especially so she could keep an eye on her younger siblings. See, from the moment Kaysera was born, she was raised by a big group of family made up of her parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. While putting this episode together, I spoke with Kaysera's aunt, Dr. Grace Bulltail, who told me that everyone in the family was very close to Kaysera. They really felt like she belonged to them all.

And when Kaysera's two younger siblings came along, the family felt the same way about them. Grace told me that from the very start, Kaysera was really protective over her siblings. She was also very loving. She really had a sense of being drawn to people that were compassionate and were understanding. And, you know, I realized that right away.

And she had that own, she had that quality in herself. She was very, she was just very loving. And, you know, despite what she was going through, she was still very, very upbeat. You know, she wasn't, she didn't let that get to her in terms of how she treated other people.

And, you know, I always admired that and I always recognized that in her. And, you know, just really wondered where she got that from, that she was so loving and protective of other people. Eventually, Grace moved out of state for her job. Kaysera and her siblings moved in with their grandma Yolanda on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.

By the summer of 2019, Kaysera was planning for her future. She was going to attend her senior year of high school in Missoula, where her mom was living. Kaysera was really looking forward to being able to live with her mom while finishing school. She was also making big plans for what she'd be able to do as an 18-year-old. She couldn't wait to get a full-time job, be independent, and make her own decisions. But before she could begin her senior year, Kaysera went missing.

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According to Kaysera's family, on the day after Kaysera didn't come home with her friends, Kaysera's Aunt Priscilla tried to file a missing person report with Bighorn County Police, but she wasn't able to. They said that because Kaysera was 18, there was a waiting period before a report could be made. Priscilla would later find out that this information was wrong. There was no waiting period.

With no help from police, Kaysera's family continued reaching out to Kaysera's friends to see if maybe they heard from her. No one had. On August 27th, days after Kaysera was last seen, Persilia met with Bighorn County Investigator Jeremy Middlestead to report Kaysera missing. She later told Showtime that Middlestead didn't give her a form to fill out. Instead, he just jotted down information on a notebook that he kept in his pocket.

Priscilla told Middlestead that Kaysera had been at 23-year-old Natosi's house, and that he'd been buying alcohol for Kaysera and her friends. She also reported what Kaysera was last seen wearing, a black sweatshirt, tannish pants, and black sandals, and her hair was in a bun. And like we've heard so many times before, according to Kaysera's family, law enforcement told them there was no need to search for Kaysera. She'd just be out partying somewhere.

Following this meeting, the Bighorn County Sheriff's Office continued to basically do nothing to investigate Kaysera's disappearance, or even spread the word that she was missing. They didn't release a statement, alert the public, search for Kaysera, or even meet with her family or the people Kaysera had last been seen with, and before they could even search for her, Kaysera was found.

On August 29th, a Hardin resident was out jogging when they passed by a pile of debris in the backyard of a home at Mitchell and Rangeview Drive. This is just a few houses down from where Kaysera and the rest of the group were drinking the night Kaysera went missing. The jogger did a double take and realized there was a body in the debris. They called 911, and authorities responded within minutes.

According to Kaysera's family's website, soon after this jogger discovered Kaysera, Priscilla got a message from a co-worker saying a body had been discovered close to where Kaysera had last been seen. So, Priscilla goes out to the location and tries to identify her body, but she was turned down. She then asked if the body could be Kaysera, but the officer on the scene wouldn't even acknowledge that it could be.

The family believes the police knew that they had discovered Kaysera's body, but instead of notifying Persilia or any other family member, they transported her body to the state crime lab in Billings under the name Jane Doe, and no information was provided to the media that a body had been found. Now, because the family was unsure if this was Kaysera at the time, they just continued their own search for her. Despite repeated attempts to get in touch with authorities, they were met with silence.

The family even traveled 110 miles each way in their daily attempts to gather information, but the police just wouldn't budge.

On August 31st, the family again heard that the body found was possibly Kaysera's. Kaysera's grandmother, Yolanda, was told that a family member read on Twitter that the body found in Hardin on August 29th was a 17-year-old stops girl. But this was just a rumor at this point, and there was still no contact from authorities.

The following day, Kaysera's mother, Gerilyn, and her aunt, Priscilla, went to the only funeral home in town, which was also owned and operated by the Bighorn County coroner, Terry Bullis. They were just trying to see if the body found was Kaysera's, and according to the family, they were told that the body was not hers. So, based on that information, Kaysera's family continued looking for her.

They searched for another 11 days until September 11th. That day, Persilia called Yolanda to tell her Kaysera had finally been identified. Her body was at the Montana Department of Justice crime lab in Billings. When we first learned that Kaysera was identified, well, first of all, I was in shock and I

I assumed that law enforcement was looking into where she was, that they would have already done a lot of the things that we would expect that law enforcement would do, and that they would have at least interviewed...

members of my immediate family immediately or prior to letting us know, but that wasn't the case at all. After hearing that Kaysera had been found, Coroner Terry Bullis met with Kaysera's mother, Gerilyn. She said the family wanted to use a funeral home in Billings, but as the owner of his own funeral home, Bullis wasn't okay with that.

and basically made the family use his funeral home, which is obviously a huge conflict of interest. Even though Gerilyn was not Kaysera's guardian, Bolas continued talking to Gerilyn about Kaysera's arrangements, and Bolas told Gerilyn that in order for Kaysera to be returned to the family, she had to be cremated. There was no other option.

But Kaysera's family was not comfortable with cremation, because it goes against their cultural beliefs. See, Kaysera was a member of the Crow Nation. Showtime reported that Crow people do not believe in cremation, because if they are cremated, they won't be able to move on to the next life. So this is a huge deal.

But in the end, Gerilyn agreed to cremate Kaysera, because she thought it was the only way to get her back. Bolas never contacted Yolanda, Kaysera's guardian, about the decision. And as I'll get into, the family would later find out that Terry Bolas had been reprimanded by the state board for violations involving other indigenous women in Bighorn County.

And it really only gets worse. The next day, Grace and the rest of the family meet with Bullis, and he tells them that Kaysera was found in a yard, but he doesn't know exactly where. He also told the family that Kaysera's autopsy and toxicology hadn't come back yet, but when they did, they would show her cause of death as being exposure to drugs or alcohol.

Yes, please listen to this. Not only did Bolas knowingly lie to this family about their options for Kaysera's remains, but he has now preemptively told her family her likely cause of death based on almost nothing.

And this was something that Bolas apparently did quite often. According to the Showtime docuseries, more often than not, when he was given the sacred responsibility of dealing with someone's remains and they were indigenous, he just said drugs and alcohol. Case closed. Bolas also said that her date of death was August 26th, not the 24th.

Bullis told the family that the autopsy report would take another three to four weeks to be completed, and that her death certificate would be pending until the report was received. He also told the family that as far as he was concerned, there would be no investigation into Kaysera's death. He was convinced that there was no foul play involved. Grace told me about her reaction to this meeting. I was completely in shock, and I think that's when I...

realized that, you know, the extent of how, I mean, you know, just being in shock and, you know, just feeling like everything was, you know, everything was wrong in the universe, that we weren't going to find out what happened, and that, you

After this meeting with Bolas, Kaysera's grandmother Yolanda, her father Alan, and other family members tried to visit the location where Kaysera's body had been discovered, but there was no crime scene tape or anything else to say where she'd been located.

After a few days, family members were finally able to find the spot where Kaysera's body had been discovered. And they were shocked to find out that the yard was located off one of the busiest streets in town. A car drove by every 30 seconds. And there were lots of joggers and dog walkers. So, of course, the family didn't understand how no one had seen Kaysera lying there for days. And I don't either.

When I spoke to Grace, she said the owner of the house where Kaysera was found kept really good care of his lawn. Just in general, he kept it pretty tidy. Grace further pointed out that the yard is enclosed by a chain-link fence. It wasn't like she was hidden away by any means. While looking over the area, the family spoke to the owner of the house, who gave them permission to carry out a traditional ceremony to honor Kaysera's life.

The family also spoke with the man who found Kaysera's body. He said he watched the police remove Kaysera's phone from her pocket, and he told them to charge it so they could find her family. He also questioned the officer as to why the scene wasn't secured.

After learning all this new information, Kaysera's family kept trying to get in contact with the police department to see where things were at in the investigation, to ask if they could be interviewed, to ask what was going on. But they were basically just ignored.

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On September 16th, five days after Kaysera's body was officially identified, Yolanda reached out to the Deputy Attorney General to ask for more information on Kaysera's missing person report. She explained that the family tried to report Kaysera missing on the 25th, but they were told they needed to wait because it hadn't been long enough. The Deputy AG told Yolanda that Montana does not have a waiting period for a missing persons report.

and that a person under 21 is considered a child, so Kaysera should have been listed as a priority. And you guys, it only gets worse. The deputy AG told Yolanda it would take a few days to find the information on Kaysera's report, but they couldn't find it. There was no missing child report filed for Kaysera, and she was not in the missing persons database.

Now, a lot is happening at once. The family is digging for information, and they're still waiting for Kaysera's remains. Later that same day, Yolanda went to Bullis Mortuary for Kaysera's visitation. According to Kaysera's family's website, when Yolanda arrived, she was told that Kaysera's remains were not there yet. Terry Bullis' sister said that they would arrive in 45 minutes, and made a comment about how the body had to be taken back to the crime lab by police escort.

Now, because the police hadn't spoken to the family, Yolanda had no idea what that comment meant, and Kaysera's remains were not at the funeral home within 45 minutes. The family was then told that the remains wouldn't be there in time for the visitation, and they may not be there for the funeral the next day. But her family stood their ground and didn't leave. Finally, at 5.30pm, they arrived.

Her family continued their fight for answers. They brought notarized requests to the Bighorn County Attorney's Office for all reports regarding Kaysera's case, but they weren't given access. Now, I think most of us can understand how some of these reports aren't released when there's a pending investigation, but according to everyone they're talking to, this is an open and shut case, so I totally understand her family's frustration.

The family also contacted the Billings Gazette to ask why there hadn't been any media coverage on Kaysera's case. At this point, there hadn't even been an article talking about how a body had been located. The journalist the family spoke to apologized and said she had no idea a body had even been found. The Bighorn County Sheriff's Department hadn't told them anything, despite the fact that the Gazette called them daily for updates.

While they're getting this media attention, of course, Kaysera's family is continuing to fight for answers from authorities. Attorney Mary Catherine Nagel started representing Kaysera's family. Only with Mary's help was the family finally able to just meet with authorities. And I just want to repeat that. It took a lawyer getting involved for authorities to even meet with Kaysera's family.

Multiple meetings occurred on September 19th, more than a week after Kaysera had been officially identified. For one of these meetings, Yolanda, Alan, and other members of the family met with the investigating officer, Captain Mike Fuss of the Bighorn County Sheriff's Office. And according to Kaysera's family, Captain Fuss was confused as to who they were. He thought they were wanting to talk about a cell phone that was found near the site.

Yolanda and the other family members asked Fuss multiple questions, like why he never contacted or met with the family, or returned their numerous calls.

Fuss said that he'd been busy with other cases. He also said that he'd taken over for the first investigator, Jeremy Middlestead, because he couldn't handle it. When asked why the site wasn't secured or taped off, Fuss said that if the investigating officer gets to a crime scene first, they don't have to secure it. The only time they have to secure a scene is when police show up before the investigator.

The family also asked Fuss why they hadn't used Kaysera's phone to help identify her, and he explained that the battery had run out, so they couldn't have used the phone to identify Kaysera. But the family pushes back, saying that they could have easily recharged her phone and checked her recent messages or calls. Fuss responded saying that they just couldn't access that phone, claiming that even the FBI couldn't bypass its security.

To help move things along, focusing on actionable items, Yolanda and Allen completed a form that gave them permission to access Kaysera's cell phone and social media accounts. They also spoke about their issues with Terry Bullis, and Fuss told them that Bullis had, quote, "...snatched Kaysera's body from the crime lab," end quote, and he had to get it and take it back.

Now, this explained that comment that Bolas' sister made to them on the day of the visitation, when she said that Kaysera's body had to be taken back to the crime lab by police escort.

However, it did not explain why Bolas had taken Kaysera's body from the crime lab in the first place. And I don't mean to harp, but it only gets worse. That same day, Grace and her sister Cedar met with Bighorn County Attorney Jay Harris. They spoke about their concerns with the investigation, how no one in the family had been interviewed, or even asked for basic information such as Kaysera's phone number or service provider.

Harris explained that because of some reorganization and overall chaos in the sheriff's office, it was unclear who was in charge of the investigation.

But they keep pressing, they keep asking questions. Grace asked Harris if law enforcement was looking into Kaysera's social media accounts for any possible evidence, but she never got a clear answer. Grace and Cedar then had to insist that Harris look through Kaysera's phone records and contents. Basically insist that they investigate.

Before the meeting was over, Grace and Cedar brought up their concerns about coroner Terry Bullis, and how he told the family that Kaysera's death was due to exposure to drugs or alcohol. And Harris basically told them that's what Terry Bullis does, that he has a history of quickly deciding a person's cause of death was exposure to alcohol and natural causes. Now, I want to give this family so much credit for not losing their minds during this meeting. I don't know if I would have been able to keep my cool.

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Days later, on September 23rd, Kaysera's family held a vigil and a march to bring awareness to Kaysera's case, as well as other missing and murdered indigenous women. They started where Kaysera was found, then they went to the Bighorn County Courthouse, where multiple participants made speeches. The Billings Gazette reported that no one came out of the courthouse during the rally, but people could be seen watching from the windows.

One of the speakers, Crow Agency Representative Sharon Stewart-Paraguay, said, quote, This has to stop. This has been going on in this county for 20-plus years. Now it's spread across Montana. It's across the nation. It's across Canada. It's an epidemic.

But we should say it's a pandemic. It's about public safety. It's about people being safe in their own homeland. It's time that we became united. It is only then, when we are strong, that we cannot be broken. Enough is enough. Justice for our relations.

During the rally, many people spoke up against Bighorn County Attorney Jay Harris and County Coroner Terry Bullis. Kaysera's family said that both Harris and Bullis weren't doing enough in the investigation and weren't taking it seriously. Kaysera's uncle QJ said it seemed like authorities were trying to sweep Kaysera's death under the rug. He said, quote, "'Everybody's still really in the dark. We don't feel like we're being treated like people.'"

After the rally, Kaysera's family kept trying to obtain case reports and documents related to Kaysera's death, but each time they requested help from a staff member, they were told to ask a different person. They were basically being given the runaround at every single turn. At this point, Kaysera's family had lost confidence in the investigation. After a lot of effort, they weren't able to schedule a meeting with Bighorn County Sheriff Big Hair and his undersheriff.

During this meeting, Kaysera's family said that after they spoke with investigator Mike Fuss, they were left feeling like they were not being taken seriously, and Kaysera's death was not being properly investigated. And the sheriff confirmed, he said that the family should have been told right then on August 29th that there was a possibility the body could have been Kaysera's.

They then asked about why Kaysera's body was moved from the crime lab to the funeral home and back, but they didn't have an answer for this. They just said that Bolas had removed her body. And like a lot of families, they wanted to know why the FBI wasn't called in. And Sheriff Big Hair said that they could be brought in if the family wanted them to take the case. So of course, the family says yes, they would contact the FBI and ask for their help.

Now, before the meeting was over, the sheriff said he signed the family up with a victim's advocate who would update them about the case going forward. And for days following this meeting, they tried to call that victim advocate, but they got no reply. They also contacted the FBI as they suggested. But according to the family website, the FBI said they needed more proof that Kaysera's murder took place on the reservation before they could start an investigation.

And Kaysera's family is frustrated. From their perspective, there wasn't any proof indicating that the murder didn't happen on the reservation. Later, the FBI officially said that they would not investigate Kaysera's death because she was not found on the reservation. And again, this is really frustrating. Because Kaysera was found right next to the border of the Crow Reservation, only 300 yards away.

At this point, Kaysera's family isn't demanding that anyone be arrested or saying that anyone is at fault. They're just begging for an investigation. Finally, on October 1st, County Attorney Jay Harris announced that they would be forming the Bighorn County Missing Murdered Persons Task Force, which would, quote, take direct supervision over all investigations in Bighorn County which relate to suspicious deaths.

Harris did credit the family, saying that the rally they held a few weeks prior was what led to creating this task force. After Harris made this announcement, the Billings Gazette asked if Kaysera's case was being treated as a homicide or another category of death. He replied that her case was being treated as a suspicious death, adding, quote, "'I don't know how else you can characterize it. Young ladies don't just show up dead in strangers' yards.'"

which thank you. Following the announcement, Kaysera's case was overseen by the task force, although the sheriff's department were the main investigators. Kaysera's family continued to try to gain access to reports and documents, but nothing.

In the middle of November, Kaysera's family had a meeting with the county attorney, but Harris appeared to be defensive the whole meeting. When Yolanda asked why no official had interviewed her or Kaysera's father about Kaysera's health or anything else, Harris apparently crossed his arms and told Yolanda that he felt uncomfortable. He wasn't sure if he could continue the meeting with the family or what he could tell them.

Yolanda handed Harris a press release that pointed out his responsibility over all unexplained deaths and murders, which is why she wanted to meet with him in the first place, since the sheriff and investigating officers didn't have any answers. But apparently, Harris took offense when Yolanda referred to Kaysera's cause of death as murder.

Yolanda also asked more about the reorganization and overall chaos in the sheriff's office, and why it had been so unclear who was in charge of the investigation. Harris explained that in the week after Kaysera's body was found, Investigator Middlestead recused himself from the case. Due to personnel issues, there wasn't another officer to assign to Kaysera's case, so the investigation came to a complete stop.

According to the family's website, hearing that there had been no investigation confirmed Yolanda's worst fears.

Before the meeting was over, Yolanda asked Harris why the family hadn't received any reports that they requested. And he didn't say that this was an ongoing investigation and they couldn't get the records. He said that they needed to fill out a specific form. Yolanda said that no one told her that before. So Yolanda fills out the form, and the family was still not given access to any documents or reports.

In mid-December, Kaysera's Aunt Grace spoke to Terry Bullis. She asked Bullis about the status of the coroner's report, and he said that Harris had taken over all aspects of Kaysera's case, and that it was now out of his hands.

Grace also asked Bolas if it was true that he told Gerilyn that Kaysera's remains had to be cremated for her to be returned to her family for burial, and Bolas admitted that he did say that. When Grace asked if that was the only way, he said, quote, "...it was the simplest and easiest way."

The family attorney later told Showtime that because Bullis had Kaysera's body cremated without her guardian's permission, she filed a complaint to have Bullis' mortuary license revoked. However, Montana commissioners ultimately decided he didn't do anything wrong. He just, quote, didn't ask for permission in the best way possible.

Following the meeting with Bolas, Grace and other family members continued to try to get answers. At this point, they didn't have a death certificate, autopsy report, or any type of investigative report. It had been months since Kaysera was found dead, and the family knew nothing. They had no idea how Kaysera died, when she died, if investigators spoke to the people she'd last been seen with, or anything else.

And now at this point, multiple media outlets tried to get information on Kaysera's death as well. But law enforcement wouldn't budge. The individual who served as undersheriff when Kaysera passed away gave an interview to Showtime. He revealed that he left his position at the sheriff's office and relocated out of state. He said that had he still been working for the sheriff's office, he would not have agreed to the interview.

He explained, quote, "'The Bighorn County Sheriff's Office would have retribution against you if you spoke up. They'd just make your life hell. You'd have to move.'"

By mid-January, the Billings Gazette was able to obtain limited information about Kaysera's case. They reported that her death investigation was still open and active, and that medical examiners had been unable to determine her cause and manner of death. There'd been no clear sign of an injury or any natural disease.

While some possible causes of death had been ruled out, neither the autopsy nor the toxicology report were able to provide a definitive reason for Kaysera's death. The Gazette further reported that Kaysera's family felt like investigators should be treating Kaysera's death as a murder. They were, of course, frustrated that after five months, they still didn't have access to the autopsy results.

Her family spoke in front of government agencies, held vigils, protests, and more. And nothing was done to help Kaysera or her family. They felt like they had no other choice but to take the investigation into their own hands. And this proved to be a difficult task, as many locals seem uninterested in helping. There's just such a sense of apathy in this town, you know, about...

about anything that goes on about crime. Um, you know, when, when we were there, uh, every time we go to, to that area, there's usually someone that, um, you know, there's, there's hostility towards us. Uh, you know, people like yell at us, go home and, um,

It's like, well, would you do you want to have killers living around you? Like, are you is that better than finding out who did this? There's there's just there's just such a sense of, you know, they they don't care. They they're just they don't want to be bothered by.

Um, I, I don't know. I mean, if, if this happened in my neighborhood and a family showed up, you know, I would, I would go and support them. I would, I mean, I, I don't get it. Uh, and there have been those neighbors, there have been those neighbors that, um, you know, live a little bit further away, but they come out to, to support people in town. Um, but that's just how things are. That's just how things are in this town. Yeah.

Despite their obstacles with locals, Kaysera's family was able to gather some information, which they passed along to the Bighorn County Sheriff's Office, FBI, and the Montana Department of Justice. But these organizations didn't really do anything with this information. And then, it's almost a year since Kaysera was found, and the family still didn't know much of anything.

On August 14th, 2020, Kaysera's 19th birthday, her family held a rally where they called for justice. The family attorney addressed the crowd, quote, "'Shame on local and federal law enforcement for doing nothing. It has been a year. Evidence has been ignored. Suspects have been allowed to walk free unquestioned. Search warrants have not been executed. This is inexcusable.'"

It is time to let the Department of Justice, FBI, and the Bacorn County Sheriff's Office know that we hold them accountable.

Grace also spoke to the crowd, stating, quote, We have been ignored. We have done all that we can possibly imagine to convince law enforcement to investigate the murder of my niece on this day that should have been her 19th birthday. My family is asking for the support of our friends and allies across Indian country and all of the United States to stand with us and demand justice for Kaysera.

Grace and the family attorney announced that from August 24th through September 11th, they would be asking the public to join them in writing letters to public officials and law enforcement, demanding justice for Kaysera and her family. Unfortunately, it would be almost another full year before the family got any answers.

On August 13th, 2021, County Attorney Harris released a four-page report on the investigation into Kaysera's death. The purpose of the report was to, quote, help ensure public confidence in the local criminal justice process and provide understanding as to why a criminal prosecution has not been initiated nearly two years following the tragic discovery of the remains of Kaysera. Here's what they released.

The report started with a summary of what happened when Kaysera went missing. According to what witnesses told authorities, at around 3 a.m. on August 25th, Kaysera, Isabella, Nakia, and Natosi were hanging outside a home on Rangeview Drive when an argument broke out. The owner of the home then remotely activated the lights and horn on his vehicle, which was parked in the driveway. This was in hopes of breaking up the fight.

They all took off as a result. Kaysera fled into the backyard of a residence where she was eventually discovered, while Natosi fled in a westward direction, and Isabella and Nakia fled in an eastward direction. The report then stated that there is no available evidence to firmly establish whether any person had communication or contact with Kaysera after she went into the backyard.

Investigators weren't sure what happened between then and August 29th when Kaysera's body was discovered. There was no evidence of Kaysera being entered into the national system as a missing person. The report said that at 6.43pm on August 29th, Kaysera was found in a face-down position in the northeast corner of the fenced backyard. After authorities arrived, her pockets were checked, and only two items were found, a lighter and her cell phone.

Once the coroner arrived, Kaysera's body was placed in a plastic bag and transported to the crime lab in Billings, where an autopsy would take place. Investigators collected fly larvae at the scene. A forensic pathologist later concluded that the larvae, quote, "...appear compatible with death near the time she was last known alive and the local weather data."

According to the report, Priscilla told detectives that she had learned that the body of a female was recently found in Hardin, and because of that, she wanted to report her niece Kaysera as a missing person. Priscilla said she believed Kaysera had been hanging out on Rangeview Drive, because that's where her buyer was located. When asked what was meant by the term buyer, Priscilla said that she meant the person that buys Kaysera alcoholic beverages.

The report then discussed a small portion of Kaysera's autopsy report, which revealed that the medical examiner was unable to exclude asphyxia as a cause of death, and that at the time of her discovery, Kaysera had a 0.149 blood ethanol concentration, which is almost double the legal driving limit.

The report then clarified the reason for the delay in confirming Kaysera's identity after her body was found. Once the autopsy was completed, her body was moved to Coroner Bolas's funeral home. At this stage, they hadn't officially identified Kaysera yet. They were waiting for dental records, which they requested on September 3rd. Six days later, on September 9th, Kaysera's body was sent back to the state crime lab, where the dental records were used to finally confirm her identity.

The report went on to detail what authorities did to investigate Kaysera's case after her body was found. It was revealed that until Kaysera's family met with the sheriff's office on September 19th, they had made, quote, no significant investigative efforts to look into Kaysera's death.

This led County Attorney Harris to starting the task force, which then took over the investigation. According to the report, substantial investigative efforts by the Sheriff's Office began during the first week in October. They conducted interviews of witnesses and submitted DNA samples collected from Kaysera's fingernails and other key body locations, and no foreign DNA was present.

In October and November, the sheriff's office issued a social media account search warrant, along with additional subpoenas for Kaysera's medical and school records. These records revealed that in April 2019, Kaysera was found unresponsive at the high school. She was taken to the emergency room and treated for, quote, a high level of alcohol intoxication.

Authorities later hired a forensic pathologist, who concluded that the level of alcohol in Kaysera's body during the autopsy was comparable to the amount of alcohol found in her body during the April 2019 incident. The report continued discussing the investigative efforts Bighorn County authorities took.

In late January 2020, the county attorney did formally request investigative assistance from the Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, but the DOJ said no, citing a large caseload.

Later in 2020, the Sheriff's Office referred the investigation to a cold case unit of four special-commissioned Missoula County Sheriff's Deputies who are retired federal special agents. But this was only a review of evidence, and no additional investigative efforts were conducted due to COVID-19. Then in early 2021, the Department of the Interior announced the creation of a missing and murdered unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The new unit was supposed to put the full weight of the federal government into investigating cases involving missing and murdered indigenous people. In July 2021, the MMU reached out to Bighorn County to offer help in investigating Kaysera's death. According to the report, the county attorney's office accepted the offer, but according to Kaysera's family, they never did work together. Unfortunately, that's all the information that was revealed in the report.

Even after the investigation was completed, authorities still didn't allow Kaysera's family to view any documents. So why was Kaysera's case treated this way? And honestly, why is it still being treated this way? Well, of course, one theory is just straight racism.

But let's look at some other theories as well, which of course I'm not posing as excuses, because I don't think there is any good excuse ever to not fully investigate a suspicious death. But here we go. One theory is that because Kaysera had been reported missing once previously, the police just took her case less seriously.

According to authorities, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported Kaysera missing on July 5th, 2019. I asked Grace about this, and she told me that Kaysera was working in Missoula and just wasn't checking in with her grandma. She said it wasn't anything the family was concerned about, and that those circumstances were nothing like the ones from August 24th.

Another possible theory on why authorities didn't investigate was because of an incident that happened days before her disappearance. Showtime reported that while attending the Crow Fair in Hardin, Kaysera's 15-year-old brother, who was in a wheelchair, had been beaten and forcibly restrained by Bighorn County deputies.

Kaysera recorded this on her phone and posted it to social media. This has left many people wondering if this incident and Kaysera's sharing of it influenced the police's involvement in Kaysera's case. Because that footage did something. That footage launched an investigation, and officers were reprimanded.

Not only that, the family said that they have reason to believe a Bighorn County deputy that was under investigation was a responding officer to the scene when Kaysera's body was found. In the Showtime docuseries, many people spoke out about the disrespect law enforcement officers display towards indigenous people.

The family attorney explained to Showtime that often in towns on the border of reservations like Hardin, there are police officers and sheriffs who just don't value indigenous lives.

And it's absolutely worth noting that Montana has one of the highest rates of missing and murdered indigenous women in the U.S. While indigenous people represent 6.7% of Montana's population, they account for 26% of the state's missing persons. They're also four times more likely to be murdered in Montana than white people. In the end, there are many questions left unanswered in this case.

For instance, some news stories have reported that Kaysera's body was discovered wrapped in plastic, but the family isn't sure if this is true, which is obviously a huge question left unanswered. Something like that changes everything. The family is also unsure if the police have actually checked Kaysera's phone. While the county attorney's report mentioned that warrants were obtained to go through her phone, it didn't say whether the phone was actually searched.

The family is equally uncertain if police have interviewed residents of the neighborhood where Kaysera was last seen and eventually found. The family is aware that statements were taken from the last three individuals seen with Kaysera, but they have no clue if further investigations were conducted, including any investigation into Natosi, who was reportedly trying to run down every other member of the group with his truck that night.

When I spoke to Grace, she told me that no one has ever really given an explanation to the family for why they haven't been given access to any documents or information. Today, the family has little communication with law enforcement or the county attorney. Neither agency reaches out to the family to offer updates, ask questions, or anything else. As far as the family knows, authorities aren't investigating Kaysera's death,

The Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit has investigators looking into Kaysera's case, but the family doesn't know if they can do a review of what Bighorn Police have done, because again, no one is communicating with them. Earlier this year, a new sheriff and county attorney were elected. The family is hopeful that they will release information to them, and that they'll bring in other investigative teams and resources for Kaysera's case.

The family attorney told Showtime, quote, knowing what we know about this sheriff's office and this criminal justice system in Montana, I think law enforcement will leave it where it is unless we build up enough public pressure and momentum that requires them to do their job. Which brings me right to our call to action.

Yeah, we do have a couple of calls to action that we have organized. So we have a petition on change.org that is calling for justice and for an actual investigation.

that has received a large number of signatures, but we're still keeping that up because we haven't had any official response from the Department of Justice or any of the state law enforcement on that. So that's something that we're still asking people to go and sign.

We have a Justice for Kisara Facebook page as well as webpage, Justice for Kisara. And every August, we hold a series of calls to action events around the time that she went missing. We have a protest in Bacorn County as well as a couple of protests

webinars just with an update about her case. So those can all be found on our Facebook page. And her grandmother has been holding a annual Justice for Kaysera Memorial run, which happens on the co-reservation. And it's also a virtual run. So you're able to participate in that as well.

But I would just urge everyone who is interested in helping the movement in general, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's People's Relatives movements, to really just support any type of policy that is being pushed through at your state. There's usually a task force, some type of bill, some type of...

bill that is being supported and pushed through legislation and to support those, to support the representatives that are leading those bills. I mean, because it really is going to take federal initiatives, resources,

and a national awareness to start to address this crisis.

As a reminder, 18-year-old Kaysera Stops Pretty Places disappeared in the late hours of August 24th or early hours of August 25th, 2019. She was last seen on Rangeview Drive in Hardin, Montana, very close to the border of the Crow Reservation. On August 29th, Kaysera's body was discovered in the same neighborhood.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Bighorn County Investigators at 406-665-9780. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.

Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. This episode contains writing and research by Haley Gray. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show on your podcast player. It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice.