Where the Prairie Falls Silent: The Eight Missing Native American Children in North Dakota

 

Exploring lost voices, vanishing footprints, and the urgent search for answers.

There are stretches of North Dakota where the land seems endless—a soft meeting of sky and prairie, where time slows and silence holds its breath. But beneath this quiet lies a growing unease. Over the past few weeks, eight Native American children have gone missing across the state. Families search. Communities pray. And somewhere, the wind carries names it shouldn’t have to remember.

🪶 Eight Names, Eight Stories

Each child has a story, a home, and loved ones who wait for them. These are not statistics—they are lives paused in mid-sentence:

Dashira Chapple (14) – Missing since July 29, Fargo

Camila Naara Juarez Perez (9) – Missing since August 3, Williston

Maddison Mickaila Finch (16) – Missing since August 9, Grand Forks County

Angel Marquece Peltier (15) – Missing since August 10, Fargo

Mariah Alexandria Gorneau (19) – Missing since early August, Mandan

Adrian Skye Spies (14) – Missing since August 11, Fargo

Abbigail Louise Compeau (16) – Missing since August 12, Grand Forks

Anaiese Dachelle Weems (3) – Missing since August 13, Minot

These names, though officially recorded, are rarely amplified by mainstream media. In many reports, more than half are identified as Native American. For families, the absence is unbearable; for too many, the search feels endless.

🔍 Why Indigenous Children Disappear More Often

While these disappearances span different towns and circumstances, there’s a troubling pattern when Indigenous children go missing:

Jurisdictional Delays — Tribal, state, and federal authorities often operate under overlapping rules, causing investigations to stall.

Underreporting — Cases involving Native youth are less likely to receive national media coverage, resulting in fewer tips.

Resource Gaps — Tribal police departments are underfunded, leaving many families to organize searches themselves.

Systemic Blind Spots — A history of marginalization and neglect has allowed these crises to deepen, unnoticed.

🪞 Communities Rising Up

Families, advocates, and grassroots groups are refusing silence:

Feather Alerts — Similar to Amber Alerts, some areas are developing culturally specific notification systems for missing Indigenous children.

Sahnish Scouts — Volunteers and community members actively organize search parties using social media, drones, sonar, and trained dogs.

MMIW & MMIC Movements — Advocates for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children push for federal accountability and better protocols.

The hope remains alive because people refuse to stop looking.

🌾 An Attic Reflection

Somewhere tonight, a porch light is left on. Somewhere else, a door stands slightly open, just in case. In North Dakota’s vast open spaces, these children’s names are whispered like prayers carried on the wind.

And yet, we cannot rely on whispers alone. We must speak loudly, remember them, and demand better from the systems designed to protect them.