MT ARDEN PEPION: Missing from Browning, MT - 22 April 2021 - Age 3

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Search underway near Browning for missing 3-year old girl​

Early Friday, Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services posted an "attempt to locate" message for three-year old Arden Pepion. The alert says that she was last seen on Thursday at about 7 p.m. in the vicinity of Joe Show East Road off of US Highway 89. Arden was last seen wearing a purple jacket with a a unicorn design on the front, a grey under-sweater, black leggings, and black boots with green trim.

Law enforcement officers, tribal leaders, and volunteers are searching the area, some on horseback.


(UPDATE, 12:17 p.m.) Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services says that it and several other law enforcement agencies are coordinating the search for Arden. They also said that they are thankful for the public’s assistance in the search, but at this time do not need additional search crews. A separate phone number will be posted later for the public to call into for more information. Joe Show East road is temporarily closed for through traffic.

(UPDATE, 4:35 p.m.) The Montana Department has issued a formal Missing-Endangered Person Advisory for Arden, at the request of the Blackfeet Tribal Police Department.


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MEDIA - ARDEN PEPION: Missing from Browning, MT since 22 April 2021 - Age 3
 
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3-year-old Indigenous girl still missing 4 months later as community continues search​

A 3-year-old girl's unsolved disappearance is highlighting the lack of resources available to Indigenous communities, where women and girls often go missing or are killed and never get any justice.

Arden Pepion went missing from a remote area on Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana in late April and still hasn't been found. The man babysitting Arden at the time claimed she disappeared while he was practicing shooting his gun near a river. He has been charged with negligent endangerment and child neglect. He has pleaded not guilty and is out on bond.

Police believe the little girl went into the water, Arden's father, Aaron Pepion told NBC News' Morgan Radford. Since the disappearance, only her coat and boot have surfaced, he said. After a formal search lasting 10 days finished without finding Arden, the community took matters into its own hands and formed its own search party, still ongoing.

Tawna Bradford, another search volunteer, added: “We have no other resources. We have no other help. Just each other. And that's what we use.”

The searchers told Radford that it is “very common” to know someone personally who's gone missing.

“As Native Americans, we're forgotten,” Bradford said. “They don't follow up with our issues. They don't follow up with our missing. If you're murdered here, missing, they do their search of whatever they need to do, and that's it. That's the end of it.”

In 2020, Native Americans made up 10% of active missing cases, though they only make up 1.3% of the population, NBC News reported. On some reservations across the United States, Native American women are murdered at a rate more than 10 times the national average, according to the United States Department of Justice.

Pepion said he believes his daughter’s disappearance would have received more support from authorities had she not been Native American.


View attachment 12682
Am I wrong in that they want their own law and no outside interference from other law enforcement when it comes to crime? I mean generally of course, not saying some of the people may not prefer otherwise. Where I grew up and lived much of my adulthood, this is how it is understood. They have their own officers and law enforcement and handle their own issues and crime. I am in no way knocking that but things also can't garner attention when there is no news and nothing is shared.

I think more help would be there and exist if it were not for that but then they have to let others assist and the chips fall where they may and if someone is responsible that is related to the head officer of the reservation or one of their own local community, then come what may has to be the attitude imo.

I do get the blonde blue eyed thought, etc. but I truly think these days Youtube is exploding with people trying to garner a following or start a channel all of the time and I imagine other platforms are the same like FB. I see creators picking up any news of a new missing person or child and probably hoping that's the case people pick up or news results to gain a following and national attention, etc. With Gabby, facts quickly came that were interesting... With Summer, a few people probably took a look and they had a major amount of social media on the part of the mother and pictures, etc. to take off with... With Gabby, they were doing the "van life"... A recent LE involved incident came out, etc... At a certain point her family came out about her missing... So if someone picks up the initial news, and then looks into it and finds more info like this, it might take off...

I think any of us and most I know would get behind any case or missing person whether indigenous or otherwise but there has to be movement behind it too on the part of the local community, the family, tribal LE getting it out there... Pushing it... Interviewing... Sharing news...
 
Am I wrong in that they want their own law and no outside interference from other law enforcement when it comes to crime? I mean generally of course, not saying some of the people may not prefer otherwise. Where I grew up and lived much of my adulthood, this is how it is understood. They have their own officers and law enforcement and handle their own issues and crime. I am in no way knocking that but things also can't garner attention when there is no news and nothing is shared.

I think more help would be there and exist if it were not for that but then they have to let others assist and the chips fall where they may and if someone is responsible that is related to the head officer of the reservation or one of their own local community, then come what may has to be the attitude imo.

I do get the blonde blue eyed thought, etc. but I truly think these days Youtube is exploding with people trying to garner a following or start a channel all of the time and I imagine other platforms are the same like FB. I see creators picking up any news of a new missing person or child and probably hoping that's the case people pick up or news results to gain a following and national attention, etc. With Gabby, facts quickly came that were interesting... With Summer, a few people probably took a look and they had a major amount of social media on the part of the mother and pictures, etc. to take off with... With Gabby, they were doing the "van life"... A recent LE involved incident came out, etc... At a certain point her family came out about her missing... So if someone picks up the initial news, and then looks into it and finds more info like this, it might take off...

I think any of us and most I know would get behind any case or missing person whether indigenous or otherwise but there has to be movement behind it too on the part of the local community, the family, tribal LE getting it out there... Pushing it... Interviewing... Sharing news...
The Podcast world is insane! There have to be over 100 podcasters following us on Twitter.
 

Weather pauses searches for missing 3-year-old in Browning​

Private searches to find a missing 3-year-old near Browning have largely been put on hold because of winter weather and poor conditions.

Arden Pepion, who would now be 4, disappeared nearly nine months ago, on April 22, in the area surrounding Joe Show East off U.S. Highway 89 South.

Since then, Pepion’s loved ones, including her parents Arbana and Aaron Pepion, have been tirelessly searching for the young girl and any evidence that might put the pieces of the puzzle of her disappearance together.

Diana Burd is a member of Holding Hope Search and Rescue, a team formed with the sole purpose of finding Arden. They have been combing through the Two-Medicine wilderness and river areas, where Arden is suspected to have gone missing.

However, weather conditions in the past month or so have temporarily stopped teams from continuing to look for answers. Ice is covering the Two Medicine river, making it impossible to search the water for clues. Wind and snow make ground searches difficult too, Burd said.

When conditions allow, there is a spot where Arden is thought to have possibly entered the water where searchers have not yet looked. The area is thick with foliage and a known home to a bear family, so accessing it has been difficult, she added.

Arden’s parents, Arbana and Aaron, are using the time off from searching to go through the massive number of photos from searches they have taken since April. They are working to construct a timeline to help when searches resume in the spring, Arbana said.
 
Hmph. Bears, too much foliage but a spot they think she likely went in that so far has not been looked at since April of 2021 despite thinking that?? Is help wanted?? I don't doubt there are people and search organizations that would go into this spot or find a way considering there is a missing child...
 

Search efforts for Arden Pepion continue a year after she went missing​

April 22 marks one year since Arden Pepion, who was 3-years-old at the time, went missing after spending time with her uncle near Joe Show East Road in the Two Medicine area.

Searchers tell me they won't stop till they find Arden.

"We haven't stopped looking for her and I don't think we're going to stop looking for her until we find her," said Tawna Bradford, a community member continuing to look for Arden.

"We're hoping we can bring her home soon," said Arbana and Aaron Pepion, Arden's parents.


The group says it's called holding hope because if they don't have hope, they would only have sorrows and questions.

"It’s Arden’s own little personal search team, holding hope, that we give up everything for her and it’s all for her," said Burd.

"She was our baby... she was innocent," said Arbana and Aaron.


Arden Pepion-Holding Hope SAR
 
BROWNING — “Keep checking!” Bernadine Beyale shouted continuously at her search-and-rescue dogs on Thursday as they foraged along the Two Medicine River, looking for any trace of a missing 3-year-old child.

It’s been over a year since Arden Pepion vanished from the Two Medicine River area on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Arden disappeared on April 22, 2021.
 

New Video Provides Hope in Arden Pepion Search​

People searching for missing Arden Pepion on the Blackfeet Reservation are saying they have a renewed hope in finding her, after a new "clue" surfaces from a recently-shot video.

VIDEO AT LINK

Apparently there was a "voice" / ghost voice / EVP.
 

New Video Provides Hope in Arden Pepion Search​

People searching for missing Arden Pepion on the Blackfeet Reservation are saying they have a renewed hope in finding her, after a new "clue" surfaces from a recently-shot video.

VIDEO AT LINK

Apparently there was a "voice" / ghost voice / EVP.
Did anybody watch the video? There's a paywall. If it was just a voice, what was it saying??
 

MMIP: Remembering Arden Pepion​

Just over a year ago, then three-year-old Arden Pepion disappeared while under the care of her uncle near Joe Show East Road off of US Highway 89.

“She loved the music. She loved doing TikTok videos with her sisters. She was just a very, very outgoing girl. For a three-year-old, she was very smart,” said Arbana Pepion, Arden’s mother.

The Blackfeet Tribal Prosecutor’s Office noted that Arden was not reported missing until five hours after her disappearance.

On Facebook Live, Officer Frank Goings said BLES determined the circumstances did not meet the criteria for an AMBER alert. He also noted that the Montana Department of Justice issued a Missing and Endangered Person Advisory (MEPA).

The formal search for Arden Pepion lasted ten days, finding only footprints leading to the river and a boot believed to be hers. The search has since been scaled back, but people continue to volunteer to search for Arden as the family is left without answers over a year later.

As the one-year mark for Arden’s disappearance came and went, her family members and the rest of the community are still on the lookout as they try to bring peace to a horrific situation.
 

New Video Provides Hope in Arden Pepion Search​

People searching for missing Arden Pepion on the Blackfeet Reservation are saying they have a renewed hope in finding her, after a new "clue" surfaces from a recently-shot video.

VIDEO AT LINK

Apparently there was a "voice" / ghost voice / EVP.
I only heard "Listen". I did see the dog become alert to something. But without a longer video and hearing what's going on at the time I'm skeptical. The dog could have been reacting to any strange noise.
 

Mother of missing 3-year-old, Arden Pepion, passes away​

Arbana Pepion, the mother of Arden Pepion, has passed away.

Her passing was announced by Diana Burd and shared to the Arden Pepion-Holding Hope SAR Facebook which is dedicated to finding Arden, a then 3-year-old who went missing in 2021.

The following is the post announcing Bana's passing from Diana Burd:

This morning Miss. Bana Pepion passed away peacefully at home with her husband Aaron Pepion at her side. We had a scheduled search today no one knew about. We were able to clear a majority of the log jams and most of the “roots from hell”. We stirred things up like we intended and will be able to return when the water clears. Our goal was to beat the snow and we did just that. We are so thankful to the Blackfeet Housing Authority for always “Holding Hope” as they have always assisted us. Thank you Mary Gordan, Jay St. Goddard and Buddy Gray for being the stand up people you are. Today was a tough one but Bana always knew we would not quit. I wanted to not go through with the search today but I know Arbana would have been upset with us. She had so much faith that one day we would find Arden her body was just getting tired. She made us laugh, she made us cry, and she even made us mad but she always came back ready to take on the world. Aaron, Arbana and the Holding Hope search crew have been through so much together over the past few years a big space is left in our hearts. Please keep Arbana, Aaron and the girls in you prayers. 😢😢😢
 

‘We are in need’: Bill would help missing person searches​

When 3-year-old Arden Pepion went missing on the Blackfeet Reservation in 2021, more than 150 members of the Blackfeet community showed up to search for her.

They brought dogs and flashlights. They learned how to ward off bears, and they waded through rivers.

When a loved one goes missing, Native families often get tangled in a web of criminal jurisdictions shared among state, federal and tribal law enforcement entities. Frustrated with law enforcement response and a general lack of media coverage and public outcry, Indigenous families often turn to their communities for immediate assistance in finding loved ones.

Their searches rarely get the attention and public assistance that missing white people receive, to the point sociologists have a special term for the difference. “Missing White Woman Syndrome” refers to the idea that young white women — and especially those who adhere to common beauty standards and who come from wealthy backgrounds — are overrepresented in media coverage, when compared with women of other demographics. A new Columbia Journalism Review tool estimates a 21-year-old missing Native woman in Montana would receive about 35 news stories, where as a missing white woman in her early 20s would receive at least 120 articles.

These community-led searches are not uncommon. When Hanna Harris, a 21-year-old Northern Cheyenne woman, went missing in 2013, it was her mother, Malinda, who posted on Facebook to organize a search. When Selena Not Afraid, 16, went missing in 2020, her aunt Cheryl Horn helped coordinate the search, gather resources for volunteers and share updates on Facebook.

While the Blackfeet community turned out for Arden’s search, the effort did not go as planned. According to several people who attended, the search was chaotic, as it lacked a leader, coordination, resources and direction.

Diana Burd is a member of Holding Hope, a grassroots search and rescue team created for Arden. She said she was sure the search team would find “baby Arden,” but added that “because of the lack of collaboration … she was not found.”

She recalled participants wondering, “What exactly should we look for? How should we organize the group? Who is in charge?” These are some of the questions that plagued grieving community members as they roamed the reservation looking for Arden.

While community members do their best to assist in these searches, they often lack formal training and appropriate resources.

A bill brought by Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, on behalf of the State-Tribal Relations Committee aims to bolster these community-led search efforts by providing formal training, resources and structure.

The bill passed the House and was heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday.

What’s this bill about?

Specifically, House Bill 18 would establish a missing persons response team training grant program administered through the Department of Justice. In his address to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday, Running Wolf emphasized that House Bill 18 is not just for Native people but would benefit all Montanans. It would create a corresponding grant account and provide a fund transfer. The bill establishes July 1 as the effective date, and the initial appropriation would cost the general fund $61,000.

The bill would also fund training opportunities for community-based response teams made up of members across agencies and jurisdictions as well as local entities and volunteers. House Bill 18 would also fund expenses, including the cost of a training program and facilitator as well as conference location fees and travel expenses for staff and trainees.
 

Two missing-person cases on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation are now in the hands of federal agents specializing in solving missing and murdered Indigenous persons incidents.

Arden Pepion and Leo Wagner both disappeared from Blackfeet in April 2021. In the almost two years they’ve been missing, both of their cases have yielded little in the way of answers. In July of 2022, Blackfeet Law Enforcement formally requested that the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit take the lead for Pepion and Wagner’s cases, according to a BIA spokesperson.
 

A bill that bolsters community-led searches for missing people was signed into law earlier this week.

Brought by Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, House Bill 18 establishes a missing persons response team training grant program. Administered through the Department of Justice, local groups can seek financial support from the grant account for formal training, resources, conference fees, travel expenses and more.

The law will take effect in July, and it costs the general fund $61,000. Running Wolf brought a similar bill last session, but it died over objections to the cost.

<snip>
In committee hearings, several Missing and Murdered Indigenous People advocates supported the legislation. Diana Burd, Blackfeet, told lawmakers of a community-led search for Arden Pepion, a 3-year-old girl who went missing from the Blackfeet Reservation in 2021.

In her testimony, Burd said the search was chaotic. The search, according to her, lacked a leader, coordination and resources. She said searchers didn't have formal training and didn't know how to organize, how to be efficient or what clues to look for.

“Because of the lack of collaboration,” she testified in January, “(Pepion) was not found.”

In various hearings, Running Wolf stressed that the bill is not just for Native Americans but can benefit all Montanans.
 

Community continues to search for missing girl, asks for help from you​

Right now in Montana there are 55 reported missing indigenous persons.

Thirty five of those people have been missing less than a year, while the other 20 have been missing for more than a year.

Of those missing, is Arden Pepion, one of the youngest on the list.

Arden went missing over two-years ago in 2021 after spending time with her uncle off of Joe Show Road east in the Two Medicine area.

Even though it's been years, the community hasn't stopped looking for her.

"We can't stop. We have to keep moving forward. This little girl has to be brought home," said Belinda Bullshoe, who continues to search for Arden.



"You think about Arden and the question is why do we keep looking? You know, we shouldn't even be looking for her. This little girl's life has been taken at a young age. So, when you ask why do you guys still search for that little girl, she had a whole life in front of her," said Bullshoe.

Arden's parents and the community created a Facebook group called 'Arden Pepion - Holding Hope SAR' in 2021, and since then they've brought out more search crews to help find her.

"When we watch the cadaver dogs, it's like they don't want to leave from here, and they will, like, literally bite at our pants, or cry like she's here - or somethings here. And they don't want us to leave until we find it. And it's just the feeling like they get really sad... they try to keep us here," said Diana Burd, another person who continues to search for Arden.

Holding Hope is going to conduct another large search next week, July 20-22, according to Bullshoe and they are asking for your help.

"We're trying to raise money to get more teams in for more help. We had a good team from Arizona. The Northern Cheyenne are very important to Arden and they've been here since day one," said Burd.

"We ask for any kind of help, if any volunteers want to come down and they have the time, that would be such a blessing," said Bullshoe.
 

After more than two years, the search continues for Arden Pepion​

Diana Burd has been involved in the search for the young Arden Pepion since the day she went missing on the Blackfeet Reservation in April 2021, and she hasn’t given up hope.

“We always hope. We always think the best,” Burd told the Daily Montanan on Thursday.

Pepion, who was 3 years old when she went missing, was last seen on the banks of the Two Medicine River. She was under the supervision of her uncle, HaHaax Vielle, who later pleaded guilty to negligent endangerment, according to reporting from KRTV.

In this upcoming search, Burd said weather conditions like reduced water levels and the involvement of a forensics team from the University of Montana, including a doctoral student from the Blackfeet Reservation, were giving her hope that this time, they’ll find her body. The crew is scheduled to search the area next week.

“You read stories where people got in the water, and they found them 10 feet away from where they went in maybe five years later,” she said. “We always hope this is the case.”

Time is ticking for investigators to search for Pepion. Burd said they likely have about three weeks before weather would be a factor again. And they’ve been down this road before.
 

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