By: BIRIDIANA LOPEZ-RODRIGUEZ
Staff Writer
As we all know, there are many unheard crime cases. Native American women, children, and men make up a huge amount of people who are missing or murdered. In a study it is shown that Native American women are up to 10 times more likely to be murdered than the national average for any other race. As of 2016, there were 5,712 cases of missing Native American women reported, but the Department of Justice Federal missing-persons database only logged 116 of those cases. And other possible victims have never been found. You probably never heard of this case because it wasn’t covered as much by the media. So let me tell you about the Selena Not Afraid case.
Selena went missing on New Year’s day of 2020. Selena was a Native American teenager, who lived in Bighorn County, Montana. Selena was born on June 18, 2003, and she was actually a twin. Her sister’s name was Zoey, and they were the youngest of five siblings. Selena was often described as a positive, loving, and kind-hearted 16-year-old who loved to play basketball and loved riding horses. She enjoyed spending her time riding horses, doing beadwork, sewing, baking, and reading. Selena and her family have been through some very hard times, in 2014 at only 11 years old, Selena’s twin sister took her own life. And a few years later in 2017, Selena’s brother died at the age of 23 and he was actually shot by a police officer. His name was Preston David Bell and it happened on November 18, 2017. That same year Selena’s older sister was involved in a hit and run, and she sadly died.
Selena celebrated New Year’s Eve with her friends at a party. The party did end up having alcohol, so Selena and her friend’s were drinking underage. Selena ended up staying the night in the house where the party was held. Selena and five others (four men and one woman) got in a car and headed back towards Hardin. They were driving down through interstate 90, and the van they were driving broke down. They pulled over at a rest stop between Billings and Hardin, near mile marker 474. This rest stop is where Selena was last seen on New Year’s day at 2 p.m. One of the men they were with ended up temporarily fixing the van, so he told Selena and her other friend to not get back in the van because it’ll break down again. According to him, he was going to have his mother pick them up since she was 10-15 minutes away. So she stayed at the rest stop with her friend, Arlana.
Eventually his mother did end up showing up, but when she got there she didn’t find them. She began to look around the area, and found Arlana sitting in a ditch near the truck stop and wasn’t with Selena. Arlana claimed that she did not have any recollection of what happened at all, she seemed to be completely confused. She said that she didn’t know how she got there or what happened. Arlana had scratches all over her legs and her shoes were missing. Selena’s family got word that Selena was missing, and they immediately called the police. The police ended up interviewing a woman who claims to be a witness, and she claims that she saw Selena runoff into the nearby field at the rest stop. The woman also claimed that Selena asked her to go with her, but she declined and so Selena went on her own. They began to search the field the woman claimed she saw Selena runoff into. Dogs, horses, ATVs, helicopters, and drones were used to help find Selena. People in the area were very upset and many volunteered in the search such as people in the area, her friends, classmates, teachers, and family. In the first six days, her classmates decided not to sit behind a desk and go out looking for her promising to find her.
Many other authorities near Bighorn county quickly came in to help search. These authorities are; The Crow tribe police, The Billings police, the Montana Highway patrol, and even the FBI. Selena’s family was heartbroken and did anything they could to help, they even camped at the rest stop she was last seen. There was a lot of speculation that Selena could’ve been abducted. Police discovered that there was a green Subaru Forester with Wyoming plates in the parking lot at the time she went missing. People have also speculated that the person that owned the car could’ve forced her into his car. They found out where the party was so they could be able to broaden their search because they didn’t find anything in the field.
That was until January 20, 2020, twenty days after her disappearance. Her body was found in that same field near the rest stop, her body was found one mile into the field and they somehow missed it. Many were confused as to how it could take so long to find a body a mile in the field with that many volunteers. Many people were also confused on how the dogs didn’t pick up her scent on any of those days they were searching the field. It has been said that these dogs weren’t cadaver dogs they were just police dogs, they were also kept on leashes because those dogs were trained to attack people and since there were so many people volunteering, they didn’t want the dogs to accidentally attack someone. Another thing many people didn’t understand was how the helicopters and drones didn’t see her body either. It is said that foul play was not suspected.
Her funeral was held on Sunday January 26, 2020. She was buried at the Fairview Cemetery and over a thousand people showed up to her funeral. They had her casket carried in on a horse-drawn carriage as many people rode horses behind her as she was being taken to her burial site. There was also a group of runners known as the gas cap of renegades who ran all the way from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota for several days in order to get to the service in time. They said that they ran to raise awareness not just for Native missing women but for women and children in general who go missing. Many still thought that her death was suspicious and wanted to see her autopsy which was released on February 24th. The autopsy report says that her cause of death was hypothermia and marked her death as accidental. They said that she had no wounds, no injuries, no marks, nothing that would’ve shown signs of foul play. But many think that there is still something missing. There isn’t much information on this case, which leaves many people confused as to what really could’ve happened. This was the tragic case of Selena Not Afraid.