FBI sets $25,000 minimum reward for dozens of unsolved murder or missing persons cases throughout Indian Country
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation has established a minimum reward of $25,000 in cases where people went missing or were killed in Indian Country, part of a broader effort to address high rates of violence affecting Native American communities.
The new minimum applies to more than 50 unsolved homicides and missing-person cases in tribal communities. Most of the cases are less than 10 years old, though a dozen have been unsolved for more than two decades, an AP analysis found.
Victims’ families and experts are unsure the higher amounts will be enough to get tipsters to come forward, citing people’s fears and distrust of the federal government.
“Everybody’s scared in Oglala,” said Lisa Carlow, whose father Patrick Carlow Sr. was found dead in his Pine Ridge Reservation home in 2023. “So to me it’s like, OK, what do you guys know that you’re not saying?”
The FBI investigates federal crimes on nearly 200 Native American reservations, along with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. At the end of 2025, the FBI’s National Crime Information Center recorded just under 1,500 active cases involving missing Native Americans, though not all become federal cases. There isn’t a minimum reward that applies across all FBI cases.
The FBI cited several cases in its recent announcement, including that of 8-year-old Maleeka Boone, who it said was likely struck by a vehicle on the Navajo Nation, and San Carlos Apache teenager Emily Pike, whose body was found after she disappeared from an Arizona group home.
Higher rewards could stir new interest
Mary Kathryn Nagle, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an attorney who advocates for families of missing Native Americans, said federal investigators often “parachute in” to investigate crimes in tight-knit communities where witnesses may stay silent because of distrust and fear of retribution.
Still, she said, larger rewards could provide an incentive for people to talk, and show families their loved ones’ cases are being taken seriously.
“We have people in Indian Country who know what happened to our relatives,” she said.
Luana Ross, who is Bitterroot Salish and a co-director of the Native Voices program at the University of Washington, said cash rewards could boost interest but often aren’t paid out.
“It is my opinion that in reservation communities, people would be extremely reluctant to turn a friend or relative into a criminal justice system that hasn’t served them well,” she said.
Cecil Jackson, 43, said he’d been aware of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons movement, but never thought he’d be affected. Then his mother, Mona Renee Vallo, was found dead after a suspected hit-and-run along historic Route 66 in Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, in 2022.
Vallo was a member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Jackson remembers participating in cultural activities with her and going picking for cherries and apricots.
He hopes the higher reward money will renew interest in the investigation. It’s been a while since his family received an update from the FBI.
“Someone knows something there,” said Vallo’s friend, Lisa Foster. “They have to. I mean, it’s weird that she went to work and then all of a sudden this happened to her.”
Frustration mounts as families seek answers
The reward in Carlow’s case was increased to $25,000 in July, up from $10,000.
Carlow’s family says the 73-year-old rancher was respected in the Oglala community. He mowed the grass for others and spent time with his grandchildren. The family said more calls started coming in after the reward was increased, but the wait for answers continues.
Meanwhile, the FBI declined to provide The Associated Press an update on the case.
“It’s so hard to get your hopes up like that and think, ‘This is it, we finally got dad’s killer.’ And then nothing comes of it,” Lisa Carlow said.
She said fear keeps community members who may have information from contacting authorities.
“I think that’s like deep-rooted within our people,” said her sister, JoDee Carlow. “It’s not just on Pine Ridge. It’s on every reservation.”
Relatives don’t want cases to be forgotten
The FBI initially offered $5,000 for information in the deaths of two brothers from Ohio, Matthew and Philip Reagan. The reward was later doubled and now will hit $25,000. Though not Native Americans, they were killed on the Navajo Nation and are featured on the FBI’s Indian Country cases website.
The brothers planned to visit Canyon de Chelly National Monument during a trip to California. Authorities believe their SUV got stuck in mud after GPS sent them off course near Sawmill. They were shot multiple times while walking to seek help, authorities said.
Matthew Reagan’s wife, Faye Wurstner-Reagan, said she doubts a $25,000 reward will persuade anyone in the small community to come forward.
“You would have to promise someone, like, actual protection,” she said. “I mean, they brutally murdered two men.”
She suggested the FBI instead put resources toward law enforcement to keep the cases from going cold and for liaisons to keep families informed.
FBI spokesperson Brooke Brennan in Phoenix said investigating crimes in Indian Country often is complex because of the remoteness, limited resources and extensive workload.
Wurstner-Reagan hopes that families united in pain and grief over missing loved ones and unsolved killings might one day see justice.
“We’re just getting forgotten, like no one is remembering any of us, and we’re just told it’s an active investigation,” she said.
Associated Press writers Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Savannah Peters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.
Federal government extends pause on border wall construction in Big Bend
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government agreed in court on Friday to extend a pause on border related construction in Big Bend National Park until mid September, a move welcomed by those challenging the contentious project in the area.
Customs and Border Protection already paused activity after CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott visited the park last week to consult with local officials. His visit came after bulldozers started plowing through parts of the park in the far south of Texas, sparking widespread outrage.
The Department of Homeland Security said at the time that the bulldozers were not launching into full construction but were part of initial design and survey work. Scott’s pause was slated to expire on Monday.
In Big Bend National Park, the government’s plans have included building a new road, installing detection technology and barriers to stop vehicles from crossing the border, although an attorney for the government emphasized Friday that no final plans have been decided for what will be built in the park.
U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia said during the court hearing in San Antonio that he hoped the two sides would use the extra time to come together to work out what could be done to address both sides’ concerns. The pause applies to both the national park and a section of land upriver and west of the park, a Justice Department lawyer said during Friday’s hearing.
The work in Big Bend National Park is part of a $46 billion plan by the Trump administration to cover the length of the 2,000-mile border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico in a combination of 30-foot tall steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers and detection technology to stop illegal immigration and smugglers.
As construction has ramped into high gear, the administration has increasingly run into opposition from a combination of landowners, environmental groups, and Native Americans.
But the government argued Friday that Customs and Border Protection’s authorities when it comes to building the wall or other border infrastructure comes from Congress.
“Congress gave them the authority,” said government lawyer Pamela Amaechi. “Congress has spoken.”
The lawsuit in Friday’s case alleges that the government overstretched its authority in seeking to build border infrastructure in a national park established by Congress. And the lawsuit alleges the slated construction violates the religious freedoms and cultural practices of Native Americans for whom access to burial sites or areas where they conduct specific ceremonies are central to their religious practices.
The government has argued that it has the authority given by Congress to build the wall and other border security infrastructure and waive certain regulations to do so swiftly. They’ve also argued that the plaintiffs haven’t shown that the construction projects will in fact restrict anyone’s ability to practice their religion and that the construction plans in the park are limited.
Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat state senator in Texas who also argued the case Friday against the government, called the outcome a “win” for their side even though the pause is temporary. Gutierrez said anything that slows the government down until midterm elections in November is a good thing with the hope that a change in control of Congress might result in a rethinking of the border wall plans.
