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The original was posted on /r/unresolvedmysteries by /u/AlfredTheJones on 2023-12-27 19:04:40+00:00.
Hello everyone! I hope that you had lovely holidays spent with your loved ones, or a few peaceful days if you don't celebrate. Thank you for all the upvotes and comments under my post about Emily Bailey- I hope that her case will be resolved soon and her family and friends will find out what happened.
Today I wanted to write about a case of another young (in this instance) girl that left a party and was never seen again.
BACKGROUND
Nevaeh Kingbird was 15 when she went missing from Bemidji, Minnesota, USA, in October of 2021. She was a freshman in highschool and had plans to go to college in Colorado. She wasn't sure about what she wanted to study, but she knew that she wanted to travel.
Her mother, Teddi Wind, said that her daughter was a homebody who "loved her home and her room". She stated that Nevaeh didn't drink or stay out at night. It's still noted that Nevaeh had a lot of friends and was "a boss of everybody, even (her mom)", so she was far from a shy wallflower.
According to her loved ones, Nevaeh loved her family and had a special fondness for her siblings and nephew- she was the third oldest of six. She also loved school; Nevaeh and her family are Indigenous Americans, specifically Ojibwe, and Nevaeh "knew her language and culture well".
Nevaeh also had an artistic side- she drew, painted and used pastels. She also wrote her own poems.
Sadly, Nevaeh has been struggling mentally recently, as two of her friends commited suicide in a short span of time- one in April of 2021 and another one week before Nevaeh vanished. Nevaeh was also bipolar and she has run off before, but she always stayed in contact with her family- once she was away from home for a month.
Teddi Wind said that she was a "strict parent" who wanted to protect her daughter- Nevaeh was enrolled in boxing and self-defense classes.
DISAPPEARANCE
Nevaeh left her home on the 21st of October telling her mom that she was going to the movies with a couple friends. Nevaeh was allegedly happy, even "beyond excited"; These friends then took her to a party.
Nevaeh was last seen on the evening of the 21st of October. She left one home at 1 a.m, and then was seen leaving another one, alone, at around 2 a.m at at Southview Terrace Trailer Park. Nevaeh has left the party "compromised"- she has jumped out of a window and hit her head; She "laid on the ground for a long time and then she ran off"
Teddi Wind called her daughter at the 22nd of October when she was at work in a local casino to check in on her daughter. According to her, Nevaeh was slurring her words, but she claimed that she was fine, despite Teddi feeling that she was lying, and then (Nevaeh) started to cry.
Teddi, worried, left her job and went to the house (I'm not sure what is ment by this; Her own or the one Nevaeh left?)- there were other people in the house so she told them to leave; One person didn't want to let her through to see Nevaeh. She then called the police and waited in her truck untill they came. When they've arrived, they've helped Teddi kick out remaining teens. Nevaeh wasn't there- she and her cousin sneaked out through the back door. Everyone who has been there has been interviewed later in the investigation.
Her mother reported her as a runaway on the 22nd after she realized that Nevaeh wasn't home. Teddi assumed that Nevaeh was with the friends she said that she told her she was meeting with and only gotten worried after she found out that Nevaeh didn't contact anyone and wasn't active on social media for so,e time, which was allegedly unlike her. Nevaeh's cousin, Valahlena Steeprock, said that it was unlike her cousin to not contact her family for months.
A resident near Washington Avenue Southwest and Pine Grove Street Southwest reported seeing a young female near their residence between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. on the 22nd of October- she was allegedly wearing what Nevaeh did when she went missing.
A couple who lived south of the trailer park reported that about eight hours after Neveah was seen jumping out the trailer window, a female matching Neveah’s description had knocked on their door but then left. They later found two windows broken in their detached garage, suggesting someone could have been looking for shelter in the below freezing temperatures. When the police arrived, however, the garage was empty.
In the days after Nevaeh went missing, it turned out that one of her siblings has contracted COVID; Teddi was worried that Nevaeh was sick too, as she had a runny nose before she went missing. The whole family ended up sick and Teddi felt especially ill.
Teddi messaged all of her daughter's social media accounts, but she never responded, she never even seen the messages. Nevaeh's friends told her aunt that she used to be very active on their group chat, but never contacted them after she went missing.
Two months after Nevaeh went missing, her 12-year old brother has learned that Nevaeh and another girl had run to a nearby trailer of someone they knew and climbed into the window after fleeing the party. Det. Sgt Dan Seaberg interviewed the people in the trailer and said that "Neveah and her friend showed up. Neveah and her friend were there for a while visiting. They were talking. The juvenile male’s dad knocks, or stepdad, knocks on the door because he hears voices. So, he’s telling everyone they need to go home. When he knocks on the door, Neveah jumped out of the window. The juveniles looked out the window and Nevaeh was gone". The same juvenile found Nevaeh's phone, which fell between the wall and bed in his room. It was assumed that it fell there when Nevaeh has climbed through the window- the phone was searched, but no clues were found. The tip came too late- by the time it did, the survailence videos of the trailer park were wiped.
Only in early December, after Nevaeh wasn't seen for weeks and then months was her case investigated as something more suspicious.
Searches have been conducted, during which the family found a sweater that reportedly belonged to Nevaeh's grandmother, in a swamp, buried in snow. Nevaeh's grandmother has left the sweater in her daughter's home. The sweater was turned over to the police who used sonar to search the area, but nothing was found. A pair of frozen women's jeans a some makeup was also found, but it's unclear if it's related to the case.
After that, the searches have essentially stopped. The police said that they've utilized ground searches, several interviews, social media analysis, investigations into related reports, aerial searches and the use of canine search teams to find Nevaeh. They've also collaborated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The snow has allegedly make searches much difficult and they were supposed to be renewed once the snow thaws.
Around the 16th of December, FBI has gotten involved.
A rumor started to spread on social media that Nevaeh was kidnapped in the “north end” by an African American male driving a vehicle with Louisiana license plates. The police investigation finally concluded that the rumor originated from an incident in Oklahoma on the 30th of December 2021 that was unrelated to Nevaeh's case.
On the 2nd of January 2022, a candlelight vigil was held at the Lake Bemidji waterfront near the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues. Around fifty people came to participate.
On the 14th of February, another search was conducted by Nevaeh's family and friends by Bemidji Waterfront.
When the snow started to melt in April, the family of Kingbird and police asked the residents in the Nymore area and south to Hubbard County Road 9 to check all their out buildings, items with covers, and any other areas on their properties where someone may seek shelter." Residents are also asked to check their property for anything that may be related to Nevaeh. The anglers fishing in the area were also asked to stay vigilant.
In May, the police department along with Nevaeh's family, Christian Aid Ministries' Minnesota Search and Rescue, the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office, the Leech Lake Tribal Police Department, the Red Lake Tribal Police Department, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Lakes Area Dive Team and Vigilant K9 operations, has conducted a large 500 acre search of local wetlands and fields through ground searches, dog searches and drones.
On October 2022, a candlelit vigil was held in Nevaeh's memory. A drum group played as people lit candles.
In May 2023, a walk was organized in honor of MMIW in Bemidji. Special attention was drawn to Nevaeh's case, and also that of Jeremy Jourdain, an Indigenous boy who went missing in suspiciously similar circumstances (after a party) in Bemidji in 2016. During the event, a drum group played several healing songs, including a song written specifically for MMIW 218. Throughout the program, attendees had the opportunity to dance, grieve, hear from speakers and participate in a tobacco offering at the lake.
In July, another search was conducted with the use of dogs that were trained to detect human remains. This was done in part to eliminate the theory that Nevaeh died due to hypothermia so that police could follow other leads. Another search took place on the September 25th and 26th. It spanned 150 acres in Bemidji and involved around 200 people. It was the largest ...
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