4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue

Indigenous peoples make up a disproportionate, unaddressed, incorrectly recorded and reported, and problematic portion of the missing and murdered cases. 4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue supports the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis by providing search and rescue services for families and their missing, murdered or trafficked loved ones. according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs approximately 1,500 American Indian and Alaska Native missing persons have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and approximately 2,700 cases of Murder and Nonnegligent Homicide Offenses have been reported to the Federal Government’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates about 4,200 missing and murdered cases have gone unsolved. According to the National Crime Information Center, in 2016 there have been 5,712 cases of missing American Indians and Alaska Native women and girls; however, the U.S. The Department of Justice missing person database only reported 116 cases. Murder is the 3rd leading cause of death in Native Women and Alaska Natives on tribal lands according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The National Institute of Justice study found that American Indian and Alaska Native men, too, have high victimization rates. More than 1.4 million American Indian and Alaska Native men have experienced violence in their lifetime.

The National Institute of Justice survey reported 27 of the 132 tribal law enforcement agencies reported initiating investigations involving human trafficking from 2014-2016. 

There are no K9 search and rescue teams on Indigenous lands. We have two K9's Trigger and Gunny who have been training since they were 8 weeks old for Search and Rescue.  Their disciplines are Live Find/Area Search and Human Remains Detection. 4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue is committed and dedicated to assisting Indigenous families and communities in locating and rescuing their loved ones and or their remains through the use of trained K-9s and trained personnel and available resources. We also provide search and rescue training and education.

Indigenous people and Alaska Natives are at a greater risk of experiencing murder, going missing, experiencing violence, and being trafficked. All are becoming a growing plague on Indigenous lands and communities.

In total, BIA estimates there are approximately 4,200 missing and murdered cases that have gone unsolved. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs there is no reliable count of how many Native women go missing or are killed each year. Researchers have found that women are often misclassified as Hispanic or Asian or other racial categories on missing-person forms and that thousands have been left off a federal missing-persons.

4Corners K9 Search and Rescue is unique in that it works for and answers to the families we provide services to. The organization has the opportunity to work firsthand with families at no cost to them. Despite the income, background, record, etc. of an individual who is missing, murdered, or trafficked we will search for them, a missing loved one is a missing loved one. We have the benefits of working around time constraints, jurisdictional barriers, and bureaucratic red tape. We have the leeway of interviewing and responding appropriately and privately to victims and their families without victim shaming. 

We can communicate openly with the media and share, record, and report unbiased data. The organization collaborates and provides support to various state task forces, law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, tribal police, criminal investigators, political leaders, and other service providers and caters to align with Indigenous culture, traditions, taboos, and other cultural sensitivities.

Search team members of 4Corners K9 Search and Rescue wear a variety of hats; through the work we do we become investigators, advocates, healers, translators, anthropologists, forensic pathologists, to name a few positions; for these reasons the organization continues to grow and develop to address these growing and overdue concerns and challenges. We prefer to personally meet our clients one on one in an informal manner. We make it a point to inform our clients of our position as search and rescue personnel first and foremost and despite any records or negative connotations against the victim we will still proceed with the search regardless of who or what the victim has done. Meetings and interviews with families and law enforcement, conferences, rally’s, and other events we attend and conduct have built important and trusting relationships and through these relationships we learn more about the challenges departments and agencies are presented with and the injustices victims and their families face.

We are applying to solve for help and guidance through our own financial, technical, legal, cultural, and market barriers. We want to grow as a strong and well-rounded organization. We are looking for networking opportunities, funding, and relationship building with Indigenous communities and other agencies so that we can collectively share important information and work together to further advocate and assist  victims and their families and seek the justice they deserve  for the betterment of Indigenous peoples.  

I was born and raised in New Mexico and on the Navajo Nation. My parents were both Navajo Nation police officers. Before I founded 4Corners K9 Search and Rescue I was part of the New Mexico Badlands State Search and Rescue team. Currently I am employed with Navajo Transitional Energy Company in Farmington, New Mexico. 

Families are still searching for and waiting for answers on their missing, murdered, or trafficked love one. The goal of the organization is to expand our geographical location to other Indigenous communities and increase our capacity so that we can reach and assist more families. 4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue’s goal is to build, train, and establish certified search teams and search and rescue command stations across Indigenous lands and tribal communities. The Navajo Nation alone is made up of over 27,413 sq. miles of rugged and remote terrain. The concern is there is very little police covering so much land, approximately 250 Navajo Nation police officers cover this vast area. Time is of the essence, we are working toward building teams that can readily deploy on a search mission at a moment's notice regardless of jurisdiction constraints and time, weather, day, and location. We understand the heavy workload of these officers and are working toward building partnerships to aid in streamlining many of their processes and to provide up to date training on search and rescue. Through our work our initiative is to help bring to the surface the challenges and issues families and victims face and start chipping away at the overwhelming and mounting cases of our missing, murdered, and trafficked Indigenous peoples.

Through these organizational establishments, collaborations, and goals tribal communities will be able to deploy their search teams immediately and as they see the need to. They will have a better understanding and awareness of this growing crisis and will hopefully continue to seek positive changes, provide influence,  improvements, and solutions that will address their communities' issues and needs with the missing, murdered, and trafficked crisis.

One year goals:

*Increase family assistance productivity by 25%. We will look for more possible opportunities to apply for funding (i.e. grants, contracts, donations).

*Begin search for 1 additional K9 dog to start training. 

*Increase certified team volunteer membership by (10%) to 10 volunteer members, currently we have 7 women search volunteers. Our organization will pay for and provide search and rescue certifications. 

*Add a drone search team. 

*Increase awareness and collaboration by providing training (i.e. GPS, K9 training, drone training, mapping, missing person behavior, incident command training, radio training, search techniques, cultural awareness and sensitivities, arms training) to 2 more Navajo Nation police districts. The Navajo Nation police department is composed of 7 districts, currently 4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue currently provides search and rescue support to 1 of the 7 districts.

*Increase exposure through speaking engagements with educational institutions by 15%.

*Integrating a holistic approach, seeking advice and assistance from cultural healers such as medicine men and women.

5 year goals:

*Increase productivity to families by obtaining a search and rescue vehicle.

*Established drone team, UTV unit (utility terrain vehicle) team, and equine team.

*4 trained search and rescue K9s (trained and certified dogs).

*Partnerships/contracts with all 7 Navajo Nation police districts. 

*Assist in building and establishing additional nonprofit search and rescue organizations.

*Expand our no cost services to include grief counseling, advocacy, private investigation, substance abuse help, and legal aid to families.

In 2022, we had a total of 47 calls and 25 searches.

2022: Our searches were for 4 women with one of them being a 4 year old girl (Browning, Montana) and 12 men. Elderly: Elderly men, the remaining missing people were all under 50 years old.

*These searches could also be that we conducted more than 1 searches for this person.

*Finds/successes could be remains recovery, evidence recovery, helping locate them at a hospital or shelter, or a Live Find that we actually found the person alive in the area we searched.

In 2022 we had  5 finds.

In 2023, we currently have 20 phone calls and 11 searches.

2023: searches include 1 female, and 6 males .  

*We could have conducted more than 1 search for an individual.

2 finds/successes. 

Elderly: no searches for elderly people

*All the searches for 2023 have been for people under 50 years old. 

Through our search missions we have learned that families face a great deal of challenges due to insufficient resources, unanswered questions, political roadblocks, historical discriminatory policies, bias and injustices. These issues come in the form of: lack of communication, lack of awareness, time sensitivity and time management constraints, lack of education and training on identifying and responding appropriately to victims, issues of victim shaming which leads to reluctance to come forward with pertinent information,  jurisdictional challenges and barriers, lack of service provider resources for investigating cases and serving victims. Furthermore, there is a lack of representation in data and the media. Data is recorded incorrectly, misunderstood and misrepresented. Data collection is essential in determining the root causes of issues surrounding Indigenous peoples who have gone missing, are murdered and or are trafficked. We have learned that many Indigenous families fail to report and follow through with legal proceedings because navigating through the system is confusing, challenging, biased, and complicated. This is very important because it deters families and victims from seeking protection and justice they deserve. Providing education and information sharing encompasses helping families and victims develop a better understanding of the legal system and evidence preparation as well.

We use various technologies in our search and rescue missions. We use handheld GPS, GPS dog collars, cell phones applications, portable chargers, location map plotters, laptops, and radios. Technology systems help us work more efficiently and increase productivity, moving us where we will be the most beneficial for rescue and recovery. Advanced technologies help us map out difficult areas and terrain and these technologies provide us with visuals in areas that are too small, too tight, and unsafe for human searchers and dogs. The technologies we use provide effective communication, this could mean the difference between locating someone and someone surviving or not. GPS units are simple tools that provide us with precise and invaluable data. The data from technology can be useful if interpreted quickly. We are currently working toward building a drone unit. In addition to modern technology, we also respect and take into account traditional and cultural knowledge systems such as the use of medicine men and women (cultural healers) who may have information regarding the victims that we use as a guiding mechanism.

4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue is unique in that the search team is made up of 7 female members from various Indigenous backgrounds, occupations, education, and skill sets in addition to their endless volunteer work. These women are mothers, single-parents, grandmothers, aunts, and sisters. Additionally, the organization’s board members are also composed of an all Indigenous women board. We welcome everyone to volunteer regardless of gender, race, sex, ethnicity, and geographic location. We strive to create an environment where all can feel included, safe, valued, respected, and supported.

In the same respect we will also search for any missing person regardless of back ground. We have conducted searches across the Navajo Nation, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, including other Indigenous areas such as Browning, Montana. We have received assistance calls as far out as Nova Scotia. 

4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is committed and dedicated to assisting, locating, and rescuing lost and missing persons and or human remains in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Indigenous communities at no cost to them. Our search and rescue services are provided through the use of 2 K-9 dogs, 7 trained and certified personnel, and other available resources. We initially started out providing Indigenous families with search and rescue support only; currently the organization has expanded its services to meet the needs of  tribal communities, law enforcement, task force’s, educational institutions, and other supporting agencies with education, search and rescue training and support, K-9 training, advocacy and case support. We use advanced technology such as GPS trackers, dog tracker collars, tracking apps, wireless radios, and cell phones throughout our rescue work.

Our work is made possible through grants, donations, out-of-pocket personal finances when funding sources are not available, service contracts, and through the volunteer work of our team members. We will continue to utilize these funding resources to continue providing services to families; however the long-term goal is to attain and achieve sustainability through other funding channels beyond our current financial resources.

4Corners K9 Search and Rescue was awarded the 2023 Navajo Transitional Energy Company Community Benefit Fund Grant. The organization receives sponsorships and donations from: families of the victims; community members; fundraisers (Ultimate Performance UTV & 505 Outsiders); private donors (Houston Johnston, Fred Greyeys); businesses (On 3 Dyno and Performance, Fit Body Boot Camp); anonymous donors; casinos (Twin Arrows- room sponsorships); airlines (Advanced Airlines-sponsorships); stores (Farmington NM IFA Country Store, Celebrations Party Store and More INC.); gas stations (gas cards-Speedway); chapter houses; social sector agencies (San Juan County Commissioner Gary McDaniel); other nonprofit organizations; pro bono services; social media outlets (Go Fund Me, Facebook, and Instagram). The media (KOBTV4, News Nation, SearchLightNM.com, Shoutout AZ.com, Helenair.com) and other organizations (Knead Sugar “Tea Time”) give us air time to converse and spread the word on our organization's search efforts and work; during these conversations the opportunity to provide our social media pages for donation purposes.