BEMIDJI — Dozens of volunteers in yellow reflective vests pushed through dry weeds and tree branches on the south end of a mobile home park here in search of any sign of a teenage girl who has been missing for nearly two years.
The wide-ranging search for Nevaeh Kingbird was the first supported by the state's new Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives [MMIR] office and the largest of the 13 searches for the girl conducted by the Bemidji Police Department. The two-day event earlier this week included about 200 friends, family, community members and law enforcement officials covering a grid of about 150 acres through waist-high fields, forest area and swampland.
Teddi Wind, Nevaeh's mother, has already combed much of this land in her ongoing search for her daughter. She appealed to the MMIR for help just as the state agency has started its work of addressing the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women. The timing was right to conduct a large search: Summer is tricky because of leaf-cover; fall is hard because of the leaves on the ground. Late September is right in between, according to Bemidji Police Chief Mike Mastin.
Wind spent Tuesday afternoon with one of the search teams. Dressed in weather-proof boots and a hooded sweatshirt, she shared globs of No-Bite-Me bug repellent with strangers.
During the search, she said she felt gratitude — like something was actively being done and people were making a difference.
"Toward the end I got super emotional," she said. "I didn't get any of the answers I was seeking. I don't know what else to do. What do I do from here?"
The volunteers had canvassed in close contact, hoping to spot any passed-over evidence that might remain in this wooded area. Law enforcement officials on the scene monitored trackers that followed the volunteers' movements and showed the ground that had been covered.
Volunteers were also looking for signs of Jeremy Jourdain, who was 17 when he left a Bemidji party in October 2016 and didn't return home.