SIOUX FALLS, SD — The FBI has set a $25,000 minimum reward in cases involving people who disappeared or were killed in Indian Country, expanding an effort tied to long-running violence affecting Native American communities. The new floor applies to more than 50 unsolved homicide and missing-person investigations in tribal areas.
Most of those cases date back less than a decade, according to an Associated Press analysis, but a dozen have remained open for more than 20 years. Families hope the larger rewards will produce new tips, while experts and relatives say fear, distrust and silence inside tight-knit communities may still keep witnesses from speaking up.
Reward increases now cover cases from recent deaths to cold files decades old
The FBI said the higher minimum reward applies across a wide range of Indian Country cases, from recent disappearances to older killings that have gone unsolved for years. The agency’s announcement cited several examples, including 8-year-old Maleeka Boone, whom it said was likely struck by a vehicle on the Navajo Nation, and Emily Pike, a San Carlos Apache teenager whose body was found after she vanished from an Arizona group home.
Officials say the goal is to draw attention to cases that families believe have not gotten enough public focus. In Carlow’s case, for example, the reward rose to $25,000 in July from $10,000, and relatives say more people started calling with possible information after the increase.
The FBI investigates federal crimes on nearly 200 Native American reservations, working alongside the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. By the end of 2025, the FBI’s National Crime Information Center listed just under 1,500 active missing Native American cases, though not all of them become federal investigations.
Families say fear and distrust may matter more than reward size
Relatives and advocates are not convinced the new minimum will be enough to unlock new cooperation. Lisa Carlow, whose father Patrick Carlow Sr. was found dead in his Pine Ridge Reservation home in 2023, said many people in the community are frightened and unwilling to talk.
“Everybody’s scared in Oglala,” she said. “So to me it’s like, okay, what do you guys know that you’re not saying?” Her sister, JoDee Carlow, said that fear is deeply rooted across reservations, not just in one community.
Mary Kathryn Nagle, a Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma citizen and attorney who works with families of missing Native Americans, said investigators often arrive with little familiarity with the communities they are entering. In her view, that can make witnesses even less likely to cooperate. She said a larger reward may still signal that the cases matter and could persuade some people to come forward.
Advocates say cash offers help, but not always enough to change behavior
Luana Ross, a Bitterroot Salish scholar and co-director of the Native Voices program at the University of Washington, said higher rewards can attract attention but often fail to turn into actual payments. She also said many reservation residents would hesitate to help a system they do not feel has protected them.
Lisa Foster is hoping the larger reward in the death of her longtime friend Mona Renee Vallo will revive interest in the case. Vallo was found dead after a suspected hit-and-run along historic Route 66 in Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, in 2022. Foster described her as upbeat, warm and someone who could enjoy herself in almost any setting.
“Someone knows something there,” Foster said. “They have to.” She said the suddenness of Vallo’s death still troubles her and leaves her convinced that more information exists somewhere in the community.
The Carlow family says the reward brought more calls, but not closure
Patrick Carlow Sr. was a 73-year-old rancher known in the Oglala community for helping others and spending time with his grandchildren. His family says the case became more active after the reward increased, but they still have not gotten answers about who killed him.
Lisa Carlow said it is painful to hope each time a lead appears. “It’s so hard to get your hopes up like that and think, ‘This is it, we finally got dad’s killer,’” she said, adding that then nothing comes from it.
The FBI declined to give The Associated Press an update on the case. For the family, the uncertainty is part of a larger pattern of grief and delay that many Native families say they know too well.
Ohio brothers’ deaths on the Navajo Nation show how far the cases reach
The FBI originally offered $5,000 for information about the deaths of Matthew and Philip Reagan, brothers from Ohio who were killed on the Navajo Nation. That reward was later doubled and is now set to reach the new $25,000 minimum.
Authorities say the brothers were traveling on a trip that included plans to visit Canyon de Chelly National Monument in California. Their SUV became stuck in mud after GPS sent them off course near Sawmill, and authorities say they were shot multiple times while walking to get help.
Faye Wurstner-Reagan, Matthew Reagan’s wife, said she does not think a bigger reward alone will be enough to make someone talk in a small community. She said the FBI should put more resources into keeping cases moving and helping families stay informed.
The FBI says Indian Country cases are hard to solve because of remoteness and limited resources
FBI spokesperson Brooke Brennan in Phoenix said these investigations are often complicated by distance, limited resources and the heavy workload that comes with covering large areas. Those conditions can make it difficult for families to feel that progress is being made, even when cases remain active.
Wurstner-Reagan said families are tired of being told only that an investigation is ongoing. She said many relatives feel forgotten as years pass without resolution, and she hopes the shared grief of Native and non-Native families alike will eventually lead to justice.
For now, the FBI’s higher rewards are meant to keep attention on the missing and the dead while investigators search for the answers families say they have waited too long to hear.
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