To address this issue, the Montana Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Task Force was created in 2019. But activists have pushed for more to be done to provide support and resources to families still searching for answers.
This is where Omeasoo hopes that Ohkomi's forensic specialists will intervene.
Bridging the gap between MMIP families and law enforcement
This issue is personal to Omeasoo, and not just because he has seen it affect so many people in his community.
Ashley HeavyRunner Loring, a relative and former classmate of Omeasoo, disappeared from the Blackfeet Reservation in 2017 when she was 20 years old.
“Just talking to his family about his case, what went wrong and how I could help him with his case made me focus on this area,” Omeasoo said.
The services Omeasoo plans to offer families through Ohkomi Forensics, which launched last month, include analysis of human bones and remains, as well as identification of signs of trauma, pathology and identification. Emphasis will also be placed on crime scene searches, searching and excavating graves, and proper processing of evidence and forensic DNA.
One of the challenges in resolving the MMIP crisis concerns jurisdictional issues. Because tribes are sovereign nations, crimes committed on reservations generally fall outside the purview of state authorities and do not receive federal funding. However, tribal law enforcement may be understaffed or underfunded.The FBI typically comes to investigate, but local families often express frustration and report a lack of progress and communication.
"I feel like there's kind of a divide between families with missing family members and law enforcement," Omeasoo said, hoping to help bridge that divide.
Often, he said, families searched for their loved ones alone.
Omeasoo wants to be able to intervene where the family needs it. For example, if a family believes something was missed during the autopsy, they can intervene and reevaluate the case.
Laboratory dedicated to the tribes of Montana
Ohkomi Forensics will initially focus on cases involving families on the Blackfeet Reservation that Omeasoo already knows, including some he has already helped with.
His plan is to enter into agreements with Montana tribes to provide forensic services. He also wants to engage tribal, state and federal authorities to determine how his company can best participate in the investigative process.
His ultimate goal, which they are already working on, is to open their own laboratory that can be used by every tribe in Montana. Eventually, he would like to expand to other states and even Canada.
For his doctoral thesis, Omeasoo is also working on creating a genetic database to compare the remains of deceased people with those of living members of the Blackfeet tribe. He said the genetic database - owned, controlled and maintained by the tribe - will be one of the first of its kind.
While working at the University of Montana crime lab, Omeasoo typically works with deceased people whose stories he doesn't know.
“But working on the reservation, with your own people, knowing the families and the missing people, like in the case of Ashley, is much more difficult,” he said, adding that he tries to remember: “I am here to do the work and how all of my work can help bring healing to this family.