WASHINGTON — The FBI is launching a new program to solve cold cases impacting tribal nations, including missing and murdered Indigenous persons cases.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced the "Voices Not Forgotten" initiative in a Tuesday, Aug. 18, news release. It increases monetary rewards associated with investigations into unsolved homicides, kidnappings and missing persons where the FBI has jurisdiction.
The FBI's new protocol established a minimum reward of $25,000 for information on six unsolved cases involving Native people. Four of those cases involve the suspicious disappearances or deaths of children.
"Voices Not Forgotten is a brand-new initiative that is part of this FBI’s record dedication of resources to Tribal partners who have been left behind far too long," Patel stated.
Strategies from the successful “Top Ten Most Wanted” and “Most Wanted Fraudster” awareness campaigns were incorporated into the new initiative, according to the release.
The "Voices Not Forgotten" rollout also includes a new webpage, with a map detailing cold cases on reservations across the country.
One cold case on the FBI's list is the murder of 31-year-old Jacob Jeffrey Hunter. The FBI said he was killed in the East Barton's area of Red Lake on Oct. 7, 2020. A reward for information on his case is set at $5,000.
Tips on Hunter’s case or others can be submitted at tips.fbi.gov.
“Voices Not Forgotten answers Tribal communities’ requests through the Not Invisible Act Commission and the FBI’s conversations with Tribal leaders and advocates,” the release stated. “The FBI is addressing requests to make it easier for the Native communities to find information about their community members .”
The FBI has special jurisdiction to investigate major crimes committed on about 200 reservations. The authority is largely derived from the Major Crimes Act, first enacted in 1885, and the General Crimes Act of 1817.
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