FARMINGTON, N.M. — On Friday, the state Department of Justice opened a Missing & Murdered Indigenous People Task Force meeting to the public. 

KOB 4 was there and heard some of the issues families have had to deal with while searching for their lost loved one. 

“We want equality on our cases. Just like Sasha Krause’s case, just like Gabby Petito’s just like every other white women’s case out there,” said Vangie Randall Shorty, mother of Zachariah J. Shorty. 

That was just one of the voices heard Friday at a New Mexico Department of Justice task force meeting in Farmington that was open to the public.

“Farmington is obviously a major location for those who have either gone missing or have been murdered in our indigenous community. So this was certainly a place that we wanted to come for one of our first few meetings,” said Stephanie Padilla, chair person with the NMDOJ MMIP Task Force.

There are currently 186 missing or murdered Indigenous people in our state. Those missing are usually missing, on average more than 1,600 days.

“The task force is meeting to discuss their progress on updating the 2022 state response plan,” said Padilla. 

In Friday’s meeting, people from the Four Corners and beyond, brought their concerns and the flaws they noticed within our justice system when it comes to an MMIP case.

“This case has been open, she has been missing since 2022. She was incarcerated in October of 2023 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Albuquerque did not notify the reporting agency,” said Rochelle Redbone Arebalo, a member of the Apache Tribe in Oklahoma. 

“I’m frustrated, I’m sad, I cry because we don’t get no answers. And just hearing we’re investigating it is just nothing I don’t wanna hear anymore. I want to hear more than what they’re doing than investigating,” said Danielle Werito, sister of Julius Lane Largo. 

“If your technology is that advanced, you have all this technology around the state and in your community, why aren’t you solving these cases? Why are the numbers increasing? We get a lot of backlash from APD, we don’t have you know the help from them, I know because I work with APD first hand,” said Kimberly Carlston, a Navajo tribe member. 

The people who came to Friday’s meeting say they are not done. They will continue to raise their voices and call for more resources.