BEMIDJI — Just weeks away from the two-year anniversary of Nevaeh Kingbird’s disappearance, law enforcement agencies and volunteers gathered in Bemidji on Monday to conduct a two-day large-scale search for clues that could lead to answers in the case.
In a partnership between the Bemidji Police Department and the Minnesota Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office, the search brought together about 100 people who will comb through more than 150 acres during the two days of the search.
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Agencies participating in the search include the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, MMIW 218, Missing Children Minnesota, Bemidji Fire Department, Leech Lake and Red Lake Tribal Police Departments, Central Lakes Search and Rescue, several private groups, K-9 teams and more. Many of the searchers consist of volunteers, including Kingbird’s family and friends.
Kingbird was last seen in the early morning hours of Oct. 22, 2021, near Southview Terrace Park, and her family and friends haven’t heard from her since. Jeremy Jourdain, another Bemidji teenager who went missing on Halloween day in 2016, also disappeared from the Nymore area.
Prior to the search, authorities also drew attention to the Itasca County case of Damon Boyd, who was 29 years old when he went missing in 2014 after leaving East Grand Forks.
“Our department has worked diligently to find these individuals,” said Bemidji Police Chief Mike Mastin. “The Bemidji Police Department has collaborated with local, tribal, state and federal law enforcement agencies and other agencies to investigate hundreds of leads in these cases. We’ve organized dozens of searches — aerial, ground, underwater, we’ve enlisted the help of K-9 teams, we’ve done excavations, we’ve done draining of stormwater ponds, all in an effort to find these missing children.”
In addition to the previous searches that have been conducted, the department has also worked with national organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center.
“These efforts have generated leads across this country that our investigators and detectives have traveled to to search, but none have provided answers to what happened to Nevaeh or Jeremy,” Mastin said. “Ultimately, we have no answers to their disappearances to this day. That means there’s more work to do, to bring closure to the pain and loss felt by the community and by their families. Today’s search is a continuation of hope to find answers in these cases.”
Before heading out to search different locations, groups and volunteers were broken up into teams. Each team was also assigned a member of law enforcement to act as a team leader.
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Mastin’s hope is that this week’s large-scale search will reveal clues in Kingbird’s disappearance, specifically “things that might help lead us to answers,” such as clothing or other personal items.
“This is our 13th search for Nevaeh,” he said. “Not all have been to this scale, but we have had some that have been to this scale, mainly those enlisting just law enforcement. That’s the unique part of this search, especially with the creation of the MMIR Office, we’ve now been able to bring in a lot more partners, and you can see with the turnout today we’ve had a lot of representation from other groups, and hopefully that brings the right mix of people today to get an answer.”
‘An insurmountable loss’
MMIR Office Director Juliet Rudie noted that the collaboration between the office, law enforcement agencies and volunteers is a first for the organization, which was established in 2021.
“This is the first time that the MMIR Office is working with the lead law enforcement agencies, Indigenous communities and family members, volunteers and private partners to conduct this large-scale search to try to bring home and try to find some clues on Nevaeh and Jeremy,” she said. “This is the first time that many of us have sat around a table together with a common goal of bringing justice and comfort to the Indigenous community dealing with an insurmountable loss.”
As the two-year anniversary of Kingbird’s disappearance approaches, her mother, Teddi Wind, is still trying to cope with her daughter’s absence.
“There’s no way I can describe how I feel,” she said. “I just live in a nightmare right now. I feel like I’m still where she left me, but at the same time, I’m doing my best to be productive by working and raising my other children.”
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Wind last saw her daughter at their home, just hours before she went missing. Now she takes each day as it comes, keeps Kingbird in her prayers, and spends time talking with others about her, all while continuing to search for her and raise awareness about her disappearance.
“The best thing I can do is just keep her memory,” she said. “I talk about her as if she’s still here. It’s really, really hard to hold conversations at times, but I keep it together by trying to be a good mom, still, to my other children … Just talking about her helps me.”
As volunteers and agencies prepared to head out for a long two days of search efforts, Wind expressed her gratitude to those who came together in the hopes of finding answers for her family.
“I’ve been very emotional, and I feel very grateful,” she said. “I guess the feeling I had most of the time is that I’m alone, and I know that I’m not, but that feeling is there. I came here today, and to see everybody come together to try and help me and help the other families look for our loved ones … Just sparked some more hope into me, and I’m hoping that we get some answers for everyone.”
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