PORT ANGELES — Tribal members, advocates, law enforcement and supporters gathered to remember, grieve and raise awareness for missing and murdered indigenous people.
The march on Monday started at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center, 401 E. First St., and finished at the Gateway Transit Center Pavilion in downtown Port Angeles.
Lt. Jimmy Thompson of the Elwha Police Department also addressed the crowd.
“I think there’s a lack of awareness of the disparity in resources for tribal communities,” he said. “Not only here on the Peninsula but also nationwide.”
When recently scrolling through Netflix, Thompson said he noticed a documentary about the viral murder case of Gabby Petito.
“Sure, get her story out there, absolutely,” Thompson said. “At the same time, we’re not getting any coverage.”
Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter attended the event, along with deputy mayor Navarra Carr and city council member LaTrisha Suggs.
“We will continue to stand with our tribal communities, recognizing sovereignty and the importance of our relationships and the value that you bring to our community,” Dexter said.
Tor Parker of the Makah tribe is on the six-member missing, murdered indigenous women and people (MMIWP) cold case unit in the state office of the attorney general. She addressed the audience at the gateway center.
Parker said indigenous women go missing 10 times as often as the national average.
Washington state ranks the second highest in the United States for missing and murdered indigenous people, she said.
An April 29 Washington State Patrol list of missing indigenous people, reported by the National Crime Information Center, included 112 names.
At the Gateway center, one row of chairs was set out for elders and another faced the audience. The chairs that faced the audience were draped with blankets, roses and photographs and missing and murdered indigenous people from Clallam County.
As Parker read a list of the names, family members came forward to be wrapped in blankets.
Jimmy Jimmicum, a Makah tribal member from Neah Bay, was lost at sea on April 19, 2024.
Matt Dean, a Makah tribal member from Neah Bay, has been missing since January 14, 2020.
George David was murdered in Port Angeles on March 28, 2016.
Bryce Herda, a Makah tribal member from Neah Bay, has been missing since April 9, 1995. Herda was last seen on the Shi Shi beach trail. He was 6 years old.
Thompson was wrapped in a blanket.
“Bryce was my little cousin,” he said. “Matt Dean and Jimmy Jimmicum are from the same family, I have a family connection to them. My uncle George wasn’t from Neah Bay, but he spent a number of years out there. His daughter, I’m related to on both sides of her family.”
Herda’s aunt, Debra Wachendorf, a former tribal council member of the Makah tribe, used to babysit him, along with a number of other children from the tribe.
She said that Herda used to think she was his uncle because she kept her hair short.
Since Herda went missing 30 years ago, Wachendorf has maintained short hair in case Herda sees her, so he can recognize her.
Wachendorf said she’s never given up hope of finding Herda.
Of the nine people listed, six were Makah from Neah Bay. Parker said it shows the vulnerability that the tribe’s remote location presents.
Valerie Claplanhoo, a Makah tribal member from Neah Bay, was murdered in Sequim on Jan. 2, 2019.
John Reamer, a Makah tribal member from Neah Bay, went missing on March 27, 1994.
Giovanna Tyler, a Makah tribal member from Neah Bay, went missing on March 28, 2004.
Ruby Davis, a member of the Elwha tribe, went missing on July 17, 1955. After boarding a ferry to Victoria, B.C., she was never seen or heard from again.
Marley Zimmerman, from La Push, of the Quileute tribe, has been missing since January of this year.
“Words are hard to find, the wound is very fresh,” said Melanie Tisdale, Marley’s mother. “We miss her dearly. I don’t know, it’s so hard. I’m wordless.”
Tisdale said her daughter was last seen at her boyfriend’s house.
“She walked in, and there was no footage of her leaving his garage from the security cameras across the street,” she said.
Tisdale said she thinks one to three people could know what happened.
“Nobody’s talking,” Tisdale said. “It’s going to take a good heart and a good conscience to say something.”
Three of the people Tisdale suspected are currently incarcerated, she said.
“Her boyfriend, who had warrants for unrelated things and who was running and hiding, and being very suspicious, I thought for sure once they detained him, we’d have answers,” Tisdale said. “He’s been detained for almost two months, and we don’t have answers. We don’t have Marley.”
Tisdale’s plea: If you know something, say something.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
