Restless Again
By
Cat West
*Heads up! There's a news story on WDAY about Werner's case. Even The Devils Lake Journal can't ignore it now!
October 7, 2025
Life Is Cheap
Printer (7)
It has always bothered me, how people who should be uniting and banding together to survive, thrive, especially in oppressed communities, and who really should care about one another, have more and more often decided that the lives of others have no value.
If you hurt or kill them, accidentally or deliberately, the goal is to get away with it.
There is a lot of that going around and it’s especially in abundance in Indian Country. The very people who should know, understand, value and help one another if any are to survive have, through the generations of government abuse, neglect and oppression, come to not value the lives of their neighbors or even their own family members.
MMIW is bringing attention to the fact that Life in Indian Country is not valued by anyone in government or Law Enforcement. It’s a joke. “NHI” they say: “No Humans Involved.” It is permission to neglect, abuse and ignore.
Cases of murdered and missing go unsolved because only those who loved or cared about the victim give a flying fig. Those in power take advantage of the “theme” and while pretending to care (“Every Child is Sacred”) they are actively shutting down investigations into child abuse, child trafficking and all Abuse, Violence (especially towards women and girls), their murders and their vanishing.
You can raise a lot of money if you pressure the government, or even carry out a publicity tour, but no one checks to see who’s getting the money, or how it’s being spent. Nobody delves into why searches are called off just as they are approaching the suspected perpetrator’s property, who happens to be related to the elected tribal chairperson, or someone connected through family or influence.
The BIA is worthless. They don’t even try and why should they? NHI, right? It’s all a joke to them. They barely train their officers anywhere in Indian Country. They hire from the rez by hiring relatives of those already marching around. They don’t train them. Not even on how to use a weapon. They are clueless about investigating murders and missing on most reservations.
There are exceptions—but not on Spirit Lake Nation Rez.
Camey DuBois July 13, 1987 – July 16, 2025
A recent case of Hit and Run on the rez illustrates the dark comedy of how it’s all put together. Camey was no Angel. No one is. No one on or off the Rez is perfect, but we’re talking about Human Life here and how someone of no “importance” to the FBI, BIA can be killed and everyone just shuffles the dust under their boots and shrugs as they walk away.
Camey did drugs, hung out with people who did drugs. Left a party (or was thrown out) around 4 AM and started walking home. Someone, probably drunk or stoned themselves, smacked into her with their car.
She turned 38 while in a coma and died a few days later. She was a Human Being. There was a time when that meant something. Literally fatally injured on her birthday. How does anyone live with that?
The person that hit her knew they hit a Human Being because the marks at the scene show how she was dragged off to the side of the road, like an animal, and the car with serious front right panels damage just drove off leaving her there, to die.
It’s looking like a relative did it. The FBI was called as Camey was taken to hospital where she died 3 days later. But the local, untrained BIA cops threw them off the investigation claiming jurisdiction. A false claim. H & R is a major crime, a felony, and all major crimes and especially felonies, are under the purview of the Feds.
Law Enforcement is a joke on the rez. A very bad joke.
It wasn’t until after she died a few days later, having never regained consciousness, that the Feds moved in again and took over. By then of course, the vehicle that had never been investigated was long gone. They did search a barn looking for it, but it was gone. *shrug*
And so were the relatives who were suspected. They abruptly up and moved.
Had a proper investigation been done, the time of the crime could’ve been narrowed to within a few minutes and witnesses could’ve been interviewed. Also, the vehicle in question might not have left the state by then. *Ooops! Too far away! Can’t look for it!* And the BIA could’ve worked with or parallel to the FBI (who despite their years of working in the area are clueless as to who is related to who and even what the family names are—because NHI).
A vehicle with that kind of damage would mean two things: someone is no longer driving the vehicle they were always driving – go talk to them about why, and; someone with vehicle body repair know-how maybe has seen, heard something --- go talk to them.
The person who did this abruptly moving his family away, didn’t leave the planet… GO TALK TO HIM and to THEM. At least look like you’re trying. Y’all are great at faking it for the media when you want to generate funds, but can’t seem to even try when no cameras are around?
So, Camey’s family (Many of whom are on my list from the previous blog for their share of corruption and violence, while others are not) buried Camey shortly after her 38th birthday. Imagine if you will, 19 yrs old being “middle age”. In a lot of cases, it’s 8 yrs old.
Life on the rez is cheap. The Good People pay the price, mourn their dead, and never get answers.
*Dusts off hands* So, that’s done. Put it on the pile of cases where you have really strong suspects but no will to pursue or investigate. Yeah, right over there with Jemini Posey and Isaac Hunt and all the others. *thunk*
Meanwhile, be aware that the off-rez cops who were given permission to patrol the rez and harass The Good People who live there, beating up a few just for sport, have themselves been arrested for assault, corruption, but the Chairperson, Rena Little-Lohnes, who ‘authorized’ them against the wishes of the people, thinks they did a really good job and is desperate to pay them way more money than they were being paid by the municipalities that had hired them, apparently without investigating their backgrounds.
See? What happens on the Rez and gotten away with has always been a testing ground for what can be done off the rez. Rena felt pretty powerful having these jerks all kitted out stomping through the rez, grabbing people who had literally broken no laws, and knocking them around. Sound familiar?
She’s also the one that stopped the investigation into Restin Hunt’s property (he’s a relative of hers) when the evidence trail from Jemini Posey was leading searchers to the fire pits on his property. Too close! It really pays to have family or at least someone easily bought off, in a position to stop a murdered or missing person investigation from getting too close to home. Gee, wonder why it isn’t solved? *shrug*
*Imagine someone in Congress having the power to stop investigations into a predator because a convicted felon, their leader, doesn’t want anyone to see it) Can you see it now? No? Ok. Let me know when you think you recognize the pattern that is staring you right in the face.*
She literally sent word to stop the search when it was closing in on the fire pits where searchers found evidence of evidence/body disposal.
Then of course, when media shows up, she goes all Indian and talks about how important it is for people to care about what happens. What I call “Putting on the Serious Indian Face” while doing everything she can to protect the criminals, perpetrators and killers. (*Like looking in a mirror, eh Mike Johnson?*)
Maybe someday she’ll be walking down that dusty road for some reason, and they’ll find her battered body dragged off into the ditch like an animal. The important thing is that the perpetrator gets away with it, right? The murdered and the missing, they don’t count anymore, right?
Restin Hunt whom the police can’t seem to touch because he’s supposedly an informant, remains unconcerned (and so does his son, D’Angelo Hunt), that the mother of D’Angelo’s baby, Restin’s grandchild, as well as D’Angelo’s own brother, Isaac, have ‘gone missing’.
Cadaver dogs hitting on key places where evidence was found, not important enough for law enforcement to even look twice.
Funny Thing: I got one of those emails literally complaining that I was putting too much emphasis on Jemini Posey and not enough on Isaac being missing. They complained that Isaac was important too. I told them to send me anything they wanted people to know about Isaac and I would post it. I mean they really cared, right? They never sent another email. So, Isaac wasn’t important to them afterall, they just wanted the publicity about Jemini to stop. I wonder why?
Joe Bruce being beheaded on video? Let’s just say he’s missing. Oh, you found his head? Well the rest of him is ‘missing’ so there’s that. Oh, you found a bag of human bones all butchered? We don’t have the time and won’t be bothered with investigating any of that either. Yeah, y’know Joe was a meth dealer? I guess that justifies it.
He was also a father, brother, son and a Human Being. Another NHI for the pile *thunk*, amiright guys? Oh yeah, his sister was murdered a couple months back. *Thunk*
Who needs laws or law enforcement when Human Life is so cheap that even family members just shrug off killing someone by accident or deliberately.
Most of the murdered and missing MMIW cases could and would be solved if law enforcement and those in authority, even bothered to do their job. Presently, it’s only a handful of family members or friends who cared, that even try, or succeed in solving murders out there.
Oh looky! It’s another very important press conference (more like a statement, no questions please) where the police put on their “Serious Police Faces” and lecture the public on how very important all this is to them (nobody laugh, y’hear?), and tell the same public that they ignore, abuse and lie to: “If you see something, say something”… and they won’t even take notes when you do.
NHI is alive and well in Indian Country. Look around, it’s everywhere.
The World We Have
Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world where people cared? Where Human Life held some value and importance? Where the people paid to “Protect and Serve” actually … well, clearly I’m asking too much.
We can’t have that world if we don’t wake up and start holding the guilty responsible.
If you see another Human Being suffering, and you don’t want to help, fine—but don’t pretend like you don’t see them. Compassion isn’t a weakness, it’s a healing strength.
Covering for someone who has committed a killing is wrong. If you love them, help them through it, but don’t hide them from it.
Those who kill on the rez, they continue to kill. They trust no one and not even those who did the killing with them. You think because you helped do it or cover it up you’re safe? You’re not. You become the threat. Each killing will be more bizarre than the last and the messes you have to clean up will stick to you more and more.
Go ahead, burn the garage you did that killing in. Burn all your clothes and shoes. Burn your cars and trucks that you drove away in because that evidence is following you like stink.
Burn everything until all that’s left is your accomplices and accessories after the fact. Maybe they got drunk and told other people, maybe they didn’t. That stink is spreading like a stain you can’t wash off. You can’t trust anyone and no one trusts you.
You know you aren’t safe when no one trusts you, right? That’s why you don’t trust anyone. Does meth cure that? For how long? Is it getting better for you? Have you seen yourself lately?
I know how you got this way and I’m sorry. Sorry that the world you have, left you almost no options and every bad choice, every mistake left you no good options. And now you can’t get back to normal, so violence is your normal.
In Indian Country, mistakes that would pass as youthful indiscretion in any other world, and learn from and grow from, instead creates a path of harsher consequences and fewer options and less and less chance for recovery.
Before you know it, you are where you are and you’re looking sideways at your closest friends, or family members. You know they are just like you and they will save themselves like you would save yourself, and how that would turn out.
Now what?
And you know that if you get killed and your body is tossed in a ditch or a burn pit, the world you made worse won’t think twice about throwing you on that pile over there *thunk*.
You never had a chance. And now your closest friends, might have to kill you, so they can sleep at night. And then wake up the next day and say how much they miss you.
You miss Joe Bruce, right? He was your meth dealer and your friend, right? Look what you did to him. Look what you did to his sister. Hard to believe they were Human Beings to you. Are you still a Human Being?
The best part? All the parts are already written: The police will announce you missing or dead (if they can find all the pieces of you), and with their serious police faces and serious Indian Faces, and ask for the public’s help. “If you see something or know something, say something.”
It’s a joke. Nobody laugh.
You know where to find me.
~Cat
PS: Camey DuBois will have her own page in a bit. Everyone vanished or murdered deserves to be seen and cared about.
Remember: You can find all the previous blogs in "Previous" tab.
You know where to find me.
~Cat