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Hello, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil. I'm Roshia Peccurero, and surprise, my beautiful sister is not here with us today, but we have someone very special filling in.
Hey, everyone, Trevor Young here. I am one of the producers of the show and I am happy to be filling in for Evet today.
Yes, Trevor is our brother from another mother, and we're very happy to have him here today. I am, and I know Yvette wishes she is here, but she is on a much needed vacation in Italia, like she likes to call it in Italy. But the show must go on, So just for today, Trevor's agreed to co host with me for event. So mahallo, Trevor, Yeah, thank you so much. And today we are going to be revisiting a very important issue that we tackled back in September when we
did a case about Tina Fontaine. And if you remember Tina, she was a young Indigenous girl who went missing and was sadly later found dead in Canada.
Right, So, I think that case made evidence a much like bigger, major crisis that's going on not just in this country, but across North America, and as we'll explain in this interview today, really across the globe. And that issue is that Indigenous women and girls are at incredibly high risk violence, kidnapping, sex trafficking, and often homicide, and truthfully, they're not getting the proper attention they need from either
the media or law enforcement. And this is something we've been hearing about quite a bit regularly, especially if you listen to Up and Vanished season three, which spent the whole season on that very issue.
Yes, and I honestly didn't know a whole lot about what was happening until I listened to Up and Vanished. And today, you know, we are going to be talking about a heartbreaking case of a young Indigenous girl named Savannah Lafontaine Graywind. And this was horrific in the fact that Savannah was a pregnant Indigenous woman she was killed in North Dakota in twenty seventeen and joining us today to talk about Savannah and really the bigger issue at
large is a personal friend of mine. Candy brings plenty, and Candy is an Indigenous activist and spiritual practitioner. And Candy is such an incredible human that I am looking forward to speaking to and I'm looking for to everyone listening to her. But first, Trevor is going to take us through today's case.
Today, the gray Wind family learned the gruesome details behind their loved ones murder. I hope no one else in this community, in the United States and the world ever has to under the payment I do that do gray Ones have to?
I learned of how my daughter was murdered and how my granddaughter was taken from her. Savannah Lafontaine gray Wind was a twenty two year old woman who was murdered in August of twenty seventeen in Fargo, North Dakota. Her body had been discovered wrapped in plastic against the banks of the Red River. Savannah was an Indigenous woman and a member of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe. She was also eight months pregnant at the time of her murder. Just a year earlier, Savannah had moved to Fargo to
start a new job as a nursing assistant. She and her boyfriend, Ashton Matheni, got an apartment and were expecting their first child in September of twenty seventeen. On August nineteenth, Savannah visited her parents before stopping in to visit her upstairs neighbors, Brooke Cruz and William Hayne. That was the last time anyone saw Savannah alive. According to other tenants in the building. Loud banging sounds erupted from the apartment of Cruise in Haine, but no one thought anything of it.
Savannah never returned home or respond to text recalls from her family. Police searched Savannah's apartment as well as the apartment of Cruise in Hayne, but they didn't find anything. A search began, and many believed the authorities were slow to respond because Savannah was Indigenous. Then days later, police learned from Haynes's co workers that he had a new baby in the apartment. The authorities then obtained a search
warrant and raided the apartment. There, they discovered the infant baby of Savannah Lafontaine gray Wind and then on August twenty seventh, eight days after she went missing, Kayakers discovered Savannah's body in the Red River, wrapped in plastic and duct tape. Hain would later say he came home on August nineteenth to find blood all over the apartment. He discovered that Brooke Cruz had lured Savannah there to trap her and take her unborn baby. While Savannah was alive,
she cut the baby from her womb. Hain then helped Cruise dispose of Savannah's body. Cruse had apparently wanted the baby for herself because she was under pressure from Hain to conceive a child. After they took the baby, they hid Savannah's body in a dresser, which the police failed to find on their initial investigation. Brook Cruise pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life without parole. William Hayne was also sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to kidnap
a baby and helping to dispose of a body. The child survives and her name is Hazley Joe. She lives with her father, Austin Atheni, who has full custody. This case points to a troubling epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people across North America. In twenty twenty, a new law called Savannah's Act was passed to improve the resources available to support and investigate these types of missing persons cases. And So who was Savannah Lafontaine Graywynd, what led to
her troubling murder? And how does this case reveal a need to address a crisis impacting Indigenous communities across the globe.
So I am incredibly pleased to welcome to the show a friend of mine, Candy brings plenty and Candy is a two spirit Oglala La Cora su An activists and spiritual practitioner. Candy Ekomo may welcome to Facing Evil.
You say, thank you so much for having me and also for being so progressive and a tentative to the need of this topic. It's something that's extremely, uh, you know, more than just an activist or a platform. It's it's within my blood lineage. It's part of traditional protocol as the Oglala Lakota Sioux and someone you know, an Indigenous person to Turtle Island. You know this is you know, missing and murdered Indigenous women is such an epidemic candy.
That is so so so true, and you know full disclosure to our facing evil listeners. I have the pleasure of knowing you in real life when you spent your time in the Portland area. You were supportive of me and my wife when we owned Dapperdee and we got to help and fundraise together and do all kinds of fun things. And I've always respected you and admired all of the work that you've been doing and continue to do.
So I know so much about you, but I would love before we start, you know, talking about the case that we want to talk about today, and of course the bigger issue. I would love to know more about you, where you come from, where you grew up, and of course your beautiful culture and your family and all the things if you could share with us.
Yeah. So I come from the Piner's' Reservation. It's also known or initially before it got the name Piner's Reservation, it's known as the Prisoner of War Camp number three three four, and you can google that, and every single Indian reservation in the United States and beyond are prisoner of war camps. So I have ten siblings, you know, and all of them still reside and have grown up, born and raised on the prisoner of war camp, including you know, that's where my father was born and passed away.
And so there's a lot of tribal nations and tribal people who have been born and raised and still living in the conditions of these prisoner of war camps, and which is extreme poverty, and all of it is definitely still defined and restricted under the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I truly feel that a lot of folks who are not indigenous to Turtle Island, you know, they definitely have a huge learning gap when it comes to a cultural
perspective or an indigenous lens. There's definitely like the law of nature, and then there's you know, mad made laws, and then there's the law of the land. And so one of the huge aspects that a lot of non indigenous folks have a hard time comprehending is that as indigenous people, and I'm going to speak specifically la Quota, as a Loquota person, we belong to the land. The
land does not belong to us. And so in every aspect, that's why the water, the trees, the air, the moon, the suns as are relatives.
Yeah, Candy, I think before we go any further too, it would be really great, since there is kind of a lack of education around the history and terminology of indigenous peoples across North America, if we could like define some of those terms you were bringing up, Like, I'd love to know more about the tribal title of Oklala lakotas who. I'm hoping you could kind of define that as well as explain a little bit about the significance of that for our listeners.
Well, first of all, you know, I use the term indigenous to Turtle Island a lot because I want there to be the inclusivity of our indigenous relatives to the North. Up in Canada, they're also known as First Nation folks. You know, so First Nation people are the tribal nations and indigenous people of Canada. And then we have our southern relatives in Mexico, and you know, even the Pacific Islands Andaians. Yes, you know, so we're all part of this Turtle Island. And you know, some people just say
North America, but it's so much more than that. And I do not identify with Native American or Indian because in itself am Arigo Vesputi was a cartographer who was a Cis white male who was extremely violent and problematic to women. I will never carry his name with my identity, and so that's why I'm very comfortable with indigenous. And so I get more specific when I say indigenous Turtle Island.
And when it comes down to my tribal identity being Oglala Lakota, sue I am Oglala, which is my tribal nation. Lakota is a dialect in the language that I speak, and sue is the is the identity of the nation that I come from. And so you know, a part of the northern plains, the Great Cue Nation, we have the Ocheti Shock going, which is the seven Sacred Fires, and it's the tribes and the tribal nation that protected the Minisosu which is the Missouri River. And so you know,
every tribal nation has their natural resources. And of course for every single one of us, you know, water is sacred to us. Water is life, meaning with Tony and in every entity that we have, that is how we are all related. So when it comes down to even modern times of having clean water to drink, clean air, to breathe, healthy food, to eat. That's what makes us all relatives.
It's interesting that this case is actually like very tied to water in a very kind of dark and specific way. But you know, I guess I'm curious too. I think a lot of listeners may not understand the significance of the term two Spirit. So it's hoping you could also define that and why that's and what that means.
The term two Spirit is actually a contemporary term. It is an umbrella term that was coined in the early nineteen hundreds by our two Spirit elders who are in a time of definitely being unseen, who were still being used, who are still being called burdash, which is a term
that means kept person are basically sex slave. And so you know, yes, and so these elders had said, we need to find a term that identifies us so that we can be a part of mainstream society, so that we can be identified as a cultural term for lgbtq AI plus people who are indigenous Turtle Island. And the intention for that is because there's over just in the United States alone, over five hundred and eighty recognized tribes, and every single one of those tribes has our own language.
And so can you imagine how many words and terms there are just for the al, the G, the B, the T, the Q, the A, the I, you know, and that's just one tribe, so exponentially, in the United States, there's a million terms. And that's not even including our relatives who are First Nation in Canada or Mexico relatives who have all their own languages and their indigenous tribal nations. So you know, two spirit is this term that is specific.
It's a cultural identifier for Indigenous people from Turtle Island.
So talking about you know, Savannah Lafontaine Gray wind Candy, how familiar are you with a Savannah Lafontaine gray win case And do you remember when you found out about it? And was it a big you know talk in your tribe and in your nation.
Absolutely, I mean it was humongous. I don't think not a single Indigenous person wasn't impacted by it. Because in my language we say matakiasse, which is all my relatives or all my relations because like I had said, initially, we were all related, all connected, yes, And I had met her at Standing Rock at the camp, and so it was profoundly impacting myself and you know, even at the time, I myself was going through my own custody
battle with my two children and their father. And it was the very first time, you know, because I moved to Portland when my girls were in first and second grade.
Yeah they were, and we stayed, yes, and you know, and that was like the first year that their father had wanted to see them, and so he ended up trying to keep them, and he was trying to use tribal jurisdiction against me, and you know, so we ended up finding a common ground, and you know, I let him have a test trial with my children to keep them for the school year. And that's why I ended up going to Standing Rock.
I remember watching you go through all of that.
Yeah, yes, And I had said, you know, if all I know how to do is be a mother, what am I going to do with all this energy and all this love? And I said, I'm going to go take it to Standing Rock and see what I can do with it. And that's when I initiated the two Spirit Nation camp. I felt this horrendous, heart breaking feeling of knowing, you know, her child was stolen from her sacred womb, you know, and she was just exposed of so you know, every single part of me felt it.
I felt like it happened to me too.
And then you know, as far as the kind of implications of Savannah's murder, what kind of like seismic impact did it have on you know, the tribe and the people in the indigenous community who saw this on the news? You know, what were people saying and thinking about this?
So you know, the only thing I can really measure it next to with the seismic actual impact that it had is when I watched these movies about you know, JFK being shot and it was like the world said still and everybody was impacted, to teachers and students and housewives. You know, That's how it was for us when we
learned the details and when they found her body. And again it goes back to MMI w and even beyond that, because you know, for these entitled non indigenous people, these white folks, these colonizers, to feel that they can take such a sacred being. And in our language we say wakaya and that's children. That means child because is sacred and yisha is chosen ones. So our children are the
sacred chosen ones. So you know, it was just such you know, there's not even a word to convey, but it was like one of the most I don't even know a colonial term to use for it, but it was witnessing the worst possible impact of this post apocalyptic state of being when colonizers come to divide and conquer. They literally divided her and conquered her from this sacredness of her own wa Kaysha.
And that makes me wonder too. I mean, do you think Savannah was targeted for being indigenous or do you think she was more victim of opportunity and happened to be indigenous. In any case, she was taken advantage of by you know, white people. But I'm curious how you perceive the sort of motive in this murder.
Okay, let me take you back to the word white people in Lakota in our language, so the word white people is washichu, So that breaks down to washe, which is fat echo is to take. So if we translate that word for word in English, it's called the fat takers. This goes back to the time of the fur traders
and to manifest destiny. And there is this like iconic black and white photo of these like thousands of buffalo skulls, and there's like this one man standing on top so proud, and maybe there's one more man at the bottom to show how how high this mountain a buffalo skulls was. And so these fur traders would come in and scalp and take what they wanted off of these buffalo And meanwhile the northern plains, the Great Sux Nation, people were
dying of starvation. And we would come across and find our herd of buffalos and they would be rotting carcasses and with all the meat and everything on them, but they would just skin them for their fur and for and a lot of them were just headless because they were taking the skulls. And we've learned that these white people are we didn't even know the word white people, but they were taking the fat. They would take the best part and leave the rest. And so that's what
the term fat taker means. And so when I was educating folks, when I worked at the ACLU, I think they felt defended, but that was the actuality of how they have lived and continue to live. And so absolutely it was because they were white people. You know, they seen Savannah as less than they didn't see her as a human being. They've seen her as someone who was carrying something they wanted and they were going to get
it by any means necessary. And they did, and they didn't see no consequence to that, because that's what white supremacy is. White supremacy is filling and seeing and believe
that they are the supreme beings with no consequence. And you know, that's why I argued a lot with the Constitution in itself, because you know, the only way we were even thought of, because the Constitution and amendments were not written for people of color, for women, for queer people, especially for Indigenous people to Turtle Island, we were described as as the savages, the merciless savages. That's the only way that you know, Indigenous people were written into the Constitution.
And so that continues to be the mindset regardless of even you know, this podcast of people thinking, was it really because you know, white people think differently than in Native people, you know, and that's absolutely one percent correct. It was because you know, they had she had something that they wanted.
So, Candy, I think I know the answer to this question. But do you think that the police that were initially investigating upstairs, you know, just from Savanna's home and her neighbor's apartment. You know, do we think they did a good enough job. I mean, I think they searched the home when her beautiful temple, her body was there, and they didn't find it until eight days later.
I definitely feel like they did not do a good job. And a part of that, too, is because of Standing Rock. You know, there was this humongous division between even the police department, the sheriffs, the DAPPO officers that you know, we actively watched some of the officers walk off the job because they knew it was more than just a protecting of the land that them on the other side
were doing. They were taking the opportunity to violate and harm and hurt us, you know, And to this day, like I still have a permanent egg bump on my head and I'm missing a tooth from getting beat.
Down so badly at Standing Rock.
At Standing Rock, they were there to break us down. They were there to put fear into us, and so you know, I still have PTSD from that. And it was a learned behavior. When we would go to Bismarck, when we would go to Fargo, there was a continued
white people versus Native people across that whole state. So I believe with my whole heart that a lot of these missing and murdered Indigenous women cases in North Dakota continue to be put on the back burner, and you know a lot of times they're continued to just use
the jurisdictional component of tribal entities versus stay entity. And I feel if it was a young wash Youto girl, a young white girl, pregnant white girl who was missing, there would have been a heck of a lot more of a search and rescue for her.
Mm hmmm, yeah, that's interesting. I don't think it had occurred to me that, you know, there had been this kind of like stronger divide than ever before as a result of standing rock between police and Indigenous people that might result in them, you know, not only not giving cases what they deserve, but you know, being actively harmful to that process and in many ways, and not just police,
I mean we're also talking about the media here. I think the media has not done as good a job as they can when covering a lot of these cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. I'm curious, do you see that also as just like you know, racism, plain and simple, definitely.
Plain and simple, you know, like I was saying, it was more than just a young Indigenous woman who was pregnant and missing. It was racially motivated, and the resources that were offered, even within the court system itself, this was just horrendous of an act on a human being.
One other, you know, interesting thing, and I mentioned this earlier when we were talking about water, is that many of these cases of the missing and murdered Indigenous people happened to take place around the Red River. Strangely, and I know this has been talked about too in the community, but I'm curious to get your thoughts on that and why the Red River is sort of this epicenter for
a lot of these crimes to take place. One of the other cases that happened there was that Tina Fontaine was a young girl whose body was discovered along the Red River, as well as Savannah Lafontaine and Gray Wind.
Yes, and so you know, even with Savannah being pregnant, that and itself goes back to the water, and that's why water is so sacred, you know, And that was that was a symbolic violation especially, you know, because this was just so fresh and around the time of the No Adapple movement and Standing Rock, and to know that a lot of these missing and murdered Indigenous women, we
do find them in the water. And I feel like, regardless of it, if it's Indigenous people, are non Indigenous people who who are being you know, the violators that the return to the water for me, I feel like it's a component of these people trying to remove themselves from the human act that they're doing at the same time symbolizing washing themselves from the sin, or you know, putting these women in the water so that there's no
trace of them regardless. You know, people don't see how much we are related to the water, and even if they're not spiritual or cultural, they continue to go back to the water. And that's why a lot of these as I was stating, extractions from Mother Earth, they impact us to our core, regardless of gender.
That's an interesting take on that, and it's heartbreaking and healing at the same time. I know that, you know, sounds awful, but one light in this very very dark case at least is that the killers were swiftly brought to justice. But as we all know that does not often happen. And I know how much of an activist and advocate that you are. Can you tell our listeners, like how prevalent are these cases? Are people you know
going missing and getting murdered every single day? This is truly an epidemic, right.
It's absolutely an epidemic. And that's the major component of it is is that there's a lack of data because there is a lack of even resources across the states. And I know, you know, there's this ambulert system and that is for you know, the use and for kids, and for you know, a whole another scope of human beings. But when it comes to the numbers of Indigenous women,
there is no data whatsoever and have there been? You know, I know that in itself would create a whole brand new scope of how to deal, how to prevent, and how to educate about missing and murdered Indigenous women. And
like I said, it goes back centuries. It goes back to you know, first contact, It goes back to the first fourteen ninety two May Flowership, you know, because women are not commodities, you know, and to come and bring the practices of fat takers and apply that to women, especially Indigenous women, especially on our own ancestral lands, that has been defined by the doctrine of discovery by the palpables over across the ocean, that has stated that we
were savages because we were not baptized or we did not follow Catholicism, our Christianity. That in itself is the sin h.
So, Candy, I think you probably know this, but for you know, our listeners who might not, there is one small silver lining in this case, which is that the savannahs Act was signed into federal law in October of twenty twenty and so according to the Justice Department, this law is quote a bipartisan effort to improve the federal response to missing or murdered Indigenous persons, including by increasing coordination among federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies
end quote. So that feels like a step in the right direction. But I'm curious what your take on that is and if that feels like enough or is that even actually happening in practice or are we even doing anything with that law.
Well, I do feel like that definitely is a silver lining with the Savannah Act because I have used the wording in itself and the Act to lobby and to create legislation in South Dakota. And you know, our legislators were the ones who passed the bill for creating Tribal Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in the Attorney
General's Office in South Dakota. So we were able to create this, Yes, we were able to create this position because there are young women who are missing weekly and pretty much daily, even here in my city, in Rapid City. And you know, when we look at the website it lists the missing people and majority, like there is ninety
percent Indigenous people on this missing list. And so, you know, to have an actual act on a congressional level that is bipartisan was you know, a big catalyst to start conversations and to say what are we doing on a local level, what are we doing on a state level? You know, but we need more. You know, that in itself definitely was the beginning of these political and legislative conversations.
And so you know, I'm so grateful that we can continue the narrative and that there are podcasts and that there are continued allies and continued conversations, but we need to go beyond conversation we need to start taking action.
Yes, and how do we do that? Candy? I would love to know, Like on Facing Evil, we always always always look for the light in the darkness, and that is exactly why my sister and I do this show, and my honorary brother Trevor does this show. And it's true, like he's our not only our producer, like he's become a you know, a sibling to us. And I want to know what can we as listeners, as podcasters, as humans, what actions can we take to be good allies?
Well, first of all, you know, I really feel like there should be a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's Task Force in each state and here in South Dakota we finally initiated hours as of last month as we went through the position as I stated, we lobbied for, and you know, I feel like everyone should be reaching out to their elected officials and asking them what can we do?
You know, like I said, we decided the place we needed to go to was the Attorney General's office, So you know, definitely ask what are we doing for missing and murdered Indigenous people? And you know, if you want, you can begin there, or you can even just start reaching out to some of these organizations. In each state, there is a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives People women entity. I know that there are during women's marches, they're also
for the missing murdered Indigenous women. And we have just gotten our it's called oh Chetti Shockgoing Missing and Murdered Indigenous People task Force, so we knew that South Dakota has such a big epidemic. But it's beyond that, you know, we want to continue building forces across Ochette Shockgoing and
within the tribes. So a lot of times too, I think it's very important for every person in each state to learn and educate themselves on what lands they're occupying and what are the tribal nations of their state, because you can always just reach out to those tribes themselves too.
And before we let you go, I would love for you just to share a little bit about everything that you're doing right now, because I see it on social media and I've told our listeners back when we you know, started almost a year ago, they needed to follow you at Candy Brings plenty and see everything that you're doing. But if you could share, I would I would love for you to share with the world what you're up to now?
Yeah, and you can all on my social media as I go by two Spirit Woyri or Queen, so you can find me at two Spirit Warrior Queen. Yes. And you know, Pride is coming up and I have a really you know, push pull tug of war with Pride months because two spirit people have been here since before first contact. Two spirit people have been celebrating and have been proud of themselves since before the riots at Stonewall.
And so a lot of times I feel like two Spirit Pride leave out the indigenous component of the lands they're marching on. And a lot of times these are boxes the LGBTQ plus identities. And to add two spirits to every single component of pride, every single component of the rainbow. And don't just put the number two in the letter s, write it out and say two spirit so those young two spirits out there who feel unseen unheard can be recognized.
I love that. Candy brings plenty. Thank you for being hearing you absolutely beautiful human.
Yeah, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Now for our message of hope and healing. Today's emula goes out to Savannah Lafontaine Graywind and to every missing and murdered Indigenous person out there, we will not let the world forget you. We are committed to using our voices to help spread the word about ending the systemic violence on Indigenous people. Savannah had her entire life ahead of her before she was murdered, but thankfully her beautiful baby,
Hazley Joe, survived. We are sending love and light to Hazley Joe's father, Ashton Mathony, who is raising their young child in a world without her mother. Today, we would like to honor the memory of Savannah Lafontaine Graywind. Onward and upward. Emoa. Well, that's our show for today. We would love to hear what you thought about today's discussion and if there's a case you'd like for us to cover, find us on social media or email us at facingable pod at tenderfoot dot tv. Until next time.
Aloha, Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV. The show is hosted by Russia Paccuerero in Avet Gentile, Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk, Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Carolyn Talmadge.
Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on social media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.