Yurok Tribe Hires MMIP Investigator

Julia Oliveira, a Wyandotte Tribe citizen with 25 years of local law enforcement experience, most recently leading the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribal Police Department, is breaking new ground after being hired by the Yurok Tribe to become the first investigator in California fully dedicated to investigating Missing and Murdered Indigenous People cases.

“I applied for the MMIP investigator position because I am very passionate about this subject,” Oliveira said. “Throughout the state of California, very few resources are allocated to cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people. I was very excited when I saw the opportunity to be the person who is solely focused on finding missing Indigenous people.”

Oliveira spent 20 years with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, holding a number of positions during her tenure, including conducting missing person and child abuse investigations. She continues to serve on the HCSO’s Crisis Intervention Team and holds a leadership position within the United States Office of Violence Against Women’s Task Force on Research on Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women, according to a Yurok Tribe release.

“We are so fortunate that Julia decided to accept the investigator position. She has the ideal background for this important job,” said Yurok Tribal Chair Joseph L. James. “She will help bring closure and justice to the families of missing tribal citizens. The new investigator will be engaged in our MMIP prevention effort too.”

Oliveira’s hire is yet another step in the Yurok Tribe’s continuing efforts to address the MMIP crisis, which only gained real

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standing outside of Native communities in 2020, when the Sovereign Bodies Institute released a groundbreaking report that found Native women and girls were far more likely to go missing, especially in Northern California, or become victims of violence than the general population.

In December of 2021, the Yurok Tribe declared a state of emergency after a spate of attempted abductions and reports of missing persons, and the tribe hosted its first-ever Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Symposium in October, which brought tribal leaders from throughout California, as well as state, federal and local officials, together to discuss the crisis and prioritize reform efforts.

The release states Oliveira will work within the Yurok Office of the Tribal Prosecutor, which is part of the tribe’s MMIP response team, and “will conduct inquiries into current and cold MMIP cases.”

Prior to accepting the position, Oliveira served on the Office of the Tribal Prosecutor’s MMIP Roundtable, which the release states meets regularly to “discuss solutions to the MMIP crisis.”

The roundtable currently includes the Yurok Tribe, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Trinidad Rancheria, Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria and Quartz Valley Tribe.

Oliveira’s position was funded by a $350,000 grant from the San Manuel Band of Mission, with the monies also going to “support the creation of a database that will be employed to analyze patterns in missing persons cases and identify potential perpetrators,” as well as being used to purchase “billboard space to raise awareness about specific cases” and for supporting the “deployment of canine

Disaster Declared: With winter storms having wreaked havoc across the region and more on the way, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal declared a state of local emergency March 8, allowing the county to apply for state and federal response funds.

POSTED 03.08.23

At the Gala

handlers, human remains detection dogs and ground-penetrating radar when necessary,” the release states.

The Yurok Tribe was also integral in last year’s passage of the Feather Alert bill, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, which — like an Amber Alert for children or Silver Alert for seniors — allows for the quick dissemination of information when an Indigenous individual is reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances.

In February, the Yurok Tribe was selected to serve as the first pilot location

Record Rainfall: It’s official, rainfall totals recorded at the National Weather Service’s Woodley Island office March 13 set a new record for the date at 1.54 inches. The Eel River, meanwhile, hit flood stage early March 14, with an expected peak at 23.1 feet.

POSTED 03.14.23 of the U.S. Marshals Service’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative, which — according to a previous news release from the tribe — aims to “develop tribally-led collaborative partnerships to proactively examine public safety issues – particularly those involving missing endangered children.”

“We hope to leverage our relationship with the U.S. Marshals to build out our investigative program,” said Yurok Prosecutor Rosemary Deck.

— Kimberly Wear POSTED 03.10.23

Sprung Forward: Daylight saving time arrived March 12, meaning darker mornings, brighter evenings and a lost hour of sleep, as Congress once again takes up a measure to end the practice, which many see as antiquated.

(Check those smoke detector batteries.)

POSTED 03.11.23