Lissa Yellow Bird searches for missing people. Cold cases, mostly. People no one else is looking for. It’s not her job, but a lot of Native Americans go missing and their cases remain unsolved, so families often ask Lissa for help. But then, Lissa’s own niece goes missing.
-
Download Control-click (or right-click) Tap and hold to download
- Transcript
Lissa Yellow Bird
Natasha Rausch / The Forum of Fargo Moorhead
Note: The internet version of this episode contains un-beeped curse words. BEEPED VERSION.
Prologue
Lissa Yellow Bird started searching for missing people after an oil worker disappeared from the reservation Lissa’s from. Since then, many Native American families have asked for Lissa’s help looking for their loved ones, too. Sierra Crane Murdoch tells Ira about Lissa’s exceptional investigation work—and the hardest case Lissa’s ever worked on. (6 minutes)
Sierra's book about Lissa is called, "Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country."
Act One
When Lissa’s niece, Carla Yellow Bird, went missing in 2016, Lissa threw everything she had into figuring out what happened to her—including talking for hours on the phone with someone she suspected was involved. (27 minutes)
Act Two
Lissa knows how to read people, how to pull information out of them that others can’t. Because of this, she’s able to find out what happened to her niece in just five days. But finding out what happened doesn’t even come close to resolving anything. (23 minutes)
Related
Act Five: Color Bar
Act Five
Act Five: Bad Teacher
Staff Recommendations
Meet the Pros
The story of one man's journey from obscurity to international professional celebrity.
Harold
The story of Harold Washington and the white backlash that was set off when he became Chicago's first black mayor.