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Nevaeh Kingbird’s disappearance leads sister down new career path
Her sister, Nevaeh Kingbird, disappeared from Bemidji, Minn. on Oct. 22, 2021. Now, LaKaylee Kingbird is pursuing a career that helps other Indigenous families.
BEMIDJI, Minnesota — It’s 9 a.m. on a Wednesday at Leech Lake Tribal College (LLTC) in Cass Lake, Minn. LaKaylee Kingbird is settling into her first class of the day: Introduction to Criminal Justice.
“When I first met with LaKaylee… I always like to pick brains a little bit and see what the interest in law enforcement is and what they want to do with their degree,” said her instructor, Frank Homer, who is the LLTC law enforcement program coordinator. “One of her reasons… what she’s been through.”
It’s been nearly two years since LaKaylee’s sister, Nevaeh Kingbird, disappeared. Two years with no answers.
“Life has been hard without her. She’s just been like my best friend. Everything in one, you know?” LaKaylee said.
Nevaeh Kingbird disappears
LaKaylee said the year Nevaeh went missing, the 15-year-old had lost her best friend to suicide and then lost another close friend that October.
“Sent her into this downward spiral and then it led her to using alcohol the night she went missing,” said LaKaylee, who was away at the time getting treatment for her mental health.
The night of Oct. 21, 2021, Nevaeh told her mom, Teddi Wind, that she was going to the movies with friends. LaKaylee said her sister and her friends got kicked out of a party in Cass Lake and ended up back at Nevaeh’s home in Bemidji. When their mom called home while at work, no one answered. When Wind called again, Nevaeh answered.
“She was slurring her words. You could just tell the way she was talking through the phone that she was under the influence,” LaKaylee said.
Wind came home and started kicking people out. With the police on their way, Nevaeh ran out the back door with two others. LaKaylee said they stopped at one other home before Nevaeh ended up at another friend’s home at Southview Terrace Mobile Home Park. LaKaylee said her sister had climbed through the window to get inside.
“Her friend’s stepdad… just got home or something and he was knocking at the door,” LaKaylee said. “Nevaeh got scared and she took off… They said that when they looked out the window that she was gone.”
Nevaeh was last seen around 2 a.m. on Oct. 22, 2021. She is described as 5’4″, weighing 120 lbs. at the time of her disappearance with black hair and blonde highlights. She may have been wearing a red sweatshirt with a Chicago Bulls logo and headdress around it, and jeans.
“They were telling me over the phone that she ran away and I let myself believe that because it wasn’t our first time. Me and her both ran away before,” LaKaylee said. “But then also I had the negative side where I was like, something doesn’t feel right.”
Nevaeh’s phone was found stuck between the bed and wall of the last place she was seen. She had left behind all her clothes and belongings.
“That’s how I knew something was wrong because she wouldn’t leave all her stuff. In the past when she ran away, she took all her clothes and then the stuff off her wall,” LaKaylee said.
LaKaylee said investigators started reaching out to her family and asking questions one month after Nevaeh went missing.
Det. Sgt. Dan Seaberg with the Bemidji Police Department said although Nevaeh was reported as a runaway, it’s entered into the system as a missing person. Seaberg said patrol officers went searching for her the night she disappeared but a ground search was not conducted until December after investigators learned she had jumped out the window, and according to witnesses, hit her head. Since then, there have been multiple searches. The latest was a two-day search at the end of September.
“I just know that I want to help people that are going through the same thing I am in my family,” LaKaylee said. “So that’s kind of why I’m taking the steps that I’m taking is to help people that feel vulnerable or feel like they’re alone and don’t have help.”
LaKaylee pursues a new career path
LaKaylee said it was always her sister’s dream for them to attend high school together. LaKaylee had been a Bemidji Area Schools student before going into treatment. When she got out, she attended Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School to make good on her promise to her sister, even though Nevaeh was missing by then.
She graduated with three scholarships for college and decided to attend LLTC. LaKaylee is now pursuing a law enforcement degree as part of LLTC’s two-year program.
“The way her investigation was handled and the way her case is still being handled… I just want to spread awareness for not just my sister but everybody else that didn’t get any attention,” LaKaylee said.
Bemidji sits in the middle of three large Indian reservations. LaKaylee and Nevaeh are enrolled members of the Red Lake Nation.
“Our people go missing… and not just the women; the guys, too. It’s a pandemic for our people,” LaKaylee said.
Missing and murdered Indigenous women
While LaKaylee is studying law enforcement, she plans on eventually pursuing law school. Her ultimate goal is to work at Minnesota’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Office which is housed within the Office of Justice Programs in the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. The legislature established the office in 2021 — a first of its kind in the nation.
According to MMIR, although they make up less than 1% of the population, Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people account for 8% of all murder victims in the state.
Native women face murder rates more than 10 times the national average, according to the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women.
“We’re still not doing enough. We’re not. It’s difficult in your schools to talk about those topics. I’m in higher education so I’m bringing it forward talking about what is decolonization, what is sexual abuse, what is trafficking. What is not okay,” said Audrey Thayer, an enrolled member of the White Earth nation and an Arts and Humanities instructor at LLTC.
Thayer said addressing the issue is like opening a Pandora’s box.
“They’re all interrelated. Economics… we are in poor counties up here. So the tax dollars for schools, and community, housing. Just having food on the table. It’s very difficult to deal with,” Thayer said.
As her sister’s disappearance nears the two year mark, LaKaylee wonders what life would be like if her sister were here.
“Like if I were to take these steps still even if she was here or what my life would be like,” she said.
LaKaylee plans on graduating from LLTC in 2026. Wind was also taking law enforcement classes at LLTC before her daughter’s disappearance. She goes to school part time and hopes to graduate at the same time as LaKaylee.
LaKaylee wears a necklace with Nevaeh’s photo inside. On the back, it says, “Bring Nevaeh home. Never give up.”
LaKaylee said, “I tell everybody that too. Just never give up… always try to keep hope. Find hope.”
This is still an active investigation. Anyone with information that could help this case should contact the Bemidji Police Department at 218-333-9111 or CrimeStoppers Minnesota via the organization’s website or by calling 1-800-222-8477.
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Prosecutors say Mychal Allan Stowers was on work release from prison when he shot his pregnant ex-wife, and then shot another man during a carjacking.
ST PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul police are looking for a man now charged with two counts of second-degree murder after allegedly shooting his ex-wife and her unborn child.
A criminal complaint filed against 37-year-old Mychal Allan Stowers details the two murder counts as well as carjacking and assault charges associated with his getaway.
St. Paul squads were dispatched to 139 Sycamore St. E. just after 9 p.m. Oct. 19 on reports of shots fired. Arriving officers were met by residents who told them they heard gunshots in apartment 3. Police entered the apartment and found a woman laying on the floor surrounded by spent 9mm shell casings. Paramedics responded and declared the victim dead just before 9:30 pm.
Police later identified the victim as 35-year-old Damara Alexis Stowers.
Investigators on the scene found a loaded handgun on a bed in a different bedroom, along with photos from an ultrasound. In the apartment mailbox were two letters, one addressed to the victim and the other to a Mychal Stowers. While officers were in the apartment a cellphone rang, and the contact name that showed was “My$hon Stowers.”
Neighbors described seeing a heavyset man in his late 30s or 40s running from the scene. One told officers he heard four or five shots from the apartment, walked outside, and soon heard two more from a few blocks away.
The owner of the building told police the victim was in the process of being evicted, and that her ex-boyfriend had been living in the apartment with her, which was against the lease.
Additional officers were dispatched to 99 Acker Street, a few blocks from the apartment shooting scene, at around 9:15 p.m. on reports of a carjacking. They found a man who had been shot in the leg, breaking his femur. The victim’s friend said they were standing outside a running vehicle when a heavyset Black male ran up, said something they did not understand and then shot the victim. The assailant then stole the running gray Audi.
The complaint states that on the same day an employee of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office reported that Mychal Stowers called, said he had shot someone and wanted to turn himself in. Despite the call, Stowers did not turn himself in.
Records from the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) show Stowers was released from prison in March after serving time for another murder, was on work release and supposed to be living at a halfway house. He had had been granted a pass to visit his “ex-wife” at 139 Sycamore.
Preliminary tests show the same gun fired spent shells recovered at both the murder and carjacking scenes, and the defendant matches descriptions of the shooter from witnesses at both scenes.
At this time Michael Stowers is not in custody.
Donald Edmondson suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest at his north-side apartment building on Nov. 24, 2023.
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis man who pleaded guilty to entering another man’s apartment and shooting him to death last year was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office released a statement saying 59-year-old Walter Hill was sentenced on second-degree intentional murder charges in 60-year-old Donald Edmondson’s November 2023 killing.
Prosecutors said Hill was given 337 days of credit for time already served.
“Mr. Edmondson should still be alive,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. “A violent act committed with such disregard by Mr. Hill has taken him from his family. This sentence delivers accountability and protects our community, and I hope it brings some measure of peace to Mr. Edmondson’s loved ones as they attempt to move forward with their lives.”
According to police, Edmondson suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest at his north-side apartment building on Nov. 24, 2023.
The attorney’s office said Hill entered his guilty plea Monday.
Turns out, Twin Cities realtor and billboard personality Kris Lindahl is in on the joke.
MINNEAPOLIS — The makers of the video game “Call of Duty” launched a new, locally inspired campaign Friday, coinciding with the release of the franchise’s newest installment, “Black Ops 6.”
Motorists might notice real estate agent Kris Lindahl, famously seen with his arms out over every interstate in town, was replaced by *ahem* “The Replacer,” an Activision character played by actor Peter Stormare.
For the next few weeks, The Replacer will step in for Lindahl not only on billboards but also on advertisements across television, streaming and social media platforms.
But why does Lindahl need The Replacer’s help, you might ask?
So he’s free to play “Black Ops 6,” of course.
The Replacer isn’t new to Minnesota. He also once stepped into the shoes of Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.
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