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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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A criminal complaint alleges the suspect was driving nearly 100 mph at the time of the crash.
MINNEAPOLIS — Criminal charges have been filed against a St. Paul man in connection with a multi-vehicle crash Wednesday night in Minneapolis that left one person dead and several others injured.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Talon Covie-Carderell Walker, 29, is now charged with one count of criminal vehicular homicide.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, prosecutors believe Walker was driving a Chevy Avalanche pickup truck at high speeds when he started a chain-reaction crash on the I-94 exit to Dunwoody Boulevard on Wednesday evening. A total of seven vehicles were involved.
The State Patrol said Natalie Gubbay, 26, who was driving one of the other vehicles, died at the scene. Several others were hospitalized following the crash, including Walker. Two children were also among those injured.
The complaint alleges Walker was driving nearly 100 mph at the time of the crash. Investigators also said an open bottle of liquor was found in Walker’s vehicle. Results of a blood alcohol test are pending, according to the complaint, but investigators said Walker has previous driving convictions and lost his license in 2021.
Industry experts say several airlines were already waiting for deliveries of Boeing airplanes before the strike started.
MINNEAPOLIS — This week union workers who build planes for Boeing rejected a new contract deal.
64% of the 32,000 machinists voted against the deal in another major setback for the company. The strike that has halted most of Boeing’s aircraft production for over a month will continue.
The strike is further delaying deliveries for many Boeing customers who are already dealing with production delays.
It could soon have a big impact across the country, from concerns over plane safety to the cost of flying.
Hassan Shahidi with the Flight Safety Foundation says many airlines were already waiting for Boeing airplanes before the strike started.
“Prior to the strike there were already challenges,” Shahidi says. “This strike is exacerbating the situation even further.”
Shahidi says some of the airlines may have aging airplanes that will have to stay in use longer than the companies had planned for, but he argues that is a minor issue and he is not worried about passenger safety.
“All aircraft that are flying are certified by the FAA, are airworthy and safe,” Shahidi says.
He argues a much larger issue is how the strike will impact the airline industry’s plans to grow in the coming years.
He says most of the orders for new Boeing airplanes are from airlines that are expanding to meet passenger demand.
“To have other companies trying to come in and meet that gap is going to be challenging in terms of both supplies, labor and processes that are going to be needed to produce the highest quality of airplanes,” Shahidi says.
According to Delta’s website, the airline recently ordered 100 Boeing 737’s with an option to buy 30 more.
Those planes are scheduled to be delivered sometime next year and the company says some of those airplanes will be deployed to MSP.
KARE 11 reached out to Delta to see if the Boeing strike could affect the delivery of those planes, and whether the strike could impact Delta’s ability to add new flights in the coming years, but we haven’t heard back from the company at this time.
Sun Country says their entire fleet is made up of 43 Boeing airplanes.
A company spokesperson says all of Sun Country’s airplanes are “mid-life aircraft” meaning they are purchased used from other companies.
This spokesperson says this unique business model will insulate Sun Country from the impacts of the Boeing strike, and the company won’t see a shortage of airplanes anytime soon.
KARE 11 also reached out to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport to see if the airport and local travelers will see any impacts of the Boeing strike.
An MSP spokesperson sent KARE-11 the following statement:
“We do not anticipate any immediate impacts at MSP from the Boeing strike. While a strike could push back delivery of aircraft to airlines and lead to future schedule adjustments by those airlines, any impacts would not be expected to affect MSP any more than other airports across the country.”
The victim’s wife identified their neighbor as the likely suspect following ongoing disputes.
MINNEAPOLIS — A shooting that followed months of alleged harassment from one neighbor to another has escalated to a public sparring session between the Minneapolis Police Department and City Council.
According to court documents, MPD was called to a hospital in the city for reports of a gunshot victim on Oct. 23. Upon arrival, the officers learned a man, identified as Davis Maturi, had been shot and was transported to the hospital from his home on Grand Avenue in Minneapolis.
The criminal complaint in the case said Maturi’s wife told officers that their neighbor, identified as 54-year-old John Sawchak, “almost certainly” was the person who shot her husband, alleging that Sawchak had harassed and threatened the couple for months.
Mrs. Maturi allegedly told officers that her husband was pruning a tree near their property line on that day.
“Touch my tree again and I’ll kill you,” the suspect allegedly told the victim, according to the complaint.
The charging documents lists seven prior police records of incidents between the neighbors before the October shooting, including several allegations of threats and racism by Sawchak against Maturi.
Maturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine. Sawchak is not currently in police custody.
A letter from ranking members of the Minneapolis City Council to Mayor Jacob Frey shows anger and blame being directed at the MPD for allegedly failing to act on Maturi’s numerous complaints against Sawchak before the shooting, and failing to arrest him immediately after the shooting.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara scheduled a news conference on Friday afternoon to respond to the council’s accusations.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office confirmed Friday that it filed charges against Sawchak.
“After Mr. Sawchak shot Mr. Moturi on Oct. 23, the case was submitted to our office on Oct. 24. We immediately charged Mr. Sawchak with attempted murder, first-degree assault, and felony harassment and stalking, enhanced for racial bias,” said a statement from the office.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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