Friends and family are gathering on May 2 for a candlelight vigil for Stephanie Bearstail. The 18-year-old died on the Wind River Reservation on March 4, but details about what happened remain scarce.
The vigil will take place on the football field at Fort Washakie High School at 8 p.m., right around sunset.
Northern Arapaho tribal member Allison Quiver is organizing the event and also helped to organize the #JusticeforSteph march shortly after Bearstail’s death. Bearstail was her niece.
“ Stephanie was such an outgoing, loving person. She was one of those people that everybody just came to, they gravitated towards her,” said Quiver. “She was so caring and all she did was laugh and always had a smile on her face.”
For Quiver, justice looks like knowing what happened to her niece, having some answers about the case and making sure that anyone connected to her death is held responsible for their actions.
“ We have this small picture that was painted with a few little details, and so all we can do is picture the worst because nobody's giving us anything more,” she said.
The Fremont County Coroner listed Bearstail’s cause of death as “undetermined” in a docket released on April 1, according to news outlet County10. Quiver said she hopes the vigil might prompt someone to come forward with more details.
“There has to be somebody out there that knows, there's somebody out there that’s seen,” she said. “I want to keep pushing and pushing and pushing, so maybe soon enough they'll reach out, they'll maybe have a conscience, maybe they'll start feeling our emotions.”
There is an anonymous tip line set up at 307-335-7559 for anyone with information about Bearstail’s death.
Bearstail was a senior at Fort Washakie High School at the time of her death. Quiver is gathering statements from her classmates to share at the event.
“These kids, they're still mourning her and we want to be able to give them a chance to say their piece,” she said.
A group called Peacemakers Lodge donated candles for the event, which will include remarks from Northern Arapaho Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) advocate Nicole Wagon and Tasha LeClair, the director at Eastern Shoshone Victim Services. There will also be drumming and prayer songs.
Quiver thanked the many people who have reached out to Bearstail’s family to offer support.
In addition, an annual march to raise awareness about the MMIR crisis is scheduled for Sunday, May 4 in Riverton. The “May the Force Be With All Our Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relatives” march will start at the District #25 Superintendent's Office Parking Lot at noon and ends at City Park.
Wagon is part of MMIR 307 and is organizing the May the Force march. She said she wants anyone who’s been impacted by the crisis to know that they’re not alone.
“When you have your bad days, it comes in waves and that's okay,” she said. “But you're not alone, the movement is behind you. Don't ever feel like you're alone.”
There will be food, speakers and booths from organizations that provide support and victim services at City Park.
“They're taken from us. This is a different hurt,” said Wagon, who has lost two daughters to the epidemic. “It's a movement. So you reach out to the families and you encourage them, give them hope. Don't give up on that justice. Don't give up on locating your missing.”
A 5K prayer run and walk event will take place on the Wind River Reservation on Monday, May 5, which is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives.
Eastern Shoshone runners will start at Washakie Mineral Hot Springs and Northern Arapaho runners will start at Wyoming Indian Elementary School. All walkers will go a mile from Blue Sky Hall to Shoshone and Arapaho Head Start. Registration starts at 5:30 p.m. and everyone will finish at Blue Sky Hall.
