Wyoming’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Task Force released an updated analysis on rates of homicide and missing persons cases in the state over the last five years.
Cara Chambers chairs the state’s MMIP task force, which was founded in 2019 in response to grassroots activists pushing for more attention to be paid to the long-ongoing and long-overlooked issue. The group put out its first statewide report in 2021.
Chambers said one of the task force’s goals is having a robust analysis of the available data.
“ Often we get questions about prevalence, and is there really a disparity or a disproportionate amount of Indigenous victims? And the answer is: yes,” she said.
The analysis shows that Native people are eight times more likely to be the victims of a homicide than white residents. Those rates dipped slightly a few years ago, with last year’s report finding Native people to be seven times more likely to be victims of homicide.
“In 2022, we had our lowest rates of homicides,” said Chambers. “We had our lowest rates of missing people, and then now we're back on the upswing.”
The analysis attempts to track changes over time and its methodology is outlined in its introduction: “Instead of just counting cases, we compare homicide rates to see how Indigenous people are affected. Because Wyoming has a small population, we use a 5-year moving average to smooth out big yearly changes.”
The 2025 report found 105 Native individuals were filed as missing in Wyoming last year, with six of those cases remaining unresolved at the time of publication. The others are closed, but the details of whether the people were found or passed away are not disclosed in the report.
That’s a slight decrease from the 2024 report, which found 110 Native people were filed as missing in 2023, with eleven of those cases still unresolved.
This year’s report also highlights the fact that Indigenous people in Wyoming stay missing for twice as long as white residents, on average.
Chambers, who is also the director for the state’s Division of Victim Services, is hopeful that a new bill passed this legislative session will create more consistent reporting standards around missing persons cases across different law enforcement agencies.
“ I think the problem was you have that situation where one county assumes the other county's taking it, and then nothing happens,” she said.
Chambers said the new guidelines are a better alternative to “playing a hot potato game” and a “good first step” towards standardizing the process.
Under Senate File 114, law enforcement must report a missing person within eight hours. They also must enter missing persons cases into national and state databases as soon as someone is reported missing. The law goes into effect on July 1.
Chambers said the state’s MMIP task force also talked about making a list of missing and murdered Indigenous people for the Wind River area at their most recent meeting at the start of May. The discussion included questions of what kinds of cases should be included and how best to honor the stories of those who’ve been lost to the MMIP crisis.
“ The big takeaway from the task force [meeting] was onward and upwards,” she said. “And how do we balance what a state can do for these two sovereign nations?”
Community members gathered for a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives march in Riverton on May 4 and participated in an MMIP Day 5K Prayer Run and Walk on May 5 this year.
