Rosenda Strong.Photo: Cissy Strong Reyes
Her sister, Cissy Strong Reyes, who at times cared for Rosenda’s children, reached out to Rosenda’s friends before turning to the tribal police for help.
“The officer was like, ‘Rosenda Strong? Oh, she’s just probably partying. She’ll pop up sometime,'” recalls Cissy in this week’s issue of PEOPLE. “But I was having a big anxiety attack. This was out of the ordinary.”
Then, on July 4, 2019, Cissy’s worst fears came true. Two homeless men found Rosenda’s remains inside an abandoned freezer at a dumpsite on the reservation. The FBI joined the tribal police to investigate and found bullet casings beside Rosenda’s body.
Now, four years later, no arrests have been made — making Rosenda’s killing one of 4,200 unsolved cases of a murdered or missing Indigenous person.
Rosenda Strong’s funeral.Evan Abell/Yakima Herald-Repub
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“The FBI has not forgotten about Ms. Strong, but unfortunately, we have no current update to provide,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “We do believe there are people that know about what happened to her and would encourage anyone with information to contact the FBI.”
For Rosenda’s family, that lack of progress underscores the widespread problem of murdered and missing Indigenous people whose cases remain unsolved.
“People vanish but it is swept under the rug,” says Cissy.
Rosenda Strong’s family at Legends Casino.Amanda Ray/Yakima Herald-Repub
“Our hopes are that they’ll find whoever did this,” says Rosenda’s cousin Roxanne White, founder of the Facebook page Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women, People & Families. “But the FBI [and police] know that we’re not just going to wait for them. We’re going to fight for Rosenda.”
“It was just a ‘Hi Auntie,’ and a hug and, ‘I love you,'” says Cissy. “She seemed herself, bubbly Rosenda.”
She was later seen exiting the casino around midnight with a man, seemingly voluntarily.
EMILY GOODELL/KAPP KVEW
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Plenty of theories have circulated. “One person said, ‘Your sister took off with some Mexican cartel guy,'” says Cissy. “Another said she had gone to drug treatment.”
Another, more disturbing rumor turned out to be devastatingly true. “People were saying, ‘Look for a freezer,'” she says. “Me and [Rosenda’s oldest daughter] would cruise around the back roads and canals and look for a freezer.”
Cissy has since become a voice for Rosenda, participating in marches and vigils to spread the word about the plight of Rosenda as well as other Indigenous women.
“I miss her every day,” she says about her younger sister. “And I guess that’s how I communicate with her, is fighting for her justice and not giving up.”
If you have information about Rosenda Strong, contact Yakama Nation Tribal Police at 509-865-2933 or the FBI at tips.fbi.gov.
source: people.com
