SIOUX CITY -- Monday's announcement of an arrest in a 41-year-old cold case has given local Native American communities hope that other unsolved deaths may someday have a similar ending.
It also shows the need for continuous efforts to raise awareness of the thousands of Native women who have been killed or gone missing nationwide and whose cases remain unsolved.
"Since Monday, I think it definitely has given hope and courage for these families to continue to fight for justice for their families or their relatives who have gone missing and murdered. We certainly are here to continue to advocate and support all of the families that have been affected by this crisis, and it's all about raising awareness," Trisha Rivers, Siouxland projects director for the Great Plains Action Society, said at a Friday press conference at the social justice organization's downtown Sioux City office.
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A Woodbury County grand jury Jan. 10 filed an indictment against Thomas Popp, 62, charging him with first-degree murder for the death of Terri McCauley, an 18-year-old Omaha Tribe member and mother of two, whose body was found in a wooded area in Sioux City on Oct. 6, 1983, 10 days after she was last seen getting into a car with an unknown man. Investigators determined she had been shot in the face with a 20-gauge shotgun.
Popp was arrested Saturday in Lakeview, Washington, and is awaiting extradition to Iowa.
The news hit home for Omaha Tribal Council member Galen Aldrich, whose daughter Ashlea Aldrich was found dead under suspicious circumstances in 2020. No arrests have been made in her case, and Galen Aldrich said there's no ongoing investigation.
Aldrich said the close-knit tribe is happy for the McCauley family and will continue to support them as the case proceeds. The break in the case gives others hope their missing and slain loved ones, too, will receive justice.
"I and my wife live in this nightmare every day. There are so many unanswered questions that we need closure. I and my family will continue to fight for these actions," Aldrich said.
Rivers said four out of five Native American women will experience violence within their lifetime, and three out of five will be sexually assaulted. Murder, she said, is the third-leading cause of death for Native women. Native men also experience psychological and emotional abuse through intimate partner violence.
"This narrative needs to change, and it starts by raising awareness and continuing to push for justice," Rivers said. "We need to have more conversations. We need to learn how to work with each other, whether it's within our own Native communities or with non Native allies."
Rivers called on local legislators to take notice and help tribes address issues that lead to violence in the Native communities on and off the reservations.
"I would really love for our local legislators to start showing up and start educating themselves about the crisis and seeing where they can really push that power through," Rivers said.
The arrest in McCauley's case, Rivers said, shows what's possible when the criminal justice system works with the Native community to find a resolution to these types of cases.
"It's really about the community coming together and continuing to advocate, to offer the educational piece of what this crisis all entails," she said. "This case means so much to everybody in Indian Country because I feel like all of us can relate to it in some kind of way that makes sense."
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