LUMMI NATION, Wash. — Outside the Lummi Reservation home of Besalynn Mary James, loved ones gather in prayer — clinging to hope, surrounded by heartbreak.
“It just makes you cry,” said Besalynn's sister Madalynn Stivers. “Where is my sister? Who is helping find her?”
Besalynn, 62, was reported missing on Jan. 21. Her boyfriend, Terry Bowman, told police she left her home on Balch Road around 2 a.m. to go for a walk and never came back.
Search teams scoured the surrounding area for days, but found no trace of her.
“It’s been hell,” said another sister, Rosalynn James Bland.
On Wednesday, Lummi Police named Bowman a person of interest in the disappearance. Chief Jay Martin told KING 5 that Bowman has been interviewed by both tribal police and the FBI. He said authorities “know where Bowman is” and are “putting pieces of the puzzle together.”
Bowman is believed to be in Idaho. The family’s frustration continues to grow.
“He’s out living his life,” said Madalynn. “I want him in jail so they can turn him upside down and talk to him and get some answers.”
Besalynn’s story is far from an isolated case. Across the country, Indigenous women are up to four times more likely to be murdered or go missing than white women — a reality felt deeply on the Lummi Reservation.
“We live out here, and I’m afraid for my daughters,” said Miranda Noland, Besalynn's daughter-in-law. “I’m scared for them to go places, because what if a man hurts them? What if a man takes them from me like they took my mother-in-law?”
A roadside memorial not far from Besalynn’s home honors dozens of Lummi women and men lost to violence and disappearance.
Names go back to the 1950s. Besalynn’s name is now among them.
“We want justice for her,” said Noland. “We want justice for her because she is the one that is missing. She is the one who is cold. She is the one that’s afraid. She is the one that doesn’t know where she is.”
For now, the family waits — hoping Besalynn is still alive, fearing the worst, and demanding answers.
"It doesn't feel like we're going to find her," said Madalynn. "We need to find her. We need to lay her to rest."
Tips to the FBI can be made at 1-800-CALL-FBI or at tips.fbi.gov. You can remain anonymous.