HELENA – Attorney General Austin Knudsen issued the following statement in recognition of Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day:
“I have had a front row seat to the devastation inflicted on Montana’s tribal communities by the missing and murdered Indigenous persons crisis, as attorney general and a former prosecutor in Roosevelt County. At the Montana Department of Justice, we will not waiver in our commitment to working with our federal, state, local, and tribal partners to end it. You can also help by visiting our missing persons database and familiarizing yourself with those missing. Together, we can find the missing and bring them home.”
During the 2025 Legislative Session, Attorney General Knudsen supported, and the Legislature passed two bills that will bolster the Montana Missing Persons Task Force, which is administered by the Montana Department of Justice (MTDOJ).
House Bill 545, sponsored by Tyson Running Wolf, will rename the Task Force the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Advisory Council, if signed by the Governor. In addition to adding in the aspect of murdered Indigenous persons to the group, it will also add a homicide investigator to the group and require the members to provide recommendations on how to combat the issue to the appropriate federal agencies.
House Bill 83, sponsored by Tyson Running Wolf, will provide the MMIP Task Force with a special revenue account to allow the group to receive donations from any legal source, which will enable them to fund projects to help end the crisis.
To combat the issue, the Montana Department of Justice, under the direction of Attorney General Knudsen, launched an improved missing persons database to provide information to the public on missing persons, including Indigenous persons, reported by local law enforcement. Click here to view the database.
Last year, 688 Indigenous persons were reported missing in Montana. Of those reported missing last year, eight are still reported missing. According to the database as of May 5, 37 Indigenous persons are currently missing in Montana, 14 have been missing less than a year, and 23 have been missing more than a year.
