Raishawn Josiah Denetclarance, a 25-year-old Diné man, was murdered in downtown Las Vegas earlier this year, on February 7. His death remains unsolved. He’s part of the growing number of unsolved Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR) cases.
It wasn’t that long ago that law enforcement agencies weren’t accepting Indigenous missing persons reports. Previously, if an enrolled tribal member vanished from their community, a missing persons report would have to be filed with their tribal police. Then a law from the 2023 Nevada Legislative Session changed that, due to advocacy by Assemblymember Shae Backus, the only Indigenous lawmaker in Nevada.
That year there was also legislation that required the state to hire a tribal liaison within the Department of Public Safety to help track the state's MMIWR cases — although it is unknown just how many unsolved cases there are due to individual tribal police tracking.
And in the silver state, there are major tribal police disparities from tribe to tribe. Some sovereign nations may not even have law enforcement agencies on the reservation.
To bring more awareness to the crisis, Las Vegas locals met at Floyd Lamb Park over the weekend as part of the fifth annual MMIWR prayer walk — recognized nationally on May 5, and in the middle of the greater National Week of Action for MMIWR. This year, attendees honored the life of Denetclarance and others.
Dozens wearing red took to the dirt trail at Floyd Lamb Park over the weekend as part of an effort to bring awareness to the MMIWR crisis.
Denetclarence’s fiancée, Shaolin Charley, was there. She says it's been a difficult time.
“There’s no words to describe the feeling I have gone through,” she said. “It’s been a harsh three months. I feel like everyday is away from me, and it’s very traumatic for the experience I have gone through. I do not ever want no one to ever experience this.”
Charley was with Denentclarence the night he was murdered. They were catching a concert at Oddfellows. As they walked back to their car, Charley stopped to say goodbye to a friend, and as he walked toward the back of the vehicle, he was murdered.
According to authorities, the parking lot was dimly lit, and video camera footage was unavailable.
Charley says she’s still waiting for justice.
“It’s very sad because I don’t have any closure to this,“ Charley said.
Amanda Begay, who is also Diné, was like an auntie to Denetclarance. She met him when he moved to Las Vegas after graduating high school. Although she’s sad about his passing, she’s grateful she got to say goodbye.
“I just feel blessed that we were able to bury him on his homeland, versus there’s people out there where they’re actually missing or they haven't been found so they don’t have that closure,” Begay said.
The rates of abduction and murder of Indigenous women are alarming. Homicides are the third leading cause of death among Indigenous women ages 10-24, according to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, with many cases linked to domestic violence, sex trafficking, and sexual assault.
“Sometimes, sadly, we don’t know what domestic violence looks like,” said Deanna BlackCrow, a member of the Lakota Nation and founder of the grassroots organization called Her 38 Roses.
She created the organization as a way to advocate after her mother, Debra BlackCrow, who was Oglala Lakota Sioux, was murdered by her then-husband at the age of 38.
“My mothers life became more about her death,” BlackCrow said. “For me I want to empower other women and what we’ve been through and I think a lot of it came from us deciding that we were going to do support groups and be a part of the walks and be in community in a way of like bringing awareness. If I share my mothers story, then I have a way of, in my eyes, saving others and helping them understand. And in the process, it’s healed me.”
For BlackCrow, greater community awareness from these grassroots organizations makes it easier for individuals to seek resources and the help they may need.
“This is a really tragic time and it was important for us to make sure they were in a safe space,” BlackCrow said. “The community being able to be here and help, I think makes a big difference. And so I think today was a really good day, and that just tells me that we’re bringing more awareness to the community,”
After the walk, local Las Vegas Paiute Tribe dancers performed traditional dances.
Although neither Denetclarance nor Debra BlackCrow were from the Southern Paiute or Nuwuvi land, many in the community felt it was important to come together and acknowledge the long history of violence against Indigenous Peoples that endures to this day.
It’s that same community that’s helped support Denetcalrance’s fiancé, Shaolin Charley, after his death.
“It’s [a] very sad [situation], but I [have a] very good support system with my family, my friends, and even my own Native American community,” Charley said. “It’s very good to hear that I have strong people beside me to help me get through this experience.”
The last dance was intertribal, which allowed anyone to participate.
Denetclarance’s loved ones joined the circle, holding hands.
And for BlackCrow, it’s a moment she knows her mom would be proud to see.
“I do feel her spirit, and I do feel she would be proud of what we’re doing because this is her,” BlackCrow said. “My Mom is a strong person, beautiful person, she was very much in community. This is how and where and why I got started, because I knew that my mom would be right here. I’d like to think she would be proud.”
Nevada currently has at least 10 MMIWR cases on the state’s website. If you have any information about a case, please contact your local law enforcement agency.
For help , you can reach out to the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada Statewide Hotline, by calling 775-722-8794 and the StrongHearts Native Helpline at 1-844-762-8483.
Local Las Vegas organizations like Her 38 Roses and Fifth Sun Project also offer resources to folks impacted by the MMIRW crisis.
