In the Wake of Justice Delayed

(dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music continues) - [Billi] Mom.

- [Diane] What?

- [Billi] Are you ready to give your victim impact statement?

- I can't hear what you- - [Billi] I know.

- [Diane] Am I allowed to say what- - Right here.

- What I hear?

- You can sit here.

(dramatic music continues) - When you think of Alaska, you think of the quote, unquote, last frontier.

You wouldn't immediately think that there are some serious issues, some serious safety issues for indigenous women here.

It kind of is a stark contrast between the beauty of this place and to the ugly things that happen in rural Alaska.

- I think I would like to hear from our victims who wanna make a statement.

- My victim impact statement revolves around how hard life has become without Mingnuna.

I think about my quality of a life without my twin sister.

I just think how precious she was and how he stole her.

She doesn't get birthdays anymore.

She doesn't get holidays.

When our birthday comes around, I... (sobs) - All right.

Hello?

I can't hear nobody.

November 8th, an Alaska State Trooper drove up to Teller.

There was a knock at my door.

It was a lady trooper.

She said, "I'm sorry to inform you, they found your daughter deceased and they couldn't save her."

I had to go through the process of a funeral home, grave digging, all that they do in a village, with shovels.

(atmospheric music) (atmospheric music continues) (atmospheric music continues) (gentle music) - I'm Alice Qannik Glenn.

I am the host and producer of the "Coffee & Quaq" podcast, a podcast to celebrate and explore contemporary native life in urban Alaska.

I'm also the host of "Resolve", which is a podcast about missing and murdered indigenous women in Alaska.

I was born and raised in Utqiagvik, which is on the North Slope.

I went to school down south for a few years, and then came back.

I was kind of more aware of my surroundings, and I felt inspired, I felt a responsibility to help make the place that I grew up a better place.

In Alaska, there's a long history of native people being exploited, displaced, forgotten, and denied justice in many, many ways.

- I don't know if there is native words to describe intergenerational trauma.

I do know that it's something that has been around for hundreds of years with my Aleut Unangan people, with the first wave of colonialism or invasion by the Russians.

It's been around a long time.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) I see myself, really, first and foremost, as a person from the land by the ocean.

When you don't know who you are and where you came from and your history, and this is significant history, It impacts you in so many ways.

(gentle music continues) (Tara speaking in foreign language) (gentle music) (performers singing in foreign language) - So can you please introduce yourself and a little bit about where you're from?

My name is Billi Jean Miller.

I am from a small village called Teller, Alaska.

I am 7/8 Inupiaq Eskimo and 1/8 German.

My Inupiaq name is Panashuk.

I have 15 siblings, 16 of us in a one story house, three bedrooms, one bathroom, no running water.

We have enough to have our own basketball team.

Bobbi and I were numbers 14, I was number 15.

Bobbi is my twin sister biologically as a baby.

My parents were previously married, and then they joined families.

- Can you speak a little bit about your relationship with your sister?

- [Billi] We were very close.

We were the type of twins where we would finish each other's sentences.

(gentle music) One time, she fell out of a window while I was on the other side of town, and I started crying for no reason.

- Oh, wow.

- In high school, we would feel each other.

I'd be at home, and I'd start crying and panicking, and I had no idea why I was having an emotional fit all of a sudden, and she'd call me five minutes later saying her heart was broken, and so we felt each other.

So many memories.

She's very traditional, very beautiful Eskimo dancer.

I didn't know how to do it, I was too shy, but I enjoyed watching her do it.

She was very fascinated and in love with our elders and the traditional lifestyle of eating the foods.

She was the fastest skier out of our school.

The trail wasn't marked, and it was very icy, and she went downhill and couldn't stop herself.

There were 18 stitches on the inside and 12 on the outside.

- How do you think that changed your guys' lives?

- She became very insecure.

She went through plastic surgery twice to try to hide the scar, and she wore a big bandage on her face for three and a half years, I think, because she was so traumatized by the bullying.

And it didn't just happen with the girls in our school, it happened with our family.

She became very insecure.

That was what sparked anxiety for her mental health issues.

(atmospheric music) She was very loving, and I think it's because of all the hardship she endured.

Her life was pretty dark.

A lot of substance abuse.

I think it was more so that she was a product of the environment and didn't know any better, because that's what we grew up seeing people do.

When life gets hard, you turn to substance abuse.

Or you kill yourself if things get too hard.

(performers singing in foreign language) (performers singing in foreign language continues) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) Hi, Mom.

Hey, good to see you, Mom.

How are you?

- I love you.

- Love you too.

- Good to see you too.

- Hi, Diane.

- Hi.

- I'm Alice.

So nice to meet you.

(dog barking) Wow, I like these blueberries.

So pretty.

(phone ringing) - [Clerk] Right now, the prosecutor is looking at trial.

We were actually just looking at this case today, and she was talking about trial possibly being in November.

- I'd like to advocate for Bobbi and my mother, and so I'd just like to be present going forward if that's possible.

- [Clerk] Yeah, I mean, it's a public hearing, so you can go to any court hearings that he has.

- Uh-huh.

I was just curious, you guys keep rescheduling his case.

It's been a few years since he's murdered her, and so I would just like information on why that is.

- [Clerk] Um... (phone ringing) - [Operator] To speak to the court employee, press zero.

- [Billi] I guess I'm curious what hinders this.

Like, what would allow it to keep rolling on?

- [Clerk] Because it's possible that the DA or the prosecuting attorney, you know, they're trying to maybe gather more evidence, they're not ready to go to trial.

The same goes for the defending party.

So until they're both ready to go, this can continue on for a long time.

I know it can be frustrating and confusing.

I'm not aware of all the, you know, legal things that go on in the background, but I've seen cases go on for a very long time.

(gentle music) - Regarding the murder trial for Martin Saccheus, I felt very anxious when it started.

And then as the reoccurring rescheduling kept coming to my phone, it became more of a sense of hopelessness.

Like, I didn't feel that justice was coming for Bobbi.

Which holds a lot of energy in itself, and it's a very stagnant energy, I would say.

(gentle music continues) - I do pray.

I pray every day.

(Diane sighs) She loved her mom so much, and her mom left her.

- We'd go berry picking.

And we'll pick flowers.

(gentle music continues) (bird cawing) (bird cawing) (performers singing in foreign language) - I would like to see my mother rest in peace.

(performers singing in foreign language) 30 years later, there's still unanswered questions that need to be addressed.

- I'm tired of suffering.

I want my mom to be known.

I mean, this is wrong.

- To this day, nobody's been charged with a murder.

Something's wrong.

- She took care of me, and I miss her.

(performers singing in foreign language continues) - When the officers did show up, it wasn't until the next day.

30 plus years later, I'm finally asking questions.

I don't know what really happened, but that's what people say happened.

So, that's brutal.

(hammer thudding) Point Hope, growing up in the era of '64, when I was born, I grew up in the old town site, where, you know, everything truly was traditional.

Situlogs, the manmade freezers, were in our backyards, and whale bones, where we have the feast, set up everywhere.

(atmospheric music) Lot of beach, you know?

North and South Beach is right there.

People worked together back then.

(performers chanting in foreign language) '64, you know, hanging out with the true elders, that was a very powerful time for me.

Just listen to their stories of how they lived in the past and the new coming.

(atmospheric music continues) The way our people, you know, lived and thrived off the land, always preparing for the season, you know, whether it be spring, fall, summer, winter, time to gather and harvest the food.

Yeah, old stories.

Interesting, powerful.

(atmospheric music continues) (performers chanting in foreign language) My mother had five beautiful children that were all raised in Point Hope, Alaska.

I am Amos Charles, the oldest.

Mama Harriet was a real kind, compassionate lady.

Got along with everybody in the community.

She was a housewife, tended to her family setting, and a lot of times, that wasn't enough.

She was helping others in the community as well.

My mother, Harriet, had absolutely no enemies in the community.

She got along with everybody.

She was a good cook.

I know how to cook because of her.

You know, I was the oldest in the family of all my siblings, and I used to hang out with her in the kitchen.

My favorite was the upside down cake, you know, to the apple pies that were homemade by my mom.

(gentle music) She baked, she cooked, she fed all of us.

I was mama's boy, you know?

Me and her were tight, we were close, and miss her.

The divorce came.

(gentle music) I was 16, 17 when my dad chose to leave for another lady.

Life changed.

It was such a shock.

I moved with my mom, and I was, like, still a baby, and I gotta be the man of the house now, you know, in my mom's household, which is not natural.

I didn't go to school.

I drank, smoke a lot of weed back then.

Assumed that I was an adult when I really wasn't, I was a kid hurting.

Went through that process of rage, hate, which is everything that wasn't of the household prior to the divorce.

So, very sad deal.

- [Tara] I witnessed and saw a lot of domestic violence in my community.

And I think it's related to the fact that folks who just are displaced and the trauma of what happened to our people.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) It's not unknown.

There is history out there about this attempt to exterminate us for our resources through war and removal from our lands and removal from our families and put into boarding schools.

- [Alice] Even language?

- Yeah, all of that.

Just, that's the systematic genocide that people refer to.

(seals growling) It wasn't for the oil or the timber or the fish or the crab, but the state of Alaska, this is the reason it was purchased from the Russians.

And there's a story called (speaking in foreign language), and it tells of the first Aleut Unanga to step on the island, and this is where he came to, this very spot.

The soul needed to be and is still needing to be healed from all of that.

(gentle music continues) Here in St.

Paul, we had one to two people that when there was an issue in the community, it was brought to this person's attention.

And that person would work with the family and approach the family and discuss the situation with the family and figure out how to deal with it.

That changed when we decided to have a city, I believe, and then we brought in city police.

- We as a family would like to see to it that my mother's case is reopened.

I would like to see the men that were responsible held accountable.

There has to be accountability not only from the police department.

The court system has some questions that I would like to have answered.

(gentle music) - [Alice] So, Teller is how far from Nome again?

- [Billi] 72 miles.

- And that's 72 miles which direction?

- North.

- North.

Okay.

- It's like northwest.

Hey, Alice, do you want a water bottle?

- [Alice] Oh, yeah.

Thank you.

- I haven't done this in a long time.

- All right.

It's just like riding a bike.

(both laughing) Ooh!

Do not get wet.

I am the second oldest of four daughters.

I have many aunties.

When I see the women becoming a number, becoming a statistic, it bothers me, because it could be me, it could be my mom or one of my sisters.

So it's really important for me as an Inupiaq person to help shed light on some of these issues.

It almost feels warmer on the tundra.

- [Billi] Yeah.

I'm glad it's not wet.

- Yeah.

It's a beautiful place to grow up.

- [Billi] Mm-hm.

(gentle music) - [Alice] How does it make you feel?

- To be here?

- Yeah.

- Connected some way.

(chuckles) Just like it's really important land.

I feel like anytime I see someone sabotaging the land, I get really upset, just because it's ancestral lands.

- [Alice] Right.

- And it's where we get our food provisions.

- Yeah, I feel the same way.

- It just feels nice and fresh.

- You know what's funny, is I went home for Kivgiq up one time, and I don't speak Inupiaq fluently, you know?

And I'm always like, "Hmm, I wonder what they're saying.

I wonder what they're singing about," or, you know, "What is it about?"

And then that same day, we went out for a four-wheeler ride up the coast, and then, like, all of a sudden, like, the dance moves started making sense when you're out on the land, 'cause, you know, you're like, "Hmm," you know, 'cause, like, sometimes they do this, or like, "I wonder what's over there," or like, you know, like this, or, like, all of the dance moves seem to be like, they make sense when you're out on the land.

- [Billi] Yeah.

- [Alice] How are you feeling about going to Teller?

- I just feel anxious.

Like, I know seeing Bobbi's grave, it's a very electric ride for me.

I start feeling energy as soon as I get towards that road, and then it's just like a wave of emotions.

(gentle music) For me, it's kind of like I just walk up there knowing half of me is six feet down in the earth, and it's like, physically she's right there.

It's hard.

Personally, I'd, like, never like to go up there ever again, but then that would feel disrespectful to her.

I've been really anxious about it.

- Yeah.

- Yep, this is my home.

This is where I grew up.

Hi, Starlet.

- Hi.

Auntie.

- What?

- [Starlet] Do you know how to do this?

- I feel like... (laughs) Wait, show me, like, look at me and show me.

- [Alice] Real cool.

- Yeah, move your hair on the other side too.

(Billi laughs) That's so random.

- [Alice] In the mirror.

(all laughing) - Crazy girl.

(laughs) Did you show Gram that?

- Mm-hm.

- Did she laugh?

- Mm-hm.

- This is my first time seeing you this summer.

Crazy.

It's mid-July.

- [Starlet] Mm-hm.

- Where you been?

- [Starlet] Home, watching YouTube.

- Sounds about right.

(both chuckling) I think I should just stop right here.

(somber music) Star.

Starlet.

I feel really stressed out right now.

(somber music continues) (somber music continues) (somber music continues) (somber music continues) You know what I usually do when I come to her cross?

I usually play her song.

You remember it?

(gentle guitar music) She could sing.

I loved watching her sing while she played the guitar.

(gentle guitar music continues) She's a very good mother.

- [Bobbi] Wee!

- Wee!

- Woohoo!

- Hoo!

- [Bobbi] (laughs) Silly baby.

- I see you.

- [Bobbi] I see you.

(gentle music) (Starlet giggles) - Let's touch a rock.

Touch her with me.

So I could feel close to her.

Really hard, huh?

(gentle music continues) I feel like I lost my breath.

(gentle music continues) - It breaks my heart.

No woman should go through that, ever.

No family should ever go through that.

No parents should ever have to say goodbye to their children.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (animal barking) (gentle music) - I get a phone call from my brother, and he tells me that Mom got hurt.

The full picture was never really shared with me at the time, up until recently when I started asking questions about what really happened.

June 9th, 1985, my mom was brutally tortured for many, many hours, maybe eight or nine hours, by three men in my grandma's house.

North Slope Borough Police Department was called all night long.

My mother was screaming all night long.

And people in their homes, you know, a block and a half away heard what was going on, all night long, throughout the morning.

(performers singing in foreign language) - As a result of what my mom had to go through, she died within hours of the ambulance picking her up.

(gentle music) Why didn't the North Slope Borough Police Department stop this when they were called?

I started asking questions.

People in the community who were the perpetrators, they pretty much told the entire communities over the past 30 years that they were involved.

(gentle music continues) - One morning, they woke me up and told me about what happened.

They said that she was murdered, and I didn't know who or what or what happened, I just went crazy, you know?

'Cause she was my best friend.

It's my mom.

We didn't see her until we saw her in the casket, and she was all beat up, bite marks everywhere.

(gentle music continues) - Nobody was charged with a murder, torture, kidnapping.

My dad remained in the community.

He was just a earshot away from where this incident was happening, and I can't help but to believe maybe my father heard it too, heard someone screaming all night long.

- Three men.

My mom was bit 143 times.

No autopsy, no open court doors for none of us.

They didn't get to the crime scene for hours.

(dog barking) About a month and a half later, my dad shot himself.

There were points in my life when I was drunk, I'd go to my dad's grave and shoot at his grave.

I would break his cross and blame him.

I was into alcohol.

I started drinking a lot.

I ended up in jail from 18 to 21.

I was done.

No more childhood.

I had to survive.

- I have many questions.

You know, why didn't the North Slope Borough Police Department show up?

Why didn't they stop this?

I know when I was there, they were on call 24/7, and they did show up 24/7 for minor situations like me stealing a motorcycle.

I went to jail, so, you know.

(atmospheric music) (atmospheric music continues) Deep down, I know my father loved my mother.

He's not here today.

77 days of the thought of these men doing that to his wife of five children.

They were together for 20 years.

He's a leader in the community.

Everybody looked up to him.

I know it hurt him.

I know it hurt him bad.

And I believe that he felt responsible.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - She went to the police station, asking for help, and they called her crazy and turned her away three days before she died.

I kept having nightmares about being choked or suffocating.

(phone ringing) - Hello.

- Hi, Mom.

We're doing the podcast recording right now, and I have you on speaker phone.

- [Diane] Really healthy babies, yeah.

Very close, very loving.

Lot of bond and real similar.

Really close with each other.

It really hurts.

It hurts.

- [Navigation] In 6.2 miles, turn left onto West Evergreen Avenue.

(gentle music continues) - They didn't know the cause of death.

Well, they couldn't rule it out for a month.

I don't even know what I'm gonna say.

Hi, my name is Billi.

I was curious if you can help me outside of the motel office.

I'm hoping that you can let me visit this space.

Regarding Mingnuna Miller, she was murdered here in 2019 of November.

Okay, he said he's willing to talk.

It's just interesting to see, like, where she's been.

- [Operator] 911, what's the address of the emergency?

- [Martin] My honey, I think she just died.

- [Operator] What makes you think she's dead?

- [Martin] She's not breathing anymore.

I just woke up and she's like that.

- I think it was 336 is where she was at.

- Can you confirm it in any way?

- I don't have... All of our documentation is not here, off-site right now.

- Yeah, we everything at home.

What's her name?

- [Billi] Mingnuna Miller.

- Miller?

- Miller.

It was under Martin Saccheus though.

That was the man that murdered her.

- Oh, Martin.

You deal with that Martin?

- Martin?

- Yeah.

- It was (indistinct).

- Martin?

- Yeah.

- Kill her?

- He murdered her here.

Martin Saccheus murdered- - Oh.

I cannot remember this.

- [Billi] Yeah, he strangled her.

- Oh.

– It was a phone call around 3: 30 in the morning when Palmer Police Department showed up.

- Oh.

- On November 8th.

- Oh.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, maybe I'm too old, you know?

- Oh, yeah.

- (laughs) I'm sorry.

- It's okay.

- Yeah.

- [Billi] Ben, where can I find 336?

Is it back this way?

- [Ben] It's the long building on the right hand side over here.

- Okay, thank you.

Okay.

- You'll see that the scene was a bit of a mess.

It was in disarray.

They had to step over a large amount of vomit, some amount of feces, and enter a small room, well, would become a very crowded room, to find Mingnuna on the floor.

She was on her back.

She was in between two beds.

She was naked and she was bruised.

She was also unresponsive.

- It looks so occupied.

There are so many doors around and so many spaces.

And for her to be screaming, I don't know why nobody helped her.

So I feel anger just being here, seeing that there's two doors on each side.

(atmospheric music) Or that the office is 100 feet away.

(chuckles) The police department is a mile up.

A bunch of traffic.

I just have a lot of questions about people.

(gentle music) We had to wait over a month to get any information.

Her cause of death, she was suffocated.

The media, they're so quick to jump to conclusions that she was drunk or she was high on cocaine.

She didn't deserve that.

And I believe a part of that is that she's a native woman.

The stereotypes.

She was bullied all her life, and then she continued to be bullied even after she died.

November, 2019, Martin Saccheus had confessed to murdering Bobbi.

He admitted what he did to her.

And his reason for murdering her was that she wouldn't stop screaming.

I don't understand how that's not enough to put someone away for life.

When she died, her medical examiner said she was sober, and that was a relief to hear, but it was also hard to hear that she suffered.

(tense music) - [Judge] Ms.

Meyer, are we ready for trial in Mr.

Saccheus' case?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- [Judge] When you consider the evidence, you must not be influenced by sentiment, prejudice, passion, or public opinion.

You must base your verdict upon a fair consideration of the evidence.

- [Kimberly] You will hear about how there was a significant amount of blood, that there was a significant amount of pain pressure placed on her neck.

The physical evidence of this case will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Martin Saccheus was not only the cause of her death, but that he did so, and that the evidence will establish that he committed a crime of second degree murder.

- [Clerk] Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you will give in this case now before this court will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

- Yes.

- You may be seated.

You may be seated.

- [Judge] Remain standing, raise your right hand, and Madam Clerk will swear you in.

- [Speaker] I do.

- I do.

- You may be seated.

- [Officer] Since we've got you down here, you're not under arrest or anything like that, but I'm gonna read you your rights just so you understand them, like they do on TV.

- So we're here having a trial because Mr.

Saccheus did not kill Ms.

Miller.

- It's the pattern of somebody who's going through a significant alcohol withdrawal.

- Her body told the medical examiner a story that I expect will be discussed heavily during this trial.

- In my opinion, based on the evidence of looking at the rest of the body and the neck, was to a fatal degree, I think, strangulation was the fatal cause of death.

- Strangulation was not only the cause of her death, but it was at the hands of Martin Saccheus, that he knowingly engaged in, under circumstances amounting to the extreme indifference to the value of human life.

And so for that, at the end of this trial and at the end of your deliberations, I will ask that you render a verdict of guilty in this case.

- Dr.

Thompson got it wrong, plain and simple.

Why would he call 911 if he had just killed her?

The burden's on them, so they get one more chance, but they don't get the last word.

You do.

Find him not guilty.

(tense music continues) - I was curious, how would you like your baby and your daughter to be remembered?

- [Diane] She was very beautiful, very traditional.

Eskimo dances, her Eskimo food, her everything.

- What would justice look like for you?

- [Diane] I hope he gets life.

There's never been real closure, but I want justice.

(gentle music) - [Billi] It's just interesting that the system could take so long to prosecute someone.

- In 2003, following Mr.

Saccheus' criminal rampage, the pre-sentence report writer noted, quote, "Mr.

Saccheus has expressed no remorse for his actions."

He also noted that Mr.

Saccheus' actions demonstrated, quote, "No respect for the value of human life."

Both of these statements are equally true today.

For these reasons, the court finds that isolation should be the primary sentencing goal in this case, and that a lengthy period of incarceration is appropriate.

Therefore, I'm imposing a sentence on Mr.

Saccheus of 65 years, with 15 years suspended.

Mr.

Saccheus, you do have the right to appeal your conviction and the sentence.

You must do so within 30 days from today.

And with that, we need to go ahead and fingerprint Mr.

Saccheus.

- I am happy that she had Ms.

Del Frate and the lead investigator to support her even though she's not alive, and then I'm glad that the judge took her time with her decision and factored everything in to the sentencing.

That was really good.

(chuckles) (phone ringing) - Hello?

- Hi, Mom.

- Hi.

- Did you watch it?

- [Diane] I saw it online, but I wish I could have watched it, but I couldn't.

How do you feel?

I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

- I think it's a pretty good outcome given his record.

(Diane speaking indistinctly) - Yeah, and that's exactly what you wanted, right?

- [Diane] I'm happy for the family and Star and everybody.

- [Billi] Me too.

- Love you.

- I love you too, Mom, and I'm glad you got to hear it.

(gentle music) If I could push one thing, it would be to know how to advocate for your family if you're ever in this situation, because when she died, I didn't know how to really advocate for her.

Had I been stronger, I would have talked more to the police department or the investigator.

I don't feel hate towards him.

I just miss Bobbi.

- A couple of classmates had experienced that same kind of common themes in their life, domestic violence, alcoholism.

And then it happened between their parents, and then they themselves had that happen in their relationships as adults.

And then they were living here on the street, and then they were murdered.

(wind blowing) The Aleut Unangan people, we attribute kindness, the church, the Orthodox church, even at a time when the Russian seamen were here and in Alaska and trying to take over (chuckles), conquer our people and enslave us, war with us.

It was the Orthodox priest who took care of us, advocated for us, educated us.

There was a time where the Aleut Unangan people spoke three different languages and were always highly educated, and we have a lot to be grateful for in that way with the church.

(gentle music) It is important to wanna know, to talk about these things, to find out, you know, what actually happened in our past and how we got to be where we are today.

There are elders who have said it's time to start talking about these things.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music) - [Amos] I would like to see the case reopened.

- [Eunice] My brother didn't know I had this Bible.

- My mom taught me forgiveness.

Is it healable?

I believe so.

What my mother shared with me, which is Christianity, I find peace, and it's something that I fight for every single day to hang on to.

I had to reconnect with getting counseling again, so I'm back in counseling, because I need to be in counseling.

Dealing with alcoholism, you know, I've been sober for going on six years now, and seen every doctor, seen every psychologist, I finally feel healthy enough to address it and move forward.

My art has been one of the main jugglers to my recovery.

(gentle music continues) It's peaceful.

I get to come in here and just think up of stories that I heard, and I get to work, you know, start making a piece with a story, such as that right there, or that one, or that one, or the one behind me.

And everything I do is original, traditional, cultural ties to Tikigaq, Point Hope, Alaska.

It's all about recording my culture in art form.

I feel responsible as the oldest son to see to it that, you know, my mom is treated with dignity and respect.

As a person, nobody should have to deal with this kind of torture, rape, and abuse, and just, you know, shoved in a box and forgotten, without any resolution, without any closure, without any justice.

Here we are in the United States of America, where, you know, we have a law system that has failed Harriet Lane.

I've not only had to deal with forgiving myself for what happened to my mother, I blame myself forever.

This is not about revenge.

I think it's proper that my mom be treated as an equal.

(uplifting music) - Welcome, everyone.

Thank you for joining us today.

- [Speaker] Harriet Lane.

- [Amos] Where's Mom's name?

Where's your name?

There you go.

I would like to think that my mom is looking down now and just thinking, "You know what?

Right on."

If I can't take care of myself, I sure can't take care of anybody else.

So, I go outta my way to take care of myself today, spiritually, emotionally, mentally.

Then I can provide for my mom's grandchildren.

I would like to think it's time for my mom to be heard.

(uplifting music continues) (uplifting music continues) (drum beating) (metal scraping) (saw whirring) (gentle music) - [Billi] Systematically, the system fails native women.

I would like laws to be more strict when it comes to prosecuting someone who has committed domestic violence.

Here you go.

- Thank you.

(laughs) - All baby's plates.

(Ashley laughs) - [Ashley] Oh my gosh, it's my very favorite practice.

- [Billi] It's a very scary feeling to be a native woman, and to see them fail my twin sister the way they did.

- Women are not just statistics.

They're not just numbers.

They're real people that influence the other people around them.

They influence their communities.

So, when one of us isn't safe, it makes us all vulnerable.

(gentle music continues) - I have stability in my home.

I have safety in my home.

I have peace in my home.

I have Boots.

I have Ashley, who's very supportive and loving, and who's very graceful.

(gentle music) For Starlet, I hope she finds happiness and healing and purpose.

I hope that she finds a motherly figure in someone after my mother passes.

I hope that she will continue to remember my twin sister and find little pieces of her throughout her life in many different places that she feels the same.

Mingnuna was very connected to her elders.

She's probably the reason why I started my shop, was I needed something to keep me busy.

(gentle music) Hi!

So I'm just gonna take everybody's orders, okay?

We'll start with you.

What would you like?

A macchiato?

What would you like?

- I'll have an Americano.

- An Americano.

- And water.

- I think I'm the only business owner that has a donation box set up like that, where elders can come in for free coffee.

Oh, you're a twin too?

Can I give you a hug?

Thank you for sharing.

I didn't know that.

(tense music) (tense music continues) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (upbeat music)