At the beginning of August, nineteen-year old Trea Shay Northrup, a member of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, went out for the night and was with an older man who the family was unfamiliar with.
Northrup’s mother got the call that no parent ever wants to get — police had located her daughter's body at the Regency Inn, in Winnemucca, Nevada.
“The only reason that they were able to locate her is because there were 911 calls made from that Regency Motel that saw this male person she was with dragging her body to his vehicle," Lynnette GreyBull said. She’s Húŋkpapȟa Lakota and Northern Arapaho, and the Executive Director of Not Our Native Daughters, a national MMIWR organization.
She’s working with the family to get the best outcome for Northrup. Northrup is one of several unresolved Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (or MMIWR) cases in the state.
The Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner's Office found Northrup had died on August 2 in their autopsy report. According to the coroner's office, Northrup's manner of death was deemed an accident, and the cause was found to be acute combined cocaine and ethanol toxicity — or an overdose.
Because Northrup’s case is currently classified as accidental, the case isn’t on Nevada’s MMIWR website. But from those closest to Northrup, the cause of death is puzzling to them.
“She had a promising future ahead of her. She didn't have any history of drinking or drugs or anything of that nature,” GreyBull said.
Previously, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s was in charge of the case. According to GreyBull, the agency attempted to close the case as detectives found there was no foul play.
“As any mother, she's just devastated. Every time I talk to her, she cries," she said. "It's just really heavy for her to process this. In her defense, it's really hard to know what to do because we expect public safety to be involved in our communities. And when it doesn't show up, it's hard to know what to do and what not to do.”
GreyBull knows what to do in these situations.
With over a decade of experience with MMIWR cases across the nation she has assisted in over 50 cases. There is a $5,000 reward for the information that leads to an arrest and conviction, if a crime is established. This is the first time the organization has had a monetary reward for conviction.
During the third annual MMIR Awareness Summit hosted by United Natives at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, GreyBull shared that there should be education for non-tribal police departments across the nation. She’d like to start with measures of accountability.
“I always hear other law enforcement say, 'All these other checks and balances weren't done,'” she said.
And that may have to do with just how unfamiliar non-tribal officers are of the rate of violence Indigenous people are facing. Over half of all Indigenous women have experienced sexual violence. For Indigenous women and girls ages 10 to 24, homicides are also roughly the third-leading cause of death.
“I think it's just plain discrimination. You know, it's that whole thing like where you victim shame or you blame the family, you know, and those things are here and not there when it comes to a case because we're talking about somebody's life,” she said.
Currently the case is still pending a review as the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office notes that the case is no longer in its hands and has been sent to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. The Washoe police department was not able to locate Northrup’s case after Nevada Public Radio attempted to clarify who is in charge of the investigation.
GreyBull has hope that the case can be taken federally to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Her preference is that the FBI take the case.
“The hindrance that comes through the BIA system and public safety for tribal lands does not protect our people within tribal lands," she said. "And honestly, I think it's built that way for a reason. We still fight systemic oppression, systemic racism, and that plays a huge role in it.”
Systems are what Democratic Nevada state Assemblymember Shea Backus, who's a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is trying to change for the betterment of Indigenous people who call the state home.
Previously non-tribal agencies were not required to accept tribal missing persons cases. Backus changed that in 2025 at the Nevada Legislature through the Department of Public Safety. She was also able to add an MMIP Tribal Liaison to DPS and a statewide database.
At an Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, ahead of the next Nevada Legislative Session, Backus announced she will be focusing on a bill that will send an MMIP alert to the community when someone goes missing.
“During the 2027 Nevada Legislative session I will be carrying legislation brought forth by Native Alliance to establish a Missing and Murdered Indigneous People’s alert here in Nevada,” Backus told the crowd.
The bill will have similar language to that of an Amber or Silver alert. States in the four corners region have these alerts for missing Indigenous people. If the bill makes it through to the governor's desk, Joe Lombardo will have to decide whether to approve or veto it.
The governor has already vetoed Indigenous focused bills, like a proposal to change Indigenous People’s Day to the second Monday in October, overlapping with Columbus Day.
“I'm not sure Governor Lombardo is ready to sign Indigenous Peoples Day," Backus said. "But if things change, my Indigenous Omnibus bill probably would have a spot for it.”
The 84th Nevada Legislative Session is set to begin on February 1, 2027.
If you have any information about any MMIWR case please call 1-884-733-7248.
