The Disappearance & Death of Olivia Lone Bear

Olivia Lone Bear

Olivia Keri Lone Bear, “Cedar Woman,” was born on October 11, 1985 in Stanley North Dakota to Iris Sherman-Four Bear and Harley Texx Lone Bear.  She was a part of the Dripping Dirt clan.  She had several siblings including two sisters named Marlyss and Erin Lone Bear and five brothers named Melichi Four Bear, Harley Roy, Houston, Matthew, Joray.  Her brother Joray Four Bear preceded her in death. 

Olivia went to elementary and middle school in New Town, North Dakota as well as her freshman year of high school.  She then moved to Brockton, Montana where she completed her sophomore year.  She then moved on to complete her junior year at Wellpinit High School in Wellpinit, Washington.  In 2003, Olivia gave birth to her first daughter, Haley Abrahamson.  After Haley’s birth, Olivia completed her high school career through homeschooling and independent studies and earned her high school diploma.  While in high school, Olivia played basketball and volleyball and ran cross country. 

In 2005, Olivia gave birth to a son named Caleb.  Tragically, she lost him eight months later.  After this, Olivia began traveling.  Known as a free spirit, Olivia traveled between Wellpinit in Washington and New Town, North Dakota until 2009.  It was then that she decided that New Town was her home and decided to make her life there.  

Once settled in New Town, Olivia worked in different departments at the Four Bears Casino & Lodge.  She particularly liked working as a games dealer.  She also worked at the Edgewater Golf Course for a few years.  During these years, Olivia welcomed four more children, Jaycee, Laylah, Dane, and Brody.  

Olivia was described as a hard worker who did everything she could for her children.  She loved spending time with them and had a close bond with each of her kids.  She loved to watch movies with them and attend any extracurricular activities they were involved in. 

Olivia enjoyed playing poker, golfing, planning trips, and going to concerts or on adventures with her friends.  She was described as an outgoing, smart, crazy, and loving person who loved telling jokes.  She had a great respect for her father and loved taking care of him.  

At the time of her disappearance, Olivia lived on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in New Town, North Dakota.  According to her brother, Matthew, Olivia was pretty much always home at this time.  She was in between jobs and was doing her best to provide for and be with her children.  

On October 25, 2017, Olivia went to a local bar called the Sportsman’s Bar with some of her friends.  She was last seen leaving that bar in a teal Chevy Silverado 2500 HD LT with North Dakota plates that read 839-BRC, according to the Three Affiliated Tribes Police Department or the TATPD.  

Olivia’s family believes that she stopped at her home after the bar and before heading somewhere else that night.  In the days following her disappearance, they found her cell phone, wallet, money, and the clothes she wore that night to the bar at her home.  After not hearing from her for two days, Harley, her father, called the police to report his daughter missing.  

In the two weeks following the missing persons report, Detective Sam Lincoln of the TATPD stated that they combed through nearby waterways and that there was no foul play suspected at that time.  They found no signs of the teal truck Olivia was last seen in.  They stated that without the truck or Olivia, they would need to assign a detective to the case to be the focal point and contact for the family.  They also said that resources would then dwindle.  They also stated that authorities across North Dakota were searching for the missing mother of five.   In November, they invited the FBI to aid in the investigation. 

In December of 2017, according to an NBC article, Matthew told Dateline that the TATPD wasn’t being as helpful as they would have liked.  He said that the family was getting help from outside people and agencies, but when those people would need to coordinate with the TATPD, they would be turned away.  Matthew also said that investigators didn’t come out to speak with them about Olivia until five weeks after she was reported missing.  He says that it was the family who was leading the ground searches, but the Fort Berthold Indian Reservations is almost 1 million acres.  

In February of 2018, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) took over the investigation into Olivia’s disappearance.  Nedra Darling, the public affairs director for the BIA stated that the tribe and her family asked the BIA Office of Justice Services to take over the case.  The tribal police were still there to assist in the investigation, but the BIA was to now be in charge.  In an article in The Bismarck Tribune, volunteer searchers were to call Matthew Lone Bear directly if they were interested in assisting.  

Lissa Yellowbird-Chase joined the search for Olivia right away taking to social media to get the word out.  Lissa Yellowbird has been searching for missing and murdered Indigenous people since 2011.  She began searching on her own, but has since founded the Sahnish Scouts in 2015 to search and recover missing people in Indian Country.  

Lissa joined the ground searches in the immediate weeks following Olivia’s disappearance.  But once the winter set in, all search efforts were put on hold until spring.  Once the lake had thawed and the warm weather began, the search for Olivia continued. 

In July of 2018, Lissa and her team drove to one of the landings on Lake Sakakawea to begin a search below the surface.  She had a 14-foot boat with a half-broken motor and fishing sonar with her.  She didn’t consider herself an expert in boating or sonar, but she had a nagging feeling about this area and had a plan in mind for their search that day.  

Just a few hundred feet from the shore, the sonar picked up on a rectangular object sitting at the bottom of the lake.  She took a photo of the object and sent it over to Keith Cormican, a technical diver and certified sonar operator from Wisconsin.  Lissa considered Keith to be her mentor in sonar.  He runs the organization, Bruce’s Legacy, and has located and recovered 27 (at the time of the article written for BBC by the High Country News) drowning victims since 2013.  Keith was certain immediately that it was a vehicle in the lake.  He told Lissa to continue taking photos at different times of day in order to catch shadows coming off of the object in order to give it better definition. 

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department as well as the BIA were contacted and on July 31, 2018, a dive team went in.  A tow truck backed up to the shore with an extra-long two strap and after several hours, a pick-up truck broke the surface and was pulled out of the lake.  Olivia was found buckled in the passenger seat of the teal Silverado she had borrowed from a friend, James Hofhenke, the night she went missing.  Olivia was found about 1 ½ miles from her home.

A funeral was held in August of 2018 for Olivia Lone Bear in New Town.  At the time of her funeral, an official cause of death had not been released.  The week following her funeral, a walk to honor Olivia and other missing indigenous people was held.   According to a BBC article, Olivia’s family did not recognize Lissa Yellowbird-Chase as being the person who found her.  Matthew called her “a thorn in our side” and stated that they had asked her to leave the search months before the discovery.  Because of the tension, Lissa did not attend Olivia’s funeral. 

It took over a year for investigators to release the autopsy report to the family and the public.  Olivia Lone Bear’s cause of death was ruled as undetermined.  The medical examiner noted that there was no definitive evidence of any traumatic, natural, or toxicological causes for her death.  There is a $10,000 reward offered for any actionable information that leads to the identification of the person or persons responsible for Olivia’s disappearance/death.  

The investigation into Olivia’s disappearance and death is still active according to U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider.  In 2023, there were unsealed court records that revealed that in May of 2022, FBI agents were granted a search warrant for Google location history data for any pings from electronic devices that could have been in the area where Olivia’s body was found on the night that she disappeared.  According to the affidavit for this warrant, James Hofhenke, the friend whom she borrowed the pick-up truck from, is one of the last people who had heard from Olivia.

Olivia texted James saying that she had been at a bonfire and was about to go mudding.  Investigators interviewed several people and none of them was able to identify anyone who may have gone to a bonfire or mudding with Olivia that night.  Olivia’s last text sent to James was at 10:24 pm on October 25, 2017 and all it said was, “Good Bye.”  However, it wasn’t the last text that was sent from her phone.  At 10:37 pm she texted a man named Adam Bangen.  According to court records, Olivia had dated him previously.  

Investigators also have Facebook records that show Olivia’s cover photo was changed at 11:24 pm and her phone was last used to access Facebook at 11:38 pm.  After that, there was no further outgoing activity.

Olivia Lone Bear’s case is still open and active and there is still a $10,000 reward for information being offered.  Anyone with information is encouraged to call 1-800-CALLFBI (1-800-225-5324) or go to tips.fbi.gov.

Lissa Yellowbird Chase is a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation and is an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous men and women.  Before stepping into this role, though, Lissa went through several hardships. 

During Lissa’s childhood, her father was in the Air Force and not very present in her life.  Her mother, who had big dreams, was on and off in her life while she pursued her education.  While her mom studied to become the first female Native American professor in North Dakota, Lissa lived with other family members, primarily her grandmother. 

However, when Lissa was just 4 years old, she was sexually assaulted by a caretaker.  She never told her family about this incident.  When she was in her teen years, she was also sex trafficked and got into drugs early in life.  

When she was 19, she had her first daughter.  She had five more children after this with different fathers who were reportedly not typically involved in their lives.  Her children were taken away a few different times by social services, but Lissa always worked hard to provide for her family and get her children back in her home.  As a young mother, Lissa was in and out of homelessness, violent relationships, and addiction.  Her main drugs of choice were crack cocaine and alcohol.  

During this time, though, Lissa never gave up.  She worked several jobs while earning her degree in criminal justice at the University of North Dakota.  She was a carpenter, a bail bondsman, an exotic dancer, and a prison guard before finally landing on something she was passionate about. 

Eventually, Lissa found purpose by becoming a legal advocate for the Three Affiliated Tribes.  She handled civil, criminal, and family cases.  However, during this time, there was a train derailment that sent a cloud of ammonia over their town and the chemicals nearly killed one of her young sons.  Because of this, her cases were put on hold.  Lissa spent about a year in and out of the hospital with her son and was in a really low place.  One of her friends saw this and gave her methamphetamine to “boost her up.”  

This is when her life went on a downward spiral.  She was still with the father of her youngest son and the two were using and selling meth together.  Though she loved him and has said positive things about him, he was also extremely abusive.  He was jealous and possessive.  The last time he beat Lissa, he almost killed her and threatened to kill her children.  That’s when she left him for good.  

But after the breakup, in 2006, Lissa missed her grandchild’s first birthday.  She was being arrested halfway across the state with a bag of methamphetamine and some cash.  She hit rock bottom when she was sentenced to ten years in a North Dakota prison for possession with the intent to distribute.  She served two years of her sentence and was out for good behavior.  That was when she decided that she was going to change her life.  She got sober in prison and when she was released, she was sent to a halfway house in Fargo.

She lived in the halfway house for ten months and then found an apartment in Fargo to live in and fix up while working as a welder.  She chose to stay in Fargo to be close to her children who were living with an uncle while she was incarcerated.  One by one, she got her children back.  

For a year after her release from prison, Lissa stayed away from the reservation and her family.  She had burned some bridges during her time of drug use and wasn’t ready to face home.  Eventually, though, her oldest daughter convinced her to go back.  And when she did, she reconnected with both her family and the reservation.  

Then in 2012, she learned about a 29-year-old oil field worker named Kristopher “KC” Clarke who had disappeared from the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.  He was last seen by his coworkers at the office of the trucking company that he worked for.  Lissa couldn’t help but step in and do her best to find the missing young man.  She had connections on both sides of the coin – law enforcement and criminals from her drug-related past as well as her advocacy work.  

Lissa spoke with KC’s mom and helped spread the word through Facebook and social media.  She questioned people on the edges of the case as well as people very close to the case.  Through her connections and questioning, she was able to aid the police in finding the persons responsible for KC’s death.  While law enforcement wasn’t always thrilled with her presence, she was extremely helpful in getting answers.  KC’s murderers were sentenced and in prison, however, his body has never been found. 

Then, in August of 2016, Lissa’s own niece, Carla Yellowbird, went missing.  Lissa immediately went to work finding out where Carla was last seen and who she was seen with.  She took to social media and posted the names of the three men Carla was last known to be with.  And one of those men, Suna Guy, contacted her.  He called her several times and denied any involvement, but after a while, Lissa was able to wear him down and he led her and the police to the killers, and Carla’s body. 

Carla had been killed in a robbery gone wrong.  The men wanted her drugs and her money, and she lost her life in the process.  Suna was only sentenced to 15 years in prison for his involvement, however, Lissa spoke out on his behalf trying to reduce his sentence because of his involvement in finding Carla.  This caused a rift with her family that has yet to be mended.  

As we know, Lissa was involved in Olivia Lone Bear’s case as well.   But she has aided in hundreds of searches for missing Indigenous persons and she is the go-to person when someone is missing a loved one.  

At this point, Lissa’s life is dedicated to finding missing and murdered Indigenous people and she does it on her own dime.  In 2013, she founded the Sahnish Scouts with family and friends.  This organization responds to the disappearances of people in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota.  More than 100 families have sought their support.  The Sahnish Scouts website lists several ways for you to get involved.  You can follow their Facebook page for updates and up-to-date information, you can join a search, start a sister organization that they would be happy to help with guidance and training for, and you can donate gas money or help to fund their bigger projects. 

Indigenous women and girls are murdered ten times more than other ethnicities and murder is the 3rd leading cause of death for Indigenous women, according to the Centers for Disease Control.  There are more than 4 out of 5 Indigenous women, at 84.3%, that have experienced violence, and more than half, at 56.1% have experienced sexual violence.  48.8% have been stalked in their lifetime.  Indigenous women are 1.7 times more likely than white women to experience violence and 2 times more likely to be raped.  The murder rate of Indigenous women is three times higher than white American women. 

According to nativewomenswilderness.org, there have been several initiatives and landmarks in recent years.  On May 5, 2019, the White House officially designated that day as the National Day for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls.  That same year, Executive Order 13898, or Operation Lady Justice, created a task force for missing and murdered Native American peoples that will address the concerns that Indigenous communities in the United States have.  Such as data collection, policies, establishing cold case teams, and improving investigative responses. 

In 2020, Savanna’s Act went into law.  This requires the Department of Justice to review, revise, and develop policies and protocols to address the cases of MMIP.  The Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, announced the formation of the Missing and Murdered Unit in 2021.  This unit will focus on analyzing and solving missing and murdered Indigenous peoples cases.  

Native Women’s Wilderness also notes that data collection is still difficult due to poor record-keeping, underreporting, racial misclassification, and media coverage – or lack thereof.  The statistics from law enforcement and media reports create an inaccurate picture of the violence Indigenous women and girls face because they tend to minimize the extent of that violence.  

There are several movements and campaigns for MMIW.  The founders of two organizations came together, Native Womens Wilderness and Indigenous Women Hike, along with Native artists, to create an image to honor and support the campaign.  They use the hashtag #mmiw and #nomorestolensisters.  The official color of the MMIW movement is red.  Red is known to be the only color spirits can see in many tribes, so they wear this color to call back the missing spirits of women and children so that they can be laid to rest.  The image created is of an Indigenous woman with a feather in her braid and a turquoise earring in the shape of a teardrop.  The teardrop represents their sorrow and tears and turquoise is worn by many tribes for protection to ward off evil spirits and is also a symbol of strength and prosperity.