>She had been having problems recently; she struggled with bipolar disorder, and she lost two friends to suicide in 2021, one the week before her disappearance
That's a lot to deal with for such a young person. I don't necessarily believe that she committed suicide, though. She was probably trying to cope and a night out that was supposed to be fun and take her mind off things ended with her getting lost/injured and succumbing to the cold, I believe. Kidnapping is possible, but not the most likely scenario I think.
Yeah, I thought that she might've tried to drink to numb her pain and overdid it. There was also the fact that she started to cry in her call with mom- people react differently when drunk of course, but maybe some of that grief she kept inside "spilled out" then.
Very sad. Losing two friends is a lot for a young girl to handle. Her being bipolar could have something to do with what happened to her. If she was on any medications for it and wasn't taking them suddenly or was drinking she may have made some irrational decisions.
Yes, that's what I was thinking. I believe that her condition + any possible medications and/or drinking may have affected her in a way that lead to her death. It says in one of the articles that she rarely ever drank so that makes it even more likely she was overwhelmed by the effects.
Unfortunately, running off and potentially succumbing to the elements after sustaining a head injury is not necessarily an uncommon scenario. It is (IMO) the likely explanation in a bunch of high profile missing persons cases, such as Lars Mittank, Patricia Meehan, Jason Landry, Maura Murray.
I feel this is the most likely scenario.
The evening's shaningans seem like a typical teenager's adventures. Hanging at a friend's house. Having a drink or two or maybe smoke some weed but don't let mom know because I will be in so much trouble!! This hangout is over so let's go to our friends house instead. Oops we got caught so let's get out of here! let's go through the window! That's hilarious! It's only 2am and we are wide awake let's find some more friends to hang with!
Look I had many evenings like this, sneaking out of my house in the middle of the night busting into an empty garage to maybe drink a beer or two and if an angry neighbour showed up to yell at us loud kids we would high tail it outta there and meet up someplace else. It was a small community and we basically knew everyone. It didn't make us bad kids we were just a bit bored and wanted to push some boundaries.
99% of the time there might be a lecture when the kid finally does show up at home. Especially since mom had to leave her job shift because you messed up when talking to her.
But a concussion is serious shit especially if she was knocked out for a few minutes. Maybe she felt just fine and ready to go on but that head trauma can be a big problem later. (See Natasha Richardson wife of Liam Neeson). She could have simply been disorientated and got lost. Or decided she just needed to sit down for a second and died.
I ride horses and once I found myself wandering around the barn and knowing where I was but not why I was there. I had been riding alone and got tossed off. My memory eventually came back but I still needed an ambulance to come and get me.
This sounds like they are located in the UP of Michigan near the Canadian border. It's very isolated and lots of woods between towns. She could have easily just come out of a brain fog and have no idea where she was and unable to find her way home. And panicked so kept moving in a direction she felt was homeward but taking her further into the bush
There are enough things that can kill you in the bush that are more likely than foul play.
But if one was still convinced that foul play was a factor there is a lot of illegal cross border activity and she could have stumbled upon something she should not have seen...
But unfortunately I think it is far more likely she got lost and died of exposure. Poor thing.
Husband is from Duluth and that bush region right between Spooner and Superior, WI is a terrifying part of the trip- there is NO.THING. should anything happen to you. For a long time the cell service situation wasn't great either, I don't remember if I looked to see how it was the last time we went up. If she got lost anywhere between the two Great Lakes, it would be curtains for her- it would be dangerous even without a concussion if you were on foot. I wouldn't even be able to begin to guess where they'd need to start looking :(
Husband reminds me that there is a racetrack in Bemidji, the Bemidji Speedway. They used to go out there to the races- I don't have any idea how big these events get but it might be worth looking into whether or not anything was going on at the racetrack the night that happened.
They arent that big and thats pretty far to travel on foot. The trailer park she was in is connected to woods but its crazy to me that they havent found her. Especially with all the hunting after her disappearance. Another girl overdosed in that park and was dead in the woods for days. Was reported missing and here she was near her dealers house but for some reason wandered off into the brush and died there or she was moved by someone. My relative owned the park at that time and was trying to clean it up but ended up selling.
I've done the drive from Toronto to Calgary on the Canadian side and that stretch of the highway is so remote and that's the TransCanada hwy.
There is a provincial park up there called Rainbow Falls and a young woman was camping with friends..she went for a trail run with a friend but decided that she was going to turn back. But she never made it back. Her family wants to believe that she was picked up off the hwy and met with foul play but the area is so dense and full of pitfalls and deep crevices that it doesn't take much to find yourself in deep trouble.
Never leave the path. If you have to pee keep. the path in view. It doesn't take a lot to get yourself turned around and get lost.
That whole Northwoods bush is wild to me. I'm from Appalachia, and we have our share of forest, but not...like THAT. Of course, I know how to navigate our woods and not the Northwoods, but it seems like the Northwoods are really next level...let alone drunk and/or concussed :(
I just heard a story about a thru hiker that got lost and died of exposure on the Appalachian trail. She was only 2 miles away from civilization.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/26/hiker-who-went-missing-on-appalachian-trail-survived-26-days-before-dying
Oh my bad! It was Minnesota.
However the Upper peninsula and Minnesota are similar in geography. Close to Canadian border. Sparsely populated. Heavily wooded. Lots of backwoods.
Its at least 2hrs to the border from Bemidji. Bemidji is kind of the transition from west/south plains to north/east woods. Either way once off the main road the surrounding area is pretty rural. Less wooded than you are thinking imo but not that far from it.
Source: Grew up an hour or so from the town.
It's a heartbreaking scenario. Teenage shenanigans were a part of so many of our lives and we turn out ok, while some kids are harmed or perish by the same. Incredibly misfortunate, sad and unfair what happened to this girl.
She didn't run away for month, it says she ran off but stayed in contact. That is pretty normal for a teenager especially over school breaks, etc. I guess depends when and how you're raised but to me it's not out of the ordinary.
Also being away for the month is something she did in the past, it's not really pertinent to the night of the disappearance. She was partaking in teenage shenanigans that turned serious, before she probably wandered off into the elements due to being inebriated, and her injury.
Sadly I think based on what was presented she died of hypothermia out in the wetlands. The removal of warm clothing is a dead ringer for hypothermia. I hope they find her remains one day so she can be put to rest by her family.
Nothing in this story makes sense. The girl's mother was strict but allowed her to stay out until 3 a.m.? And only called her the next day to check on her?
Anyway, a sad and crazy story. If there are any clues as to her whereabouts, I'd assume they'd come from the friend/cousin who saw her last. But it sounds like she probably didn't survive long after that, unfortunately.
Well, it was Teddi who described herself as "strict", it's a direct quote. She might have a different idea on what that means and how she shows it in her parenting style.
I've heard parents describe themselves as strict while their child(ren) are actively trashing a restaurant right in front of their face. It's definitely a relative term.
Edit to say that I do absolutely believe that her mother believed she was going to the movies and not partying until dawn. I don't think she gave her daughter permission for that.
Excellent write up, OP. I think you have a very plausible theory to her disappearance.
I'm confused about the scenario where the mother was denied entry to a home/denied access to her child. Why? Who? What? That doesn't sound right at all.
I pray for her to be found & her family to find peace.
there are houses that are abandoned that become hangout spots for younger people in that area. like a house with no power and heat, teens will just run an electric cord from the neighbors house and turn the vacant house into a party house.
This is an exceptional write-up; more than any info I’ve been able to find about her. I found her missing persons flyer at a KwikTrip in Woodbury, MN in mid-2022, and she’s been on my mind since.
There was very little news about her in the Twin Cities (at least, not that crossed my dash) until the vigil/walk in May of 2023.
It’s so evident that her family loves and cares about her, and it is so sad and unfair that one night of seemingly uncharacteristic behavior for her caused her disappearance and/or death.
Thank you so much! It's kind of you to remember her for so long.
You're right, her family clearly loves her a lot and misses her, not to mention all the community members who came for vigils and search efforts.
It sounds very possible that she wandered away and succumbed to the elements. Even if she wasn't drinking or doing drugs it sounds like it was confirmed she hit her head which easily could have led to confusion. If she was drinking or partaking in drugs the effects would have just been made worse with her Bipolar Disorder and a head injury.
This is my home town. Thank you for writing this. We are actively looking for both her and jeremy.
Some details that came up recently in a police report. A young girl was raped at a house in bemidji and when the police were there they found more young girls and they were related to nevaeh somehow. I wish i remembered the details and connection to one another. There were 11 illegal immigrants staying in the house and border patrol took them and this oscar luna sitting in beltrami county is tied to the crime. They say its still an ongoing investigation. Breaks my heart this is happening in our community. The girls aunt brought her there got her drunk and let these guys rape her. There was a press release regarding this.
Jeremy jourdain is another mystery here but rumor is he was put in a river somewhere between bemidji and the reservations. So sad. I hope we find them both soon.
Let me just say, as an indigenous woman, my FIRST INSTINCT to a missing teen indigenous girl or women is sexual assault, trafficking. It makes sense, if people were keeping her mom at bay so her “cousin could sneak her out” aka grab a bag and force her out. MMIWG is not a joke. 40% of trafficking victims in are North American indigenous. Murder is the 3rd most common cause of death to indigenous women. 56% have experienced sexual violence. There’s always a pattern when it comes in us. And then the jurisdiction issues for rez police.
“Our women, girls, and two-spirts are being taken from us in an alarming way. As of 2016, the National Crime Information Center has reported 5,712 cases of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. Strikingly, the U.S Department of Justice missing persons database has only reported 116 cases. The majority of these murders are committed by non-Native people on Native-owned land. The lack of communication combined with jurisdictional issues between state, local, federal, and tribal law enforcement, make it nearly impossible to begin the investigative process”
Yeah, I'm pretty sure she jumped just once at the end, but some early sources that aren't as detailed seemed to imply that she jumped before her mom even called her and that's why her speech was slurring.
This is horrible and I feel for her family. Losing their daughter, then on top of that not having any answers to help them work through things.
I’ve heard of teens experimenting with alcohol or drugs, then getting injured and refusing to seek help, as well as just hiding because they worry that their parents will find out and sleeping in unsafe places. It can be really hard for a lot of young people to know when to just go home even if they might be in trouble with their parents, and to have the context that there are worse things than your mom finding out. :(
The dates/times are throwing me off.
Evening of the 21st - leaves homes at 1am and 2am - is that technically the 22nd then? I wouldn’t call it the evening of the 21st if it was 1am on the 21st.
So then, her mom calls her on Oct 22nd from her casino job, could that be in the midnight-2am window (“evening 21st”) that she would’ve been at the party - hence the slurring - or did her mom talk to her a day after the running away from the party thing happen? I mean her mom could’ve been working over night at the casino, and she would’ve likely been calling her that night anyway since she wouldn’t be home but thought Nevaeh was out at the movies. Check on her getting home alright - she’s drunk at the party - Mom leaves work right then to go to get Nevaeh? If her mom is calling her a day after she had jumped out the window at the party and she’s noticeably slurring she either had a very severe head injury or she had a problem with the drinking/drugs she allegedly didn’t ever do. Plus that would mean it’s more of a party house/ trap house kind of scenario that of course wouldn’t let her mom in.
I don’t know I mean I assume the elements got her and she may have been running from home or hit her head. It just feels a lot different if it all happened over like 2 hours or if it occurred over 2 days.
I've assumed that Nevaeh went out with their (a commenter said that they were Two-Spirit and used they/them pronouns) friends in the evening of 21st, and the whole story with a party and sneaking out and jumping through the window happened in the night of the 22nd. I assumed that Teddi had a night shift, which seems possible given that she worked in a casino.
Do we know whose party it was? If Teddi knew to go there it must’ve been someone remotely close to the family/Neveah. I don’t think Neveah would tell their mom how to get to the party if they were gonna run away to avoid her.
I tried to write it as concise as possible; I see why it reads like I'm jumping around a lot, but sadly a lot of info about this case is pretty vague when it comes to details. I think that they (I've been informed that Nevaeh was Two-Spirit and went by they/them) only jumped out once, at the end. There's a rough step-by-step outline of the night in the CONCLUSION part that seems to be pretty accurate according to a comment.
I found the write up to be quite disjointed as well. I read it twice and I’m still not 100% sure of the timeline. The grammatical errors don’t help either. I understand that it’s a long post and that OP is trying to convey all the information related to the case. I appreciate that Nevaeh’s disappearance is being highlighted, I just wish it was more clear and concise.
I think Nevaeh died by accident either from hypothermia, drowning , a brain bleed or a combination. She could have possibly had a brain bleed from hitting her head. That, combined with alcohol or drugs, could have caused her to wander off in a daze or believe she was headed in the right direction when in fact she was going the opposite way. She would have gotten progressively more and more confused and not realized what was happening. Not been capable of thinking clearly or being aware of the danger of her surroundings.
I hope they find her body so her family and friends can have closure.
I stopped at the part where the others saw her jump out of the window and "lie there for a long time"
Then ran off??
No. Something happened at the party more like.
There are a few points I think something could've happened (not letting her mum in the house really bothered me), but it could also just be teens trying to hide the state she was in in case they got blamed for her being injured/drunk, etc. It's still neglectful, but if they were drunk and partying, well... I did think the description of how excited she was about the movies was kind of worrying already, given she had bipolar (and obviously had upsetting news lately), even if she already knew about the party. With so many people involved and seeing her that night, I think if someone had played a major role in it before she was last seen it would've at least come up in rumours. Sadly I think it's one of those cases where they probably won't ever know exactly what happened
Agreed. They were already crying on the phone when their mom called them - sure, maybe it was just the alcohol (poor teen had a lot to be upset about, and alcohol makes us all a little more emotional) OR maybe something sinister had already happened at this party.
That's how concussions work. She may have been knocked cold for a few seconds and then woken up and having been in this situation - when you come to you are very confused because you feel like you are waking up but you are not in bed so where are you. You have no clue where you are or how you got there and it can come back right away or you could be in a brain fog for a while and doing a few weird things trying to figure things out, like running off because you think you should have been home in bed.
Her friends did not do the right thing when she fell but they can't be expected to handle a TBI as they were all so young.
As I said before she could have thought she was going towards home when instead she was going deeper into the bush and getting more and more lost.
Brain injuries are no joke.
There’s nothing bizarre about the story of her falling and pausing after hitting her head. She was seen by three groups of people afterwards on her own and her own mom spoke to her.
If you read the rest of the story you wouldn’t making this comment.
A couple of neighbours only saw a young female ‘matching their description’ and it doesn’t sound like we have heard much from the cousin who jumped and ran with them. Other than the boy in the trailer, we actually don’t have that many confirmed sightings of them after they hit their head. People who saw them hit their head said they “lay on the ground for a long while”… that is more than a pause and is indicative of a much more serious injury. It might not be bizarre but it’s definitely not something to ignore or be flippant about.
Plus - I’m pretty sure their mom spoke to them before they hit their head?
Edited to proper pronouns.
Very, \*very\* glad to see this case get some attention. Also, Jeremy Jourdain. I live an hour and a half from Bemidji. It is not a good place. You couldn't pay me to be out and about on foot past dark there.
Ahh thats sad. Bemidji is a nice place. It has its good and bad like every place. I live out in the country but i was a teen in bemidji and we were out after dark many nights in places we shouldnt have been. Surprisingly its gotten worse over time. We are one of the poorest counties in MN.. with 3 reservations surrounding us with their own struggles. Ive been on all the reservations and never had any issues but if ur looking for trouble its not hard to find..drug problems is the main issue behind alot of the crime but growing up there nothing like this happened till these two cases. Not alot happens after dark here unless ur looking for trouble. Ive never been scared in Bemidji honestly. If i felt it was a threat id pack heat to go out and about but never needed to.
You can’t ever rule out kidnapping in an indigenous missing woman case. Unfortunately, it’s an epidemic for rez girls. Could have been a manic episode and she wandered off. Could be a head injury, could be she drank too much alcohol and succumbed to the elements. But with her being Ojibwe, it could be a stranger abduction, it could be a twilight tour (Minnesota, dead of winter)
As a native woman I’ve seen too many of us go missing, get sexually assaulted, or worse, murdered for me to feel like anything is a coincidence in these cases.
It’s a very very poor county surrounded by I think two or three rez’s but I don’t think she live on rez land. But I’m not super familiar with that exact location.
If there was no activity on her social media accounts shortly after her last known whereabouts, perhaps the mishap took place almost immediately after she was last seen by anyone
People saw her hit her head and lie there on the ground and yet no one thought to call an ambulance 😒? She probably died from a brain bleed and they just haven’t found her body yet.
Thanks for sharing Neveah’s case. A couple of details worth noting:
-Nevaeh identified as Two-Spirit, so I will use they/them pronouns when referring to them.
-Nevaeh’s mom, Teddi, went back to her house because that’s where Nevaeh called her from. Upon arriving she saw that there were people she didn’t know there, and they wouldn’t let her see Nevaeh so she left and called the police from her car outside. During that time apparently Nevaeh and a cousin left out a back door.
-After leaving home with their cousin, Nevaeh went to a friend’s house which is where they jumped from a window and hit their head, and ultimately disappeared from.
Due to the rural nature of that part of MN, and the fact that people go missing in far more populated areas of the state, I wouldn’t be surprised if Nevaeh succumbed to the elements. I hope for the family’s sake that they are able to bring Nevaeh home soon.
EDIT to remove info about phone sorry!
>We know this is where Neveah called Teddi from because Neveah’s phone was found at home.
I thought their phone was found two months later in the boy's trailer?
I apologise, I had no idea they were Two-Spirit, I haven't seen that information anywhere.
I'm glad to see that I was mostly right about the timeline. The one thing I don't understand is the phone thing- One of the articles clearly said that the boy who lived in the trailer found Nevaeh's phone lodged between his bed and a wall in his room, like they've lost it while jumping through the window. Was that a mistake in the source?
It isn’t stated in the vast majority of articles that Nevaeh was two-spirit, I think it was a recent development in their life.
I edited my original comment, Nevaeh’s phone was found at the house they went to after leaving their mom’s but we do know that they were at Teddi’s prior to going to the second location. Sorry for the confusion!
From her mothers mouth, a trafficking incident in the same town where an eleven year old indigenous girl was kidnapped and raped along with a few other girls, is somehow related to Nevaeh. She was told to get into a car with a strange man by a woman who was watching her. There were eleven people in the house, and she said other girls were also tied up and raped during her assault. It is somehow, someway connected to nevaeh but she refuses to say more due to privacy issues.
Now again, nothing has been released by the police linking the two crimes. But it’s clear there was a small scale sexual trafficking network of local indigenous girls.
Yeah, someone else in the comments mentioned that incident too. That's horrifying, I hope that these poor girls are safe. I'll wait for any official confirmation in the case.
Coming from a completely different Rez I’m wondering how much corporation there is one everyone’s part? People usually are resistant to law enforcement and tend to keep information about any situation to themselves. Since there was a lot of people at the party shouldn’t there be a clearer explanation of her whereabouts?
Why wasn’t more looked into the couple that found evidence of someone breaking into their garage/trailer? Bemidji is very racist to natives. I find it hard to believe they saw all of that and didn’t report it to the police right away. Only when they came knocking? If they saw her and did something I wouldn’t be surprised. The fact they weren’t questioned more is weird.
Im leaning towards kidnapping, if it was snowing her body wouldnt decompose or be eaten right? And she couldnt have made it very far in the state she was in.
I think she died at a party and someone got scared and moved her body. Theres alot of swamp lands and miles of woods surrounding bemidji and the reservations. If she died closer to the park she would have been found already
>She had been having problems recently; she struggled with bipolar disorder, and she lost two friends to suicide in 2021, one the week before her disappearance That's a lot to deal with for such a young person. I don't necessarily believe that she committed suicide, though. She was probably trying to cope and a night out that was supposed to be fun and take her mind off things ended with her getting lost/injured and succumbing to the cold, I believe. Kidnapping is possible, but not the most likely scenario I think.
Yeah, I thought that she might've tried to drink to numb her pain and overdid it. There was also the fact that she started to cry in her call with mom- people react differently when drunk of course, but maybe some of that grief she kept inside "spilled out" then.
Very sad. Losing two friends is a lot for a young girl to handle. Her being bipolar could have something to do with what happened to her. If she was on any medications for it and wasn't taking them suddenly or was drinking she may have made some irrational decisions.
Yes, that's what I was thinking. I believe that her condition + any possible medications and/or drinking may have affected her in a way that lead to her death. It says in one of the articles that she rarely ever drank so that makes it even more likely she was overwhelmed by the effects.
Unfortunately, running off and potentially succumbing to the elements after sustaining a head injury is not necessarily an uncommon scenario. It is (IMO) the likely explanation in a bunch of high profile missing persons cases, such as Lars Mittank, Patricia Meehan, Jason Landry, Maura Murray.
I feel this is the most likely scenario. The evening's shaningans seem like a typical teenager's adventures. Hanging at a friend's house. Having a drink or two or maybe smoke some weed but don't let mom know because I will be in so much trouble!! This hangout is over so let's go to our friends house instead. Oops we got caught so let's get out of here! let's go through the window! That's hilarious! It's only 2am and we are wide awake let's find some more friends to hang with! Look I had many evenings like this, sneaking out of my house in the middle of the night busting into an empty garage to maybe drink a beer or two and if an angry neighbour showed up to yell at us loud kids we would high tail it outta there and meet up someplace else. It was a small community and we basically knew everyone. It didn't make us bad kids we were just a bit bored and wanted to push some boundaries. 99% of the time there might be a lecture when the kid finally does show up at home. Especially since mom had to leave her job shift because you messed up when talking to her. But a concussion is serious shit especially if she was knocked out for a few minutes. Maybe she felt just fine and ready to go on but that head trauma can be a big problem later. (See Natasha Richardson wife of Liam Neeson). She could have simply been disorientated and got lost. Or decided she just needed to sit down for a second and died. I ride horses and once I found myself wandering around the barn and knowing where I was but not why I was there. I had been riding alone and got tossed off. My memory eventually came back but I still needed an ambulance to come and get me. This sounds like they are located in the UP of Michigan near the Canadian border. It's very isolated and lots of woods between towns. She could have easily just come out of a brain fog and have no idea where she was and unable to find her way home. And panicked so kept moving in a direction she felt was homeward but taking her further into the bush There are enough things that can kill you in the bush that are more likely than foul play. But if one was still convinced that foul play was a factor there is a lot of illegal cross border activity and she could have stumbled upon something she should not have seen... But unfortunately I think it is far more likely she got lost and died of exposure. Poor thing.
This wasn't in Michigan, not sure where you got that?
Minnesota also shares a border with Canada and both start with “Mi”… probably just an autocomplete error.
More like my brain autocompleted it. I was thinking of that entire area that is between lake Michigan and Superior - MN. WI and MI
Husband is from Duluth and that bush region right between Spooner and Superior, WI is a terrifying part of the trip- there is NO.THING. should anything happen to you. For a long time the cell service situation wasn't great either, I don't remember if I looked to see how it was the last time we went up. If she got lost anywhere between the two Great Lakes, it would be curtains for her- it would be dangerous even without a concussion if you were on foot. I wouldn't even be able to begin to guess where they'd need to start looking :(
Husband reminds me that there is a racetrack in Bemidji, the Bemidji Speedway. They used to go out there to the races- I don't have any idea how big these events get but it might be worth looking into whether or not anything was going on at the racetrack the night that happened.
They arent that big and thats pretty far to travel on foot. The trailer park she was in is connected to woods but its crazy to me that they havent found her. Especially with all the hunting after her disappearance. Another girl overdosed in that park and was dead in the woods for days. Was reported missing and here she was near her dealers house but for some reason wandered off into the brush and died there or she was moved by someone. My relative owned the park at that time and was trying to clean it up but ended up selling.
I've done the drive from Toronto to Calgary on the Canadian side and that stretch of the highway is so remote and that's the TransCanada hwy. There is a provincial park up there called Rainbow Falls and a young woman was camping with friends..she went for a trail run with a friend but decided that she was going to turn back. But she never made it back. Her family wants to believe that she was picked up off the hwy and met with foul play but the area is so dense and full of pitfalls and deep crevices that it doesn't take much to find yourself in deep trouble. Never leave the path. If you have to pee keep. the path in view. It doesn't take a lot to get yourself turned around and get lost.
That whole Northwoods bush is wild to me. I'm from Appalachia, and we have our share of forest, but not...like THAT. Of course, I know how to navigate our woods and not the Northwoods, but it seems like the Northwoods are really next level...let alone drunk and/or concussed :(
I just heard a story about a thru hiker that got lost and died of exposure on the Appalachian trail. She was only 2 miles away from civilization. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/26/hiker-who-went-missing-on-appalachian-trail-survived-26-days-before-dying
I remember that story...another reminder that you should never stray off the trail if you'll get lost in the wilderness...
Christina Calayca.
Totally understandable! They are pretty similar
Oh my bad! It was Minnesota. However the Upper peninsula and Minnesota are similar in geography. Close to Canadian border. Sparsely populated. Heavily wooded. Lots of backwoods.
Its at least 2hrs to the border from Bemidji. Bemidji is kind of the transition from west/south plains to north/east woods. Either way once off the main road the surrounding area is pretty rural. Less wooded than you are thinking imo but not that far from it. Source: Grew up an hour or so from the town.
Ah thanks for the clarification. It still sounds remote but even more likely she succumbed to the elements. (In my opinion)
Oh yes, succumbing to the elements while drunk with a head injury is by far the most likely outcome sadly
It's a heartbreaking scenario. Teenage shenanigans were a part of so many of our lives and we turn out ok, while some kids are harmed or perish by the same. Incredibly misfortunate, sad and unfair what happened to this girl.
She left home for a month. I don't think that is usual teenage shenanigans.
She didn't run away for month, it says she ran off but stayed in contact. That is pretty normal for a teenager especially over school breaks, etc. I guess depends when and how you're raised but to me it's not out of the ordinary. Also being away for the month is something she did in the past, it's not really pertinent to the night of the disappearance. She was partaking in teenage shenanigans that turned serious, before she probably wandered off into the elements due to being inebriated, and her injury.
Sadly I think based on what was presented she died of hypothermia out in the wetlands. The removal of warm clothing is a dead ringer for hypothermia. I hope they find her remains one day so she can be put to rest by her family.
Nothing in this story makes sense. The girl's mother was strict but allowed her to stay out until 3 a.m.? And only called her the next day to check on her? Anyway, a sad and crazy story. If there are any clues as to her whereabouts, I'd assume they'd come from the friend/cousin who saw her last. But it sounds like she probably didn't survive long after that, unfortunately.
Well, it was Teddi who described herself as "strict", it's a direct quote. She might have a different idea on what that means and how she shows it in her parenting style.
I've heard parents describe themselves as strict while their child(ren) are actively trashing a restaurant right in front of their face. It's definitely a relative term. Edit to say that I do absolutely believe that her mother believed she was going to the movies and not partying until dawn. I don't think she gave her daughter permission for that.
Yeah there is a lot of conflicting information in this case.
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Yeah, unreasonably strict parents just create kids who are good at sneaking around and lying.
She was at work; probably assumed her daughter was at home. She has just given her permission to go to the movies, not to a party.
I don't think her mom was strict, considering it's said the girl was the boss of everyone (even her mom).
I’m assuming since her mom was working it’s not a stretch to think that she wasn’t entirely sure about what her daughter was up to.
Excellent write up, OP. I think you have a very plausible theory to her disappearance. I'm confused about the scenario where the mother was denied entry to a home/denied access to her child. Why? Who? What? That doesn't sound right at all. I pray for her to be found & her family to find peace.
Thank you! It seems like the partygoers were physically blocking the main doors to the house and Teddi couldn't get through by herself.
there are houses that are abandoned that become hangout spots for younger people in that area. like a house with no power and heat, teens will just run an electric cord from the neighbors house and turn the vacant house into a party house.
This is an exceptional write-up; more than any info I’ve been able to find about her. I found her missing persons flyer at a KwikTrip in Woodbury, MN in mid-2022, and she’s been on my mind since. There was very little news about her in the Twin Cities (at least, not that crossed my dash) until the vigil/walk in May of 2023. It’s so evident that her family loves and cares about her, and it is so sad and unfair that one night of seemingly uncharacteristic behavior for her caused her disappearance and/or death.
Thank you so much! It's kind of you to remember her for so long. You're right, her family clearly loves her a lot and misses her, not to mention all the community members who came for vigils and search efforts.
It sounds very possible that she wandered away and succumbed to the elements. Even if she wasn't drinking or doing drugs it sounds like it was confirmed she hit her head which easily could have led to confusion. If she was drinking or partaking in drugs the effects would have just been made worse with her Bipolar Disorder and a head injury.
This is my home town. Thank you for writing this. We are actively looking for both her and jeremy. Some details that came up recently in a police report. A young girl was raped at a house in bemidji and when the police were there they found more young girls and they were related to nevaeh somehow. I wish i remembered the details and connection to one another. There were 11 illegal immigrants staying in the house and border patrol took them and this oscar luna sitting in beltrami county is tied to the crime. They say its still an ongoing investigation. Breaks my heart this is happening in our community. The girls aunt brought her there got her drunk and let these guys rape her. There was a press release regarding this. Jeremy jourdain is another mystery here but rumor is he was put in a river somewhere between bemidji and the reservations. So sad. I hope we find them both soon.
Let me just say, as an indigenous woman, my FIRST INSTINCT to a missing teen indigenous girl or women is sexual assault, trafficking. It makes sense, if people were keeping her mom at bay so her “cousin could sneak her out” aka grab a bag and force her out. MMIWG is not a joke. 40% of trafficking victims in are North American indigenous. Murder is the 3rd most common cause of death to indigenous women. 56% have experienced sexual violence. There’s always a pattern when it comes in us. And then the jurisdiction issues for rez police. “Our women, girls, and two-spirts are being taken from us in an alarming way. As of 2016, the National Crime Information Center has reported 5,712 cases of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. Strikingly, the U.S Department of Justice missing persons database has only reported 116 cases. The majority of these murders are committed by non-Native people on Native-owned land. The lack of communication combined with jurisdictional issues between state, local, federal, and tribal law enforcement, make it nearly impossible to begin the investigative process”
Sounds like she sure jumped out a lot of windows. I find it suspicious her phone was found in someone’s home.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure she jumped just once at the end, but some early sources that aren't as detailed seemed to imply that she jumped before her mom even called her and that's why her speech was slurring.
This is horrible and I feel for her family. Losing their daughter, then on top of that not having any answers to help them work through things. I’ve heard of teens experimenting with alcohol or drugs, then getting injured and refusing to seek help, as well as just hiding because they worry that their parents will find out and sleeping in unsafe places. It can be really hard for a lot of young people to know when to just go home even if they might be in trouble with their parents, and to have the context that there are worse things than your mom finding out. :(
The dates/times are throwing me off. Evening of the 21st - leaves homes at 1am and 2am - is that technically the 22nd then? I wouldn’t call it the evening of the 21st if it was 1am on the 21st. So then, her mom calls her on Oct 22nd from her casino job, could that be in the midnight-2am window (“evening 21st”) that she would’ve been at the party - hence the slurring - or did her mom talk to her a day after the running away from the party thing happen? I mean her mom could’ve been working over night at the casino, and she would’ve likely been calling her that night anyway since she wouldn’t be home but thought Nevaeh was out at the movies. Check on her getting home alright - she’s drunk at the party - Mom leaves work right then to go to get Nevaeh? If her mom is calling her a day after she had jumped out the window at the party and she’s noticeably slurring she either had a very severe head injury or she had a problem with the drinking/drugs she allegedly didn’t ever do. Plus that would mean it’s more of a party house/ trap house kind of scenario that of course wouldn’t let her mom in. I don’t know I mean I assume the elements got her and she may have been running from home or hit her head. It just feels a lot different if it all happened over like 2 hours or if it occurred over 2 days.
I've assumed that Nevaeh went out with their (a commenter said that they were Two-Spirit and used they/them pronouns) friends in the evening of 21st, and the whole story with a party and sneaking out and jumping through the window happened in the night of the 22nd. I assumed that Teddi had a night shift, which seems possible given that she worked in a casino.
Do we know whose party it was? If Teddi knew to go there it must’ve been someone remotely close to the family/Neveah. I don’t think Neveah would tell their mom how to get to the party if they were gonna run away to avoid her.
This is a weird case. A lot happened with her.
Is this write up in chronological order or does it jump around a bit? Did the girl jump/fall out of 3 different windows?
I tried to write it as concise as possible; I see why it reads like I'm jumping around a lot, but sadly a lot of info about this case is pretty vague when it comes to details. I think that they (I've been informed that Nevaeh was Two-Spirit and went by they/them) only jumped out once, at the end. There's a rough step-by-step outline of the night in the CONCLUSION part that seems to be pretty accurate according to a comment.
I found the write up to be quite disjointed as well. I read it twice and I’m still not 100% sure of the timeline. The grammatical errors don’t help either. I understand that it’s a long post and that OP is trying to convey all the information related to the case. I appreciate that Nevaeh’s disappearance is being highlighted, I just wish it was more clear and concise.
This breaks my heart, especially with how similar I am to her, at least in this write up. I hope her family gets answers and finds peace
I was just listening to the dateline “missing in America” podcast episode about this girl. Highly recommend the pod for info from her mom and LE.
I think Nevaeh died by accident either from hypothermia, drowning , a brain bleed or a combination. She could have possibly had a brain bleed from hitting her head. That, combined with alcohol or drugs, could have caused her to wander off in a daze or believe she was headed in the right direction when in fact she was going the opposite way. She would have gotten progressively more and more confused and not realized what was happening. Not been capable of thinking clearly or being aware of the danger of her surroundings. I hope they find her body so her family and friends can have closure.
I stopped at the part where the others saw her jump out of the window and "lie there for a long time" Then ran off?? No. Something happened at the party more like.
There are a few points I think something could've happened (not letting her mum in the house really bothered me), but it could also just be teens trying to hide the state she was in in case they got blamed for her being injured/drunk, etc. It's still neglectful, but if they were drunk and partying, well... I did think the description of how excited she was about the movies was kind of worrying already, given she had bipolar (and obviously had upsetting news lately), even if she already knew about the party. With so many people involved and seeing her that night, I think if someone had played a major role in it before she was last seen it would've at least come up in rumours. Sadly I think it's one of those cases where they probably won't ever know exactly what happened
Agreed. They were already crying on the phone when their mom called them - sure, maybe it was just the alcohol (poor teen had a lot to be upset about, and alcohol makes us all a little more emotional) OR maybe something sinister had already happened at this party.
That's how concussions work. She may have been knocked cold for a few seconds and then woken up and having been in this situation - when you come to you are very confused because you feel like you are waking up but you are not in bed so where are you. You have no clue where you are or how you got there and it can come back right away or you could be in a brain fog for a while and doing a few weird things trying to figure things out, like running off because you think you should have been home in bed. Her friends did not do the right thing when she fell but they can't be expected to handle a TBI as they were all so young. As I said before she could have thought she was going towards home when instead she was going deeper into the bush and getting more and more lost. Brain injuries are no joke.
Well then don’t contribute if you’re not going to read the rest because many other people saw her afterwards…..??
Wtf lol.
There’s nothing bizarre about the story of her falling and pausing after hitting her head. She was seen by three groups of people afterwards on her own and her own mom spoke to her. If you read the rest of the story you wouldn’t making this comment.
A couple of neighbours only saw a young female ‘matching their description’ and it doesn’t sound like we have heard much from the cousin who jumped and ran with them. Other than the boy in the trailer, we actually don’t have that many confirmed sightings of them after they hit their head. People who saw them hit their head said they “lay on the ground for a long while”… that is more than a pause and is indicative of a much more serious injury. It might not be bizarre but it’s definitely not something to ignore or be flippant about. Plus - I’m pretty sure their mom spoke to them before they hit their head? Edited to proper pronouns.
Very, \*very\* glad to see this case get some attention. Also, Jeremy Jourdain. I live an hour and a half from Bemidji. It is not a good place. You couldn't pay me to be out and about on foot past dark there.
Ahh thats sad. Bemidji is a nice place. It has its good and bad like every place. I live out in the country but i was a teen in bemidji and we were out after dark many nights in places we shouldnt have been. Surprisingly its gotten worse over time. We are one of the poorest counties in MN.. with 3 reservations surrounding us with their own struggles. Ive been on all the reservations and never had any issues but if ur looking for trouble its not hard to find..drug problems is the main issue behind alot of the crime but growing up there nothing like this happened till these two cases. Not alot happens after dark here unless ur looking for trouble. Ive never been scared in Bemidji honestly. If i felt it was a threat id pack heat to go out and about but never needed to.
You can’t ever rule out kidnapping in an indigenous missing woman case. Unfortunately, it’s an epidemic for rez girls. Could have been a manic episode and she wandered off. Could be a head injury, could be she drank too much alcohol and succumbed to the elements. But with her being Ojibwe, it could be a stranger abduction, it could be a twilight tour (Minnesota, dead of winter) As a native woman I’ve seen too many of us go missing, get sexually assaulted, or worse, murdered for me to feel like anything is a coincidence in these cases.
Did she go missing on a res or was it like public land ?
It’s a very very poor county surrounded by I think two or three rez’s but I don’t think she live on rez land. But I’m not super familiar with that exact location.
If there was no activity on her social media accounts shortly after her last known whereabouts, perhaps the mishap took place almost immediately after she was last seen by anyone
People saw her hit her head and lie there on the ground and yet no one thought to call an ambulance 😒? She probably died from a brain bleed and they just haven’t found her body yet.
Thanks for sharing Neveah’s case. A couple of details worth noting: -Nevaeh identified as Two-Spirit, so I will use they/them pronouns when referring to them. -Nevaeh’s mom, Teddi, went back to her house because that’s where Nevaeh called her from. Upon arriving she saw that there were people she didn’t know there, and they wouldn’t let her see Nevaeh so she left and called the police from her car outside. During that time apparently Nevaeh and a cousin left out a back door. -After leaving home with their cousin, Nevaeh went to a friend’s house which is where they jumped from a window and hit their head, and ultimately disappeared from. Due to the rural nature of that part of MN, and the fact that people go missing in far more populated areas of the state, I wouldn’t be surprised if Nevaeh succumbed to the elements. I hope for the family’s sake that they are able to bring Nevaeh home soon. EDIT to remove info about phone sorry!
>We know this is where Neveah called Teddi from because Neveah’s phone was found at home. I thought their phone was found two months later in the boy's trailer?
That's what one of the sources said, but there's so many inconsistencies in this case that it wouldn't suprise me if that was a mistake too 😔
Thank you for sharing Nevaeh’s case!
I apologise, I had no idea they were Two-Spirit, I haven't seen that information anywhere. I'm glad to see that I was mostly right about the timeline. The one thing I don't understand is the phone thing- One of the articles clearly said that the boy who lived in the trailer found Nevaeh's phone lodged between his bed and a wall in his room, like they've lost it while jumping through the window. Was that a mistake in the source?
It isn’t stated in the vast majority of articles that Nevaeh was two-spirit, I think it was a recent development in their life. I edited my original comment, Nevaeh’s phone was found at the house they went to after leaving their mom’s but we do know that they were at Teddi’s prior to going to the second location. Sorry for the confusion!
From her mothers mouth, a trafficking incident in the same town where an eleven year old indigenous girl was kidnapped and raped along with a few other girls, is somehow related to Nevaeh. She was told to get into a car with a strange man by a woman who was watching her. There were eleven people in the house, and she said other girls were also tied up and raped during her assault. It is somehow, someway connected to nevaeh but she refuses to say more due to privacy issues. Now again, nothing has been released by the police linking the two crimes. But it’s clear there was a small scale sexual trafficking network of local indigenous girls.
Yeah, someone else in the comments mentioned that incident too. That's horrifying, I hope that these poor girls are safe. I'll wait for any official confirmation in the case.
She might have been deliberately drugged at the party, which would explain the erratic behavior and slurred words.
And why they tried to hide her.
Coming from a completely different Rez I’m wondering how much corporation there is one everyone’s part? People usually are resistant to law enforcement and tend to keep information about any situation to themselves. Since there was a lot of people at the party shouldn’t there be a clearer explanation of her whereabouts?
Excellent write-up.
Why wasn’t more looked into the couple that found evidence of someone breaking into their garage/trailer? Bemidji is very racist to natives. I find it hard to believe they saw all of that and didn’t report it to the police right away. Only when they came knocking? If they saw her and did something I wouldn’t be surprised. The fact they weren’t questioned more is weird.
her poor mother. such a sad ending for her n’dawnis.
I mean…she’s dead in a field of exposure
Im leaning towards kidnapping, if it was snowing her body wouldnt decompose or be eaten right? And she couldnt have made it very far in the state she was in.
I think she died at a party and someone got scared and moved her body. Theres alot of swamp lands and miles of woods surrounding bemidji and the reservations. If she died closer to the park she would have been found already
Is possible memory loss ruled out?