Nakia 'Fatty' Ellison II was a 29-year-old Lumbee from Red Springs, North Carolina, whose life was cut short in a senseless act of violence in January 2025. As his community searches for answers and justice, we remember the man behind the headline and honor his story.

Wendell “Wilkie” Oxendine of the Lumbee Tribe, was shot and killed in Maxton, North Carolina on September 28, 1991 during a shoot out between two brothers.

Craig Lee Bullard, 27, a Lumbee man, was shot and killed in Maxton, NC, in July 1999. His case ended in a mistrial after the jury couldn’t reach a verdict.

Jessica Michelle Lowery is a 25-year-old Indigenous woman from Lumberton, North Carolina. She went missing in the early hours of December 20, 2005. Jessica was last seen walking near her residence on Bolinger Avenue at about 3 a.m.

Tabitha Ann Goins vanished in 2019 after fleeing into the woods during a police raid in Cumberland County, NC. Despite being missing for years, her case remains unsolved, and her family is still searching for answers.

Steve Austin Pate ("AuDi"), Lumbee, was born on November 12, 1997, and lived in Shannon, North Carolina. Tragically passing away in May 2020 at the age of 22, his case remains largely unpublicized.

Margaret Lois Bell was a Lumbee woman who was found murdered in her Robeson County, North Carolina home in 1996. Nearly 30 years later, DNA evidence led to the arrest of a suspect. Kenneth Delton Locklear was charged in 2025 and was taken into custody, but died in jail before his trial, prompting the North Carolina SBI to investigate his death.

William Jerome Williamson, a 34-year-old member of the Lumbee Tribe, was fatally shot during a birthday gathering in Shannon, North Carolina, on July 14, 2018. Christopher Ryan Locklear was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with his death.

Twilight Song Crooks, a 15-year-old of Arapaho and Cherokee descent, disappeared from Bowling Green, Kentucky in August 2001. Her body was found two weeks later, and her death remains an unsolved homicide.

Missing Indigenous woman Cynthia Jacobs, a 41-year-old Lumbee from Lumberton, NC, vanished in 2017. Her case remains unsolved, part of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis in North Carolina and across the U.S.

Jacqueline “Jackie” Davis, a 13-year-old from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, vanished in 1969 while walking to a friend’s house in Cherokee, NC. Her case remained largely unrecognized until it was recently added to the national database. Over 50 years later, her family still hopes for answers.

Aubrey Dameron, a 25-year-old Two-Spirit citizen of the Cherokee Nation, vanished from Grove, Oklahoma in 2019. Despite her family's immediate concern, the case was met with delay and neglect. Nearly six years later, her remains were found, and the search for justice continues.

Pauline Williams, a 44-year-old member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, vanished in 2003 near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Despite early suspicions of foul play, her case went cold for years. Renewed investigations by federal authorities are now seeking answers and justice.

Virginia Pictou Noyes, a 26-year-old Indigenous mother of five from the Mi'kmaq Nation, disappeared on April 24, 1993, in Bangor, Maine. She was last seen at Eastern Maine Medical Center after being brought there by police following an alleged assault. Mysteriously, she vanished from the hospital and was never seen again.

Five-year-old Brittany Locklear was abducted while waiting for her school bus in Raeford, North Carolina, on January 7, 1998. Less than a day later, her body was found in a drainage ditch. Over 25 years later, her case remains unsolved, highlighting the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and children (MMIW).