In October 2021, Hoopa Tribe member, Emmilee Risling, vanished from an isolated part of the Yurok Reservation in Northern California. But her story is not just about being a missing person, it’s about an entire system that failed to protect her when she needed help.

What you should also know is that Emmilee is the cousin of our Floodlights producer, Jack Kohler. When we describe this podcast as a personal project, we mean it. Jack, like many Native Americans, knows at least one missing or murdered relative. This crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people is real – and too often it’s up to Native people to fight the good fight alone. 

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