Christine Tail, an Indigenous woman affiliated with the Oglala Sioux Tribe who went missing early this month, was found in the morning hours of Wednesday, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced days after her case gained national attention.
Before the alert was issued, Tail was last seen by her partner, Tanya Lance, on June 14 at the intersection of Champa and 14th Street in the Central Business District. The pair had just arrived in Denver from Rapid City, South Dakota to "start a new life."
Lance said she and Tail were discussing their future when Tail walked away, turned a corner and disappeared.
Lance's family contacted Denver Police the following day and left several voicemails with the Missing and Exploited Person Unit, but days passed before they heard back.
"Nobody ever called us back. I was calling all morning and I was beginning to beg them not to transfer me," said Amanda, Lance's sister. "I said it's been three days. Time is important when somebody goes missing."
Dispatch transferred the family members to the voicemail system for the Missing and Exploited Person Unit. After leaving the voicemail, they waited until an officer returned the call.
DPD's Missing Person's unit is a two-person team supervised by a lieutenant. DPD officials said "due to large caseloads" an officer from the unit wasn't able to get back to the family immediately.
Amanda said the last time she called that Saturday, begging not to be transferred back to the voicemail, she was told the report should have been filed in person, something the family didn't know was required.
DPD said in a statement that on June 17 "a family member called the Emergency Communications Center to report a missing person...at 10:39 a.m. and an officer was dispatched at 10:58 a.m. and took the reported information."
After officers spoke with family members, more issues came up.
Since Tail is Indigenous, a Missing Indigenous Person Alert should have been immediately activated, according to state law.
The MIPA system was established in late 2022, along with the accompanying Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives in Colorado (MMIR), as a way to help bring awareness and eventually solve crimes involving the Indigenous community, which sees a disproportionately high rate of missing people and homicide cases compared to other racial or ethnic groups.
According to the MMIR bill SB22-150, law enforcement is supposed to identify CBI within eight hours of receiving a missing person report involving an adult and two hours for a missing child.
The goal of the MMIR task force is to push these cases into the limelight, and the complementary alert system was created to help stop the missing cases from going cold.
Amanda works for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA, a nonprofit similar to the MMIR task force. She knew to reach out to the Colorado task force to get more eyes on Tail's case, especially with the police response she received.
Once officers spoke with the family, Amanda said she expected them to contact the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. CBI is in charge of issuing the alert. But that did not happen.
DPD said there was an "internal misunderstanding after the report was taken as to whether CBI had already begun the MIPA alert, and the supervisor contacted CBI immediately after learning the alert had not been sent out."
DPD added that they will be reviewing the case to ensure that in the future their response is "timely" and "in accordance with state law."
CBI issued the alert on June 18, four days after Tail went missing.
The alert was also wrong when it was issued. It listed an incorrect date of when Tail was last seen and it included an old description of her. That information was corrected on June 20.
"There was a lot of runaround," Amanda said. "There was a lot of miscommunication between the departments. None of them knew what to do...It was really frustrating and a lot of wasted time. It happens a lot. There are departments like this that don't seem to care."
On June 28, Lance said she received a call from an officer stating that they've been in contact with Tail and she was safe, though the officer said Tail was uninterested in reconnecting with Lance.
Denverite has been unable to reach Tail for comment.
DPD confirmed that Tail reached out to an outside law enforcement department to let officials know she was not missing nor was she in need of assistance. Neither DPD or CBI would confirm to Denverite what law enforcement agency found Tail.
"After making contact, if the officer does not see any indication of harm or danger to the individual, or the person reported missing does not articulate any crime, then they are allowed to go along their way and the case is closed," DPD said. "This is the case for non-criminal missing person cases involving adults."
According to the CBI, 21 alerts have been issued as of June 29, including Tail's alert. Of the other 19 alerts, one person was found dead and the others were found safely.
On the day Tail was found, two additional alerts were issued and they are currently still active.
Shirelle Lucinda Begay was last seen on June 13 in Denver. She's 26 years old, just over five-feet tall with brown hair and eyes. She's affiliated with the Navajo tribe and she may be experiencing homelessness.
Jordan Tafoya was last seen on June 19, also in Denver. She's 14 years old with black hair and she's about five feet, six inches tall. She's affiliated with the Northern Arapahoe tribe.
If either person is seen, CBI suggests calling 911 or DPD directly at 720-913-2000.
DPD recommends family members call 911 or the number above if a loved one goes missing "so that an officer is dispatched to take the report and notify a MEP supervisor/detective." If the person is Indigenous, then DPD will contact CBI.
