September 27, 2025 • 18 mins
The Strange Disappearance of Ashley HeavyRunner #MMIW NoMoreStolenSisters
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello friends, Steae's talking here with you. Welcome to our
latest video. In this episode, we continue our journey into
Spirited Away, the seemingly overlooked cases of missing Indigenous men, women,
and children from around the globe. Now, the United States
alone currently recognizes five hundred and seventy four Native American tribes.
(00:23):
In most cases, these reservations are vast expanses of wild,
untamed terrain, covering thousands of miles. It's often difficult for
investigators to even identify the agency in charge of each
case due to jurisdictional issues and the lack of manpower.
Cases that are rarely covered by local media, let alone
the mainstream media. They are the forgotten people. This continuing
(00:48):
series on missing persons mysteries that we call Spirited Away
is for those families that are seeking help, and it's
dedicated to each missing Indigenous man, woman, and child. We
will not let their voices be silenced. Join us. Sitting
on one point five million acres in the Rocky Mountains
(01:08):
and bordering the Beautiful Glacier National Park in Montana and Canada,
the Blackfeet Reservation is home to fifteen thousand, five hundred
and sixty registered tribe members. Around seven thousand Blackfeet members
live on or near the reservation, having three branches, the
Northern black Feet, the Blood, and the Pagan. The name
Blackfoot in said to have come from the color of
(01:30):
their moccasins, having been colored by the ash from fires
or from being painted. The Blackfoot members sustain themselves their
means of manufacturing pens, pencils, and markers, and a local factory,
and also by the way of sales of hay, barley,
and wheat and other agricultural skills. Within the one point
five million acres of land that still belongs to the
Blackfoot people, there are many points of interest in historical sites,
(01:53):
which include the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, conceived for the
promotion of the culture, language, and traditional ways. The Blackfoot
also reside in Canadian areas of Saskatchewan and Alberta. These
areas were once controlled solely by the Blackfoot tribe before
white settlers moved in, but in eighteen eighty three to
eighty four, the Blackfoot suffered a great famine because they
(02:15):
were limited as to where they could hunt and the
buffalo population in the area had been wiped out. Completely
dependent on the US government at this point, the Blackfoot
sold over eight hundred thousand acres of land to the
United States that would become part of Glacier National Park
in nineteen ten. The sales completed in eighteen ninety five
under the rest of the tribal chief Flight Calf. He
(02:36):
was concerned with the loss of the sacred mountain land
and access to the area. The government made a deal
with the tribe to access to the area free of
charge for religious purposes, but not until well into the
nineteen hundreds, and they were still restricted from hunting the area,
even though they were struggling with food shortages. A famous
saying from a tribe's woman is still true to this day.
(02:56):
It goes as follows, we are put here for purpose,
and that is to guard our Columbia River basin. That
is why we are still here, and that is why
the spirits are never going to let us go. Ashley
Heavy Runner Louring Young Lady, has become the unofficial face
of the epidemic of the missing. Many websites, podcasts, news outlets,
(03:18):
YouTube channels, and even politicians have spoken about her case.
The lack of resources and attention given to the cause
for investigations, searches, and manpower often caused delays that are
crucial in the beginning of missing person cases. After the
cases are reported and searches commenced, initial attention is usually
only a few days to weeks for the cases either shelved,
(03:39):
waiting for leeds, or goes completely cold. Funding is almost
always an issue. Having interviewed many families over the last year,
the constant topic as to why searches were skilled back
was money and lack of manpower. President Joe Biden created
and signed into law a task force on November fifteenth,
(03:59):
twenty one called Operation Lady Justice aka Savannahs Act, Non
Invisible Act and the already established Missing and Murdered Indigenous
Persons Initiative that's in Executive Order one four zero five
to three that's supposed to help handle these issues as
well as provide a liaison for the families of the
missing and murdered. These acts were to focus on bringing
(04:22):
together the Departments of Health and Human Services, Departments of
the Interior, Department of Justice, and the tribal Council members
to help aid families in searches for the missing. Having
asked the families about contact from the liaison, most have
said they either never had contact or minimal contact with
no follow up. The same can be said for most
(04:42):
tribal police departments. There is no one reason for the
slow response, but it's mostly budget cuts and lack of funding.
Ashley's sister, Kiberly Loring, has led her sister's missing persons
investigation since the case stalled back in twenty seventeen. In
February of two, twenty eighteen, the FBI joined the cold
case at the Bureau of Indian Affairs request. Another issue
(05:05):
with missing Indigenous cases is jurisdictional arguments among policing entities.
Reservations are federally owned land, meaning several law enforcement agencies
can conduct their own investigations separately or choose to join together.
In Ashley's case, the FBI didn't join local tribal police
and the BIA until two months into the investigation. The
(05:26):
following account is the facts as they're told by family
members and police reports available to the public online and
through their departments. Twenty year old Ashley heavy Runner Loring
was a vibrant and beautiful woman just starting her life
in Glacier County, Browning, Montana, on a ranch when she
went missing. Ashley's described as having a big heart, positive attitude,
(05:47):
and a selfless desire to help people, especially missing Indigenous people.
She started to take notice of the hundreds of missing
Native peoples, not just here in the States, but around
the world. She was said to have discussed this with
her sister Kimberly right before she herself went missing. Sis,
those girls are going missing in Canada. Something is happening
(06:08):
to them and I want to help. Her older sister,
Kiberly recalled Ashley saying she wanted to bring awareness to
their plight, one of the many selfless conversations she had
with her sister before she disappeared. Just a few months
after having this conversation with Kimberly, Ashley would disappear under
baffling in mysterious circumstances. Ashley was attending Blackfeet Community College
(06:30):
studying environmental science. Loxey Louring, Ashley's mother said of her
daughter she loved horses and the rain. Ashley is smart, athletic, positive,
and always willing to help someone. Childhood friend is quoted
as describing her as emotionally, physically and spiritually strong. On
(06:51):
June fifth, twenty seventeen, Ashley heavy Runner Loring went by
her parents' house, and it was reported she was seen
later that day or evening at a party. Family and
friends had tried to reach out to her, but calls
and texts went unanswered, and voiced messages went unchecked, never
being returned. She was constantly losing phones or breaking them,
and so we thought that might be the case. Her
(07:14):
family said it was not unheard of for Ashley to
fall off for a couple of days, but not for
this long. The family also thought that Ashley may have
been visiting another family member, but when Ashley's father was
unexpectedly hospitalized for liver failure and she didn't return several
urgent calls telling her that he was in the hospital,
they knew something was very, very wrong, as they are
(07:36):
a very close knit family. At the time her disappearance,
she was planning to move in with her sister Kimberly,
in Missoula and attend the University of Montana. When Kimberly
returned from Morocco after visiting her fiancee, Ashley was supposed
to move in with her to start their lives new together.
Something terrible happened to my sister, She says. She was
(07:58):
so friendly and so willing to try people, and that's
why I believe Ashley was taken advantage of and was hurt.
Because of the person she is. We won't give up
looking for someone in the community knows where she is.
That was a quote from Kimberly for People magazine. The
family reached out to other family members and friends of Ashley,
(08:19):
hoping they had seen her or knew where she was,
but no one in her family had heard anything from
her since June five. Last night, anyone saw Ashley. She
had attended a party and there's a video over sitting
on a couch talking to friends and having a good time.
She had messaged her sister asking if Kimberly could send
her some money. Kimberly replied that she couldn't because she
(08:41):
was out of the country. She asked Askedy if she
was okay, in which she replied yes. When it was
determined that Ashley was indeed missing, Kimberly went to tribal
and Blackfeet law enforcement to report her sister missing. Initially,
the police took the common attitude of she's an adult
and allowed to go missing, but after a couple of days,
(09:02):
the police launched a three day search for Ashley. When
the search concluded, they stopped communicating with the family and
were less helpful. The family then went to the Bureau
of Indian Affairs, and although they did end up helping
Ashley's family, it took them two months to get seriously involved.
It's not a crime for an adult to go missing,
and because Ashley is twenty years old, she could go
(09:23):
anywhere anytime without permission. However, this was completely out of
character for Ashley's family. Feels like law enforcement didn't handle
her case the way they should have. Invaluable time, impossible
evidence was lost justin louring. Ashley's uncle says they should
have taken it serious from the beginning. They meaning law
enforcement just kind of blew it off as she was
(09:45):
of legal agent. She's just out there. She could do
what she wants. About two weeks after Ashley went missing,
the family received their first tip. Someone contacted them and
said they witnessed a young woman running from a vehicle
on US Highway eighty nine on the Blackfeet Reservation. That
area is known to be lonely, desolate and surrounded by
(10:06):
thick vegetation and forests that's swamp light. Another search was
formed and family and friends went to search the area.
A few hours into the search, they found a gray
sweater that looked just like one Ashley owned. The sweater
was collected and turned over to the BIA for testing.
As time passed and the family became more desperate for
law enforcement to take Ashley's case serious, Kimberly took it
(10:28):
upon herself to go out and conduct daily searches on
the Blackfeet Reservation and in the surrounding areas, teaching herself
along the way how to do the detective work that
the police weren't doing. She would read messages, search social
media sites, take phone calls, and follow up on all
tips and leads. While doing all this work, she stayed
in contact with local law enforcement and the BIA. It
(10:52):
was on one of these phone calls in the BA
that Kimberly found out that the sweater they had found
and submitted for testing had never been sent to the
crime lab. It had in fact been sitting in an
evidence box at the Bureau of Indian Affairs for months.
On another search, another sweater was found, along with a
pair of red stained boots. The sweater was torn and
(11:12):
had red stains on it as well that appeared to
be blood. Both of these clothing items were found on
the reservation in the Northern Edge area by a house
owned by fifty two year old Sam McDonald. Before Ashley disappeared,
she had been struggling with a bad breakup with her
first love and the loss of her grandfather. To cope,
Ashley experimented with drugs and hanging out with an older
(11:34):
crowd that did and supplied them. This crowd included Sam McDonald.
In fact, mister McDonald was one of the last people
to see Ashley by his own admission. During questioning, he
admitted that he had partied with Ashley for a few
days after she was last seen by her family, and
claimed that she asked him to take her to pull
off on the black Feet Reservation to meet a guy
(11:57):
named v Dog or Paul Venezuela could pick her up.
He stated he took her to the place she had
asked him to and they fell asleep in the car.
When he woke up, Ashley was nowhere to be seen,
and after looking for her for a while, he assumed
she left with the other guy like she had planned.
Sam McDonell simply left the area and returned home. He
(12:18):
was questioned about Ashley's disappearance and his house was searched.
Items that were taken from his home were tested along
with the other items that were found by the family.
The test results have never been released. Nine months after
Ashley Heavy Runner at Loring disappeared, the FBI finally took
over the case because the investigation took local police off
the reservation into nearby states. The FBI found the man
(12:42):
known as v Dog or Paul Venezuela, a man in
his fifties and a known criminal with an extensive record.
Paul and his then wife, Tashina Running Kane, also known
as Tea, were having issues in their marriage, and Ashley's
family had reported that Ashley and Pall had been seeing
each other prior to her disappearance. A month after the
(13:04):
FBI started their investigation and questioning the couple, Paul filed
for a divorce from Tashina. She told police she had
no idea that her husband was seeing Ashley until after
she learned that Ashley was missing. Ashley's family has not
lost hope nor given up looking for her. Sister Kimberly
told The Great False Tribune in twenty twenty, the not
(13:26):
knowing is the worst part. We're holding on to hope
and we will bring her home. We try to look
on the bright side, but we are living a nightmare.
As of the making of this video, there have been
no arrest and no new leads in this case. The
Loring family deserves answers and justice. Ashley deserves to be home.
(13:52):
Ashley Heavy Runner Loring was last seen at her parents'
house and then at a party on June five, twenty seventeen,
in Glacier County, Browning, Montana. Ashley is described as being
a Native American member of the Blackfeet tribe, having brown
hair and brown eyes. She stands five foot two and
was twenty years old at the time she went missing.
(14:13):
No one has been named a person of interest, nor
have been named as a suspect in this case, and
no arrest have been made. Kimberly Loring did everything she
could think of to help aid in the search's investigations.
Frustration turned to determination and to bring attention and change
to cases. Like her sisters, Kimberly ended up testifying and
from the Senate about her experiences, struggles, and mismanagement of
(14:36):
evidence in Ashley's case. She's quoted as saying, from the
very beginning, both the Blackfeet Tribal law enforcement and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs have ignored the dire situation that
Ashley is in and have allowed the investigation to be
handled in a dysfunctional manner. This isn't just a reality
for our family, but a reality for many missing Indigenous
(14:58):
women's families. Ashley's case is but one of thousands of
missing Indigenous women, children, and men just in the United
States alone. The families of the missing are in crises
trying to find people to help get their loved one
stories out and circulate in the public forums, newspapers, vlogs, blogs,
national news outlets, anywhere they can get eyes and ears
(15:20):
and attention on these stories. Since Ashley's disappearance, Kimberly Loring
has quit her job, moved back home, and continues to
search for her sister. She's completed more than one hundred
and twenty searches with very little if any assistance from
the police, FBI, BIA, and the Blackfeet Tribal police. It's
(15:42):
believed that Ashley heavy Runner Loring doesn't have access to
her phone and may have been headed to the Washington
State area. There was no further information as to why
this was a possibility. If you, or anyone you know
has any information on the Ashley Lowering heavy Runner disappearance
or the eventually up to it, no matter how small
or insignificant it may seem, you're asked to police contact
(16:04):
the Browning Police Department at four zero six three three
eight four zero zero zero, or call the Blackfeet Tribal
Law Enforcement Dispatch Center four zero six three three eight
for zero zero zero or the FBI Salt Lake City
Field Office at eight zero one five seven nine one
(16:26):
four zero zero are toll free at one eight hundred
call FBI Tips can also be submitted online at tip
dot FBI dot gov. In order to help raise awareness,
everyone is asked to share the hashtag find Ashley heavy Runner.
There is one update. Several podcasts and news outlets of
(16:49):
updated the Ashley heavy Runner louring case, but it seems
there are no new leads. If there are, police are
keeping them quiet. In twenty twenty one, Up and Vanished
podcast recorded an update on the Ashley heavy Runner louring
case and conducted an interview with her sister, Kimberly. In
January of this year, twenty twenty two, Any True Crime
(17:10):
blog also gave an update with some very interesting statistics
for missing Indigenous cases. There are several rewards offered by
different agencies and by Luring's family Up and Disappeared as
offering fifty thousand dollars for information in her case that
leads to the arrest, and the family is offering up
to fifteen thousand dollars. There have also been several awareness
(17:32):
walks to bring attention to her case and the thousands
of other missing Indigenous cases across the United States. Reservations again,
I do you have any information about Ashley heavy Runner Loring,
Please contact the FBI or your local law enforcement entity. Well, folks,
there you have it. What a tragic case. One that
wanted to help the missing goes missing herself. I look
(17:56):
forward to your comments, but please keep it friendly and respectful.
The families and the victims do watch these videos and
leave comments. In the meanwhile, be good to yourselves and
each other, and be careful out there. As for me,
I'll see you a little farther on down the trail.
I'm Steve Stockton, and I'll talk to you next time.
Hello friends, Steae's talking here with you. Welcome to our
latest video. In this episode, we continue our journey into
Spirited Away, the seemingly overlooked cases of missing Indigenous men, women,
and children from around the globe. Now, the United States
alone currently recognizes five hundred and seventy four Native American tribes.
(00:23):
In most cases, these reservations are vast expanses of wild,
untamed terrain, covering thousands of miles. It's often difficult for
investigators to even identify the agency in charge of each
case due to jurisdictional issues and the lack of manpower.
Cases that are rarely covered by local media, let alone
the mainstream media. They are the forgotten people. This continuing
(00:48):
series on missing persons mysteries that we call Spirited Away
is for those families that are seeking help, and it's
dedicated to each missing Indigenous man, woman, and child. We
will not let their voices be silenced. Join us. Sitting
on one point five million acres in the Rocky Mountains
(01:08):
and bordering the Beautiful Glacier National Park in Montana and Canada,
the Blackfeet Reservation is home to fifteen thousand, five hundred
and sixty registered tribe members. Around seven thousand Blackfeet members
live on or near the reservation, having three branches, the
Northern black Feet, the Blood, and the Pagan. The name
Blackfoot in said to have come from the color of
(01:30):
their moccasins, having been colored by the ash from fires
or from being painted. The Blackfoot members sustain themselves their
means of manufacturing pens, pencils, and markers, and a local factory,
and also by the way of sales of hay, barley,
and wheat and other agricultural skills. Within the one point
five million acres of land that still belongs to the
Blackfoot people, there are many points of interest in historical sites,
(01:53):
which include the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, conceived for the
promotion of the culture, language, and traditional ways. The Blackfoot
also reside in Canadian areas of Saskatchewan and Alberta. These
areas were once controlled solely by the Blackfoot tribe before
white settlers moved in, but in eighteen eighty three to
eighty four, the Blackfoot suffered a great famine because they
(02:15):
were limited as to where they could hunt and the
buffalo population in the area had been wiped out. Completely
dependent on the US government at this point, the Blackfoot
sold over eight hundred thousand acres of land to the
United States that would become part of Glacier National Park
in nineteen ten. The sales completed in eighteen ninety five
under the rest of the tribal chief Flight Calf. He
(02:36):
was concerned with the loss of the sacred mountain land
and access to the area. The government made a deal
with the tribe to access to the area free of
charge for religious purposes, but not until well into the
nineteen hundreds, and they were still restricted from hunting the area,
even though they were struggling with food shortages. A famous
saying from a tribe's woman is still true to this day.
(02:56):
It goes as follows, we are put here for purpose,
and that is to guard our Columbia River basin. That
is why we are still here, and that is why
the spirits are never going to let us go. Ashley
Heavy Runner Louring Young Lady, has become the unofficial face
of the epidemic of the missing. Many websites, podcasts, news outlets,
(03:18):
YouTube channels, and even politicians have spoken about her case.
The lack of resources and attention given to the cause
for investigations, searches, and manpower often caused delays that are
crucial in the beginning of missing person cases. After the
cases are reported and searches commenced, initial attention is usually
only a few days to weeks for the cases either shelved,
(03:39):
waiting for leeds, or goes completely cold. Funding is almost
always an issue. Having interviewed many families over the last year,
the constant topic as to why searches were skilled back
was money and lack of manpower. President Joe Biden created
and signed into law a task force on November fifteenth,
(03:59):
twenty one called Operation Lady Justice aka Savannahs Act, Non
Invisible Act and the already established Missing and Murdered Indigenous
Persons Initiative that's in Executive Order one four zero five
to three that's supposed to help handle these issues as
well as provide a liaison for the families of the
missing and murdered. These acts were to focus on bringing
(04:22):
together the Departments of Health and Human Services, Departments of
the Interior, Department of Justice, and the tribal Council members
to help aid families in searches for the missing. Having
asked the families about contact from the liaison, most have
said they either never had contact or minimal contact with
no follow up. The same can be said for most
(04:42):
tribal police departments. There is no one reason for the
slow response, but it's mostly budget cuts and lack of funding.
Ashley's sister, Kiberly Loring, has led her sister's missing persons
investigation since the case stalled back in twenty seventeen. In
February of two, twenty eighteen, the FBI joined the cold
case at the Bureau of Indian Affairs request. Another issue
(05:05):
with missing Indigenous cases is jurisdictional arguments among policing entities.
Reservations are federally owned land, meaning several law enforcement agencies
can conduct their own investigations separately or choose to join together.
In Ashley's case, the FBI didn't join local tribal police
and the BIA until two months into the investigation. The
(05:26):
following account is the facts as they're told by family
members and police reports available to the public online and
through their departments. Twenty year old Ashley heavy Runner Loring
was a vibrant and beautiful woman just starting her life
in Glacier County, Browning, Montana, on a ranch when she
went missing. Ashley's described as having a big heart, positive attitude,
(05:47):
and a selfless desire to help people, especially missing Indigenous people.
She started to take notice of the hundreds of missing
Native peoples, not just here in the States, but around
the world. She was said to have discussed this with
her sister Kimberly right before she herself went missing. Sis,
those girls are going missing in Canada. Something is happening
(06:08):
to them and I want to help. Her older sister,
Kiberly recalled Ashley saying she wanted to bring awareness to
their plight, one of the many selfless conversations she had
with her sister before she disappeared. Just a few months
after having this conversation with Kimberly, Ashley would disappear under
baffling in mysterious circumstances. Ashley was attending Blackfeet Community College
(06:30):
studying environmental science. Loxey Louring, Ashley's mother said of her
daughter she loved horses and the rain. Ashley is smart, athletic, positive,
and always willing to help someone. Childhood friend is quoted
as describing her as emotionally, physically and spiritually strong. On
(06:51):
June fifth, twenty seventeen, Ashley heavy Runner Loring went by
her parents' house, and it was reported she was seen
later that day or evening at a party. Family and
friends had tried to reach out to her, but calls
and texts went unanswered, and voiced messages went unchecked, never
being returned. She was constantly losing phones or breaking them,
and so we thought that might be the case. Her
(07:14):
family said it was not unheard of for Ashley to
fall off for a couple of days, but not for
this long. The family also thought that Ashley may have
been visiting another family member, but when Ashley's father was
unexpectedly hospitalized for liver failure and she didn't return several
urgent calls telling her that he was in the hospital,
they knew something was very, very wrong, as they are
(07:36):
a very close knit family. At the time her disappearance,
she was planning to move in with her sister Kimberly,
in Missoula and attend the University of Montana. When Kimberly
returned from Morocco after visiting her fiancee, Ashley was supposed
to move in with her to start their lives new together.
Something terrible happened to my sister, She says. She was
(07:58):
so friendly and so willing to try people, and that's
why I believe Ashley was taken advantage of and was hurt.
Because of the person she is. We won't give up
looking for someone in the community knows where she is.
That was a quote from Kimberly for People magazine. The
family reached out to other family members and friends of Ashley,
(08:19):
hoping they had seen her or knew where she was,
but no one in her family had heard anything from
her since June five. Last night, anyone saw Ashley. She
had attended a party and there's a video over sitting
on a couch talking to friends and having a good time.
She had messaged her sister asking if Kimberly could send
her some money. Kimberly replied that she couldn't because she
(08:41):
was out of the country. She asked Askedy if she
was okay, in which she replied yes. When it was
determined that Ashley was indeed missing, Kimberly went to tribal
and Blackfeet law enforcement to report her sister missing. Initially,
the police took the common attitude of she's an adult
and allowed to go missing, but after a couple of days,
(09:02):
the police launched a three day search for Ashley. When
the search concluded, they stopped communicating with the family and
were less helpful. The family then went to the Bureau
of Indian Affairs, and although they did end up helping
Ashley's family, it took them two months to get seriously involved.
It's not a crime for an adult to go missing,
and because Ashley is twenty years old, she could go
(09:23):
anywhere anytime without permission. However, this was completely out of
character for Ashley's family. Feels like law enforcement didn't handle
her case the way they should have. Invaluable time, impossible
evidence was lost justin louring. Ashley's uncle says they should
have taken it serious from the beginning. They meaning law
enforcement just kind of blew it off as she was
(09:45):
of legal agent. She's just out there. She could do
what she wants. About two weeks after Ashley went missing,
the family received their first tip. Someone contacted them and
said they witnessed a young woman running from a vehicle
on US Highway eighty nine on the Blackfeet Reservation. That
area is known to be lonely, desolate and surrounded by
(10:06):
thick vegetation and forests that's swamp light. Another search was
formed and family and friends went to search the area.
A few hours into the search, they found a gray
sweater that looked just like one Ashley owned. The sweater
was collected and turned over to the BIA for testing.
As time passed and the family became more desperate for
law enforcement to take Ashley's case serious, Kimberly took it
(10:28):
upon herself to go out and conduct daily searches on
the Blackfeet Reservation and in the surrounding areas, teaching herself
along the way how to do the detective work that
the police weren't doing. She would read messages, search social
media sites, take phone calls, and follow up on all
tips and leads. While doing all this work, she stayed
in contact with local law enforcement and the BIA. It
(10:52):
was on one of these phone calls in the BA
that Kimberly found out that the sweater they had found
and submitted for testing had never been sent to the
crime lab. It had in fact been sitting in an
evidence box at the Bureau of Indian Affairs for months.
On another search, another sweater was found, along with a
pair of red stained boots. The sweater was torn and
(11:12):
had red stains on it as well that appeared to
be blood. Both of these clothing items were found on
the reservation in the Northern Edge area by a house
owned by fifty two year old Sam McDonald. Before Ashley disappeared,
she had been struggling with a bad breakup with her
first love and the loss of her grandfather. To cope,
Ashley experimented with drugs and hanging out with an older
(11:34):
crowd that did and supplied them. This crowd included Sam McDonald.
In fact, mister McDonald was one of the last people
to see Ashley by his own admission. During questioning, he
admitted that he had partied with Ashley for a few
days after she was last seen by her family, and
claimed that she asked him to take her to pull
off on the black Feet Reservation to meet a guy
(11:57):
named v Dog or Paul Venezuela could pick her up.
He stated he took her to the place she had
asked him to and they fell asleep in the car.
When he woke up, Ashley was nowhere to be seen,
and after looking for her for a while, he assumed
she left with the other guy like she had planned.
Sam McDonell simply left the area and returned home. He
(12:18):
was questioned about Ashley's disappearance and his house was searched.
Items that were taken from his home were tested along
with the other items that were found by the family.
The test results have never been released. Nine months after
Ashley Heavy Runner at Loring disappeared, the FBI finally took
over the case because the investigation took local police off
the reservation into nearby states. The FBI found the man
(12:42):
known as v Dog or Paul Venezuela, a man in
his fifties and a known criminal with an extensive record.
Paul and his then wife, Tashina Running Kane, also known
as Tea, were having issues in their marriage, and Ashley's
family had reported that Ashley and Pall had been seeing
each other prior to her disappearance. A month after the
(13:04):
FBI started their investigation and questioning the couple, Paul filed
for a divorce from Tashina. She told police she had
no idea that her husband was seeing Ashley until after
she learned that Ashley was missing. Ashley's family has not
lost hope nor given up looking for her. Sister Kimberly
told The Great False Tribune in twenty twenty, the not
(13:26):
knowing is the worst part. We're holding on to hope
and we will bring her home. We try to look
on the bright side, but we are living a nightmare.
As of the making of this video, there have been
no arrest and no new leads in this case. The
Loring family deserves answers and justice. Ashley deserves to be home.
(13:52):
Ashley Heavy Runner Loring was last seen at her parents'
house and then at a party on June five, twenty seventeen,
in Glacier County, Browning, Montana. Ashley is described as being
a Native American member of the Blackfeet tribe, having brown
hair and brown eyes. She stands five foot two and
was twenty years old at the time she went missing.
(14:13):
No one has been named a person of interest, nor
have been named as a suspect in this case, and
no arrest have been made. Kimberly Loring did everything she
could think of to help aid in the search's investigations.
Frustration turned to determination and to bring attention and change
to cases. Like her sisters, Kimberly ended up testifying and
from the Senate about her experiences, struggles, and mismanagement of
(14:36):
evidence in Ashley's case. She's quoted as saying, from the
very beginning, both the Blackfeet Tribal law enforcement and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs have ignored the dire situation that
Ashley is in and have allowed the investigation to be
handled in a dysfunctional manner. This isn't just a reality
for our family, but a reality for many missing Indigenous
(14:58):
women's families. Ashley's case is but one of thousands of
missing Indigenous women, children, and men just in the United
States alone. The families of the missing are in crises
trying to find people to help get their loved one
stories out and circulate in the public forums, newspapers, vlogs, blogs,
national news outlets, anywhere they can get eyes and ears
(15:20):
and attention on these stories. Since Ashley's disappearance, Kimberly Loring
has quit her job, moved back home, and continues to
search for her sister. She's completed more than one hundred
and twenty searches with very little if any assistance from
the police, FBI, BIA, and the Blackfeet Tribal police. It's
(15:42):
believed that Ashley heavy Runner Loring doesn't have access to
her phone and may have been headed to the Washington
State area. There was no further information as to why
this was a possibility. If you, or anyone you know
has any information on the Ashley Lowering heavy Runner disappearance
or the eventually up to it, no matter how small
or insignificant it may seem, you're asked to police contact
(16:04):
the Browning Police Department at four zero six three three
eight four zero zero zero, or call the Blackfeet Tribal
Law Enforcement Dispatch Center four zero six three three eight
for zero zero zero or the FBI Salt Lake City
Field Office at eight zero one five seven nine one
(16:26):
four zero zero are toll free at one eight hundred
call FBI Tips can also be submitted online at tip
dot FBI dot gov. In order to help raise awareness,
everyone is asked to share the hashtag find Ashley heavy Runner.
There is one update. Several podcasts and news outlets of
(16:49):
updated the Ashley heavy Runner louring case, but it seems
there are no new leads. If there are, police are
keeping them quiet. In twenty twenty one, Up and Vanished
podcast recorded an update on the Ashley heavy Runner louring
case and conducted an interview with her sister, Kimberly. In
January of this year, twenty twenty two, Any True Crime
(17:10):
blog also gave an update with some very interesting statistics
for missing Indigenous cases. There are several rewards offered by
different agencies and by Luring's family Up and Disappeared as
offering fifty thousand dollars for information in her case that
leads to the arrest, and the family is offering up
to fifteen thousand dollars. There have also been several awareness
(17:32):
walks to bring attention to her case and the thousands
of other missing Indigenous cases across the United States. Reservations again,
I do you have any information about Ashley heavy Runner Loring,
Please contact the FBI or your local law enforcement entity. Well, folks,
there you have it. What a tragic case. One that
wanted to help the missing goes missing herself. I look
(17:56):
forward to your comments, but please keep it friendly and respectful.
The families and the victims do watch these videos and
leave comments. In the meanwhile, be good to yourselves and
each other, and be careful out there. As for me,
I'll see you a little farther on down the trail.
I'm Steve Stockton, and I'll talk to you next time.
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