Final-known photographs of lacking Montana mother are caught on tape. Will they result in a break within the case?

This story initially aired on Oct. 12, 2024. It was up to date on Jan. 7 and June 7, 2025.

On Freeway 93, en path to Missoula, it’s exhausting to overlook this billboard and Jermain Charlo’s haunting gaze. 

Missoula police detective Man Baker has been looking for Jermain for greater than six years. 

Det. Man Baker: After I see that billboard … I’m pissed off. … We’ve … simply time and time once more, come up empty handed …

The final recognized photographs of Jermain Charlo had been captured on surveillance video on Friday, June 15, 2018, in downtown Missoula. Jermain is seen chatting with individuals outdoors a bar known as The Badlander. 

A bit of earlier than midnight Jermain walks away from the digital camera, a person by her facet, and disappears into the night time.

Six years later, with no arrest and no publicly named suspect, police launched the video to “48 Hours” hoping to generate leads. 

Det. Man Baker:  Somebody on the market is aware of what occurred to Jermain Charlo. … Jermain walks out of view … so, perhaps any person noticed one thing … that has by no means considered contacting us. … so, if anyone has any details about that night time or any side of this investigation. I encourage them to name me. 

For Jermain’s aunts, Dani Matt and Valenda Morigeau, this painful ordeal started on Saturday June 16, 2018, with a name from Jermain’s grandmother.

Valenda Morigeau: She was very shut with my mother. My mother’s really the one who had known as me and stated, “Have you heard from Jermain?” And I stated, “No.”

The household says Jermain by no means went anyplace with out her telephone, so it might be uncommon for her to not textual content or name. They knew she had been in Missoula.

Valenda Morigeau: So, I saved calling her, calling her …

And when she didn’t reply her telephone, Matt had a sense one thing wasn’t proper.

Dani Matt: We’d known as … the hospitals, to the shelters, anyplace we may consider … simply ’trigger it was not pure for her to not discuss to my mom like she did every day.

Michelle Miller: She disappeared with no hint?

Dani Matt: Nothing.

The household was sick with fear. 

Nobody had heard from her, and he or she had not returned to her house on the Flathead Reservation, about 40 miles from Missoula. On Monday, June 18, 48 hours after Jermain was final seen, Morigeau contacted authorities for assist. 

Valenda Morigeau: As a result of she went lacking out of Missoula, I had known as Missoula Police Division to … allow them to know she had gone lacking. 

Valenda Morigeau: There was, like, no sense of let’s guarantee that we test all of the containers and guarantee that we’ve performed every part that we are able to to ensure she’s secure.

The household additionally contacted the Flathead Reservation police. 

Police Chief Craige Couture: We attempt to get as a lot info on the market as we are able to, attempt to get flyers, photos, no matter we are able to do on the market. … As the times go on individuals begin pondering, maintain on, perhaps there may be … extra to this than simply she’s gone.

Then, on June 20, 4 days after Jermain disappeared, Morigeau made the drive from the Flathead Reservation to the Missoula Police Division, formally filed a lacking particular person report and met with a detective assigned to Jermain’s case.

Valenda Morigeau: He did his “due diligence,” and he checked the hospitals and the homeless shelters. … I used to be informed that … she was not in fast hazard.

Morigeau knew in her coronary heart Jermain was in fast hazard. Frightened and pissed off, the household reached out once more.

THE SEARCH FOR JERMAIN CHARLO

Volunteer searches had been organized.

Jen Murphy: I’ve been on a few the searches …

Michelle Miller: Describe them to me.

Jen Murphy: They’re heartbreaking.

Jen Murphy is an educator dwelling in Montana.

Jen Murphy: Each little step that you simply take … it’s a grid search, so you possibly can’t be any farther than an arms-length aside … so that you simply don’t miss something. … So, grid looking out a mountain with timber which can be proper subsequent to one another is nearly unattainable.

Throughout a type of searches Murphy met Valenda Morigeau.

Michelle Miller: How would you describe your bond with Valenda?

Jen Murphy: She’s like a sister to me now.

Michelle Miller: So, her ache is your ache?

Jen Murphy: Completely.

After Jermain had been lacking for about 10 days, Baker, who’d simply come again from trip, volunteered to take over the case.

Michelle Miller: Is it uncommon for somebody to go lacking in Missoula?

Det. Man Baker: Uh, no. No … I believe we now have generally a number of individuals per week … 97, 98% statewide reported lacking individuals are discovered … so it’s that 2% which can be the tough ones.

Baker was involved Jermain’s case was amongst that tough 2%. Then, in mid-July, one month after her disappearance, there gave the impression to be a brand new and disturbing growth.

NEWS REPORT | JILL VALLEY | KPAX: Missoula police are involved {that a} lacking Dixon girl may be held someplace in opposition to her will tonight. They’re persevering with to analyze the disappearance of 23-year-old Jermain Charlo who additionally goes by the identify “Liz.”

Det. Man Baker: We had some info early on that there may need been some individuals in Missoula from outta state that had been making an attempt to purchase a lady, and I used to be pondering there was a connection there. 

Brittany Williams: There are literally thousands of rural areas and miles to go throughout this state and there are people who find themselves extraordinarily susceptible.

Brittany Williams is a Missoula County deputy lawyer.

Michelle Miller: Human trafficking is a big downside nationwide … However how does it differ in Montana?

Brittany Williams: I’d say it differs from a lack of expertise.

Brittany Williams: I believe individuals have an concept that Montana is rural and undeveloped, and we don’t have main crimes that happen right here, However the reality of the matter is we now have one of many largest interstates that runs by way of our state proper right here by way of Missoula, Montana.

Brittany Williams: There are individuals who might be swept away straight away and due to … lack of GPS or cell towers you would possibly by no means hear from that particular person once more, — in a matter of minutes, they could possibly be gone, they usually could possibly be trafficked to a different state … doubtlessly one other nation.

If Jermain Charlo was a sufferer of trafficking may legislation enforcement discover her?

WHERE IS JERMAIN CHARLO?

Whereas Detective Baker was investigating the likelihood Jermain Charlo could have been a sufferer of intercourse trafficking, her household was desperately making an attempt to get her again house. 

Dani Matt: We known as her telephone … looks like one million occasions over … tried to Fb, FaceTime –

Valenda Morigeau: Even from the time she was a bit of child … she had like the most effective character. she’s very outgoing …

Dani Matt: Stunning, resilient … animal lover. Oh gosh, the record of pets she had is —

Valenda Morigeau: I believe she had, like, a flying squirrel or one thing.

Dani Matt: After which a pig.

Valenda Morigeau: She had two pigs.

Valenda Morigeau: She’s very outdoorsy … she had all the time cherished to be by the river and fishing.

Morigeau was solely 10 when her niece Jermain was born. Quickly they had been as shut as sisters. 

Valenda Morigeau: When she was born, I didn’t like her in any respect (laughs) … I used to be the infant of the household, and he or she stole my thunder … after which sooner or later my grandma was cooking … and Jermain … she wanted to be fed. My grandma’s like, “hold this baby.” I used to be like … I keep in mind like taking a look at her, I used to be like, all proper you’re not that unhealthy. After which from that day on, she was my child. … she was my child sister. 

Jermain was artistic and imaginative. 

Valenda Morigeau: She was a tremendous artist.

Her dream was to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico.

Valenda Morigeau: She was like utilizing fingernail polish to make an octopus. … (laughs) she would, like, crochet grocery baggage to attempt to save the surroundings.

Dani Matt: That woman may do something she set her thoughts to. I swear she was so good and so proficient. 

Jermain grew up on the Flathead Reservation.

Dani Matt: You’ve bought the confluence of the Flathead and Jocko Rivers. You’ve bought the bison vary proper subsequent to you and mountains, you already know, so far as you possibly can see. A extremely robust sense of neighborhood. 

And Jermain Charlo’s roots run deep on this reservation. She’s a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes and a descendant of Chief Charlo, recognized for his peaceable resistance in the course of the 1870s when the tribe was pressured to maneuver from their ancestral land in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley to the Flathead Reservation. 

Michelle Miller: We’re on tribal land? 

Dani Matt: Sure.

Jermain was balancing life whereas coparenting her two younger sons, Jacob and Thomas. Her relationship with their father was strained. 

Valenda Morigeau: Oh, she was an amazing mom. … Her world revolved round these boys. She wished to show ’em all about fishing and looking … take ’em to the truthful, attempt to give ’em the most effective life she knew how. 

Jermain had been working on the Large River Cantina on the Flathead Reservation. She hoped to search out work as a seasonal firefighter and had an interview scheduled. However she didn’t present up. 

Michelle Miller: Is she the primary Native girl to vanish from the Flathead Reservation? 

Brittany Williams: No. 

Missoula County Deputy Legal professional Brittany Williams is aware of all of it too effectively. In Montana, Indigenous individuals make up solely about six % of the inhabitants, however 24 % of the state’s lively lacking individuals instances. 

Michelle Miller: Would you take into account it to be an epidemic?

Brittany Williams: I’d, sure.

Michelle Miller: And is there any indication why?

Brittany Williams:  I believe that there’s — that’s a really complicated query. There’s numerous historical past there.

Jen Murphy: I believe there’s simply so many various elements that go into every lacking particular person. From home violence to human trafficking, to poverty, to homelessness. 

As legislation enforcement started digging deeper into Jermain Charlo’s disappearance, they might rule out the likelihood the 23-year-old mom of two had been a sufferer of trafficking.

Brittany Williams: That was initially an avenue of investigation … Finally, I don’t imagine that she was trafficked.

Michelle Miller: Why? 

Brittany Williams: I believe that we now have sufficient proof by way of this investigation that lends itself to imagine one thing else has occurred to her.

Jermain posted a TikTok video, lip synching strains from a TV present the day she disappeared. It’s the identical picture seen in her lacking poster billboard. She’s carrying the identical garments within the surveillance video. 

Baker found the video early in his investigation, and he shared excerpts of it with “48 Hours.” He informed us that the person standing behind Jermain within the video was Michael DeFrance — Jermain’s ex-boyfriend and the daddy of their two youngsters. He agreed to talk with police with no lawyer. 

Michelle Miller: You imagine Michael DeFrance was the final particular person to see Jermain Charlo? 

Det. Man Baker: That’s what the investigation has decided — and he informed us that. 

Based on police, someday round midnight, DeFrance and Jermain walked away and bought in his 2011 brown Dodge truck.

Det. Man Baker: He stated that uh … they left the downtown space and that he … dropped her off … and that — that ended their night time collectively. 

Based on legislation enforcement, “Michael DeFrance stated he dropped Jermain off at the Orange Street Food Farm. Michael DeFrance did this because Jermain stated that her friend ‘Cassidy’ lived nearby, and Jermain was going to spend the night there.”

Michael DeFrance dropped Jermain off at roughly “0100 hours” — 1 a.m. Police didn’t discover a “Cassidy,” however they discovered Jermain had been visiting Missoula commonly as a result of she was courting a person named Jacob who lived in that neighborhood. 

Valenda Morigeau: They’d met on a courting app, they usually weren’t collectively for very lengthy … however it appeared like they’d a really robust connection, and he was simply completely infatuated together with her. 

Authorities say Jacob was out of city — miles away in one other state. Morigeau says he and Jermain had been texting one another that night time earlier than she disappeared. 

Valenda Morigeau: Her plan, in response to, like, her message to him, was that she was gonna return to his place that night time ’trigger he was out of city.

Based on legislation enforcement, when “Jacob attempted to call Jermain” shortly earlier than 1 a.m. on June 16, he “… thought it was strange because the phone rang several times before it went to voicemail. Jacob felt that somebody purposely ended the call.” 

Brittany Williams: And this specific name that was made to her has been proven by way of the service to have been silenced by somebody.

Jacob additionally informed police that the day earlier than she disappeared, “Jermain told Jacob that Michael had been yelling at her, asking if she was dating anyone and wanted to get back together with her.”

Police say Jacob cooperated with the investigation and was by no means thought of a suspect.

It’s unsettling to see Jermain Charlo, socializing that night time, and Michael DeFrance — the final recognized particular person to see her alive — and never know what they had been speaking about or what could have been occurring between them. 

DeFrance has not been named as a suspect in Jermain’s disappearance.

“48 Hours” confirmed the surveillance video to Morigeau and Matt. They’re seeing it for the primary time.

Dani Matt: Mm-hmm, there she is. 

Valenda Morigeau: For her to be strolling in entrance of him … it looks like he retains like making an attempt to catch as much as her.

They sensed Jermain was sending a message about DeFrance. 

Valenda Morigeau: And he or she’s … you already know we gotta go our separate methods.

KEEPING JERMAIN CHARLO’S CASE RELEVANT

Jermain Charlo by no means went anyplace with out her telephone. So, it was essential for investigators to search out it. 

Det. Man Baker: We bought cellphone information … linked to Jermain’s cellphone that indicated it was lively on the night time she disappeared, and it was lively a number of occasions, primarily between the hours of two a.m. … and up till nearly 10 a.m. on the sixteenth of June.

Michelle Miller: And the place was the telephone? 

Det. Man Baker:  So, the telephone’s by no means been recovered, so we don’t know the place the telephone was, however judging by the data we bought from the tower … it was most undoubtedly north of Missoula, and it was within the space of Evaro Hill.

Evaro Hill is on the Flathead Reservation. It’s a rugged space with a number of timber and wildlife. It’s a spot Michael DeFrance is aware of effectively. 

Brittany Williams: He lives particularly up on the Evaro Hill space … he was the final particular person to be with Jermain Charlo earlier than her life, as we all know it, got here to a standstill. 

Searches have been carried out on Evaro Hill, however Jermain was not discovered.

Jen Murphy: There’s all the time that hope that she’s on the market someplace.

Jermain’s household, got here up with the thought to place her lacking poster on a billboard. Jen Murphy expanded the household’s mission to incorporate extra lacking indigenous ladies.

Jen Murphy: I presently am doing a challenge with billboards all through Montana and all through america. … I attempt to — have billboards as near our reservations as attainable … making an attempt to guarantee that — chatting with the perpetrators too, like, “we see you.” 

The investigation into Jermain’s disappearance is only one of many instances of lacking and murdered Indigenous ladies – often called MMIW. In 2019, the Justice Division created a process power to analyze instances of lacking and murdered Indigenous individuals across the nation. 

Social media has helped to ignite the motion. On the 2024 Emmy Awards, “Reservation Dogs” actor and nominee D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai was on the purple carpet, bringing consideration to the disaster.

Jen Murphy: I really feel like we’re the entire human race and must be regarded for a similar. … It’s not like we’re asking for particular therapy, we’re simply asking for a similar therapy. … We’re not going to cease in search of our individuals … We’re not. Our lives matter.

A photograph shoot with Vina Little Owl was in the identical alley the place Jermain was final seen.

Jen Murphy: Begins out with … praying and making an attempt to set your self proper … to portray on the paint.

Vina Little Owl (main the prayer): We provide a second of silence in an area for our sisters. 

Michelle Miller: What does the purple hand imply? 

Jen Murphy: The purple handprint actually symbolizes … our individuals being silenced … how we now have all the time been checked out in another way and that our individuals haven’t been heard in the identical means that different individuals are. … That’s a harsh actuality and it has been for the reason that starting of time … since colonization.

Jermain’s household can’t assist however marvel about how her case was handled in these essential, early days within the investigation. 

Valenda Morigeau: After I reported her lacking, there was no sense of urgency. … I don’t know if it’s as a result of she’s … over … 18 or …  as a result of she was consuming or the truth that she was Native American. 

Lead detective Man Baker can’t converse to these first days of the investigation. Bear in mind, he didn’t get the case till 10 days after Jermain disappeared. However he’s effectively conscious that some lacking individuals instances do get extra consideration than others. 

Det. Man Baker: You recognize, simply have a look at our nationwide media. Gabby Petito goes lacking and have a look at the nationwide publicity she bought for per week or two for a Caucasian feminine and what number of lacking Native American females went lacking in that very same time interval and bought nothing. … so I’ve made a concerted effort … to maintain Jermain related. 

It’s Baker’s hope that by releasing the surveillance video to “48 Hours,” he’ll acquire new leads. For Morigeau and Matt, it’s the final glimpse of Jermain’s life the night time she disappeared.

Michelle Miller (watching the surveillance video): Do you see her? 

Valenda Morigeau: Yeah. … Being social.

Dani Matt: Foolish, being herself. 

It’s the final glimpse of Jermain’s life the night time she disappeared. 

Dani Matt: Jermain, her bubbly self is gorgeous to — to see her, um, hurts on the identical time, however, um, so energetic.

Then, they zero in on the person standing behind Jermain: Michael DeFrance.

Dani Matt (watching the safety video): Introduces him. 

Valenda Morigeau (watching the safety video): Then he’s bought his arms crossed like and rolls up his sleeves like making an attempt to intimidate whoever that dude is that she’s speaking to. 

Michelle Miller: Does it let you know something? 

Valenda Morigeau: It sort of exhibits me his demeanor that night time. … seems like he’s in a rush to depart and that he’s aggravated that she’s — her consideration isn’t targeted on him. 

Matt was stunned and relieved to see there have been different individuals — potential witnesses — within the alley that night time.

Danielle Matt: There’s lots of people which reassures me that any person is aware of one thing. Someone’s seen her … any person’s gotta know what that dialog was. 

Baker says he spoke with a number of of the individuals seen on the video, however as a result of this investigation remains to be lively, he wouldn’t say a lot about what he discovered.

Valenda Morigeau: I’m hoping that perhaps by likelihood, any person … noticed them and simply has no concept that she’s been lacking and says one thing and that is rather like the small lacking piece that we want.

A RELATIONSHIP UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Whereas authorities didn’t identify DeFrance as a suspect in Jermain’s disappearance, they did wish to be taught extra in regards to the couple’s relationship.

They began in the beginning. Jermain Charlo was 14 when she met 16-year-old Michael DeFrance in 2010 when his household moved in throughout the road. They each loved fishing on the river and taking lengthy walks. The kids had been virtually inseparable, however there have been purple flags.

Valenda Morigeau: I don’t keep in mind why I had her telephone, however, like, I had discovered some specific pictures of her on her telephone … like, you already know, I had talked about it to Michael … I used to be like, “she was never like this before,” like, “you know this is not OK. This is not something that you guys should be sharing at your age.”

Michelle Miller: What was his response?

Valenda Morigeau: He didn’t actually say a lot.

Regardless of household disapproval, Jermain continued to see DeFrance. Then in April 2013, simply two weeks shy of Jermain’s 18th birthday, Morigeau bought a harrowing name. 

Valenda Morigeau: There was an incident the place um, she had known as me and stated, “auntie I need you down here. Michael hit me.”

Based on courtroom paperwork, DeFrance, who was 19, admitted he assaulted Jermain: “On 4-14-2013 in Sanders County I caused bodily injury to my girlfriend.” The paperwork additionally state how he harm Jermain: “The Defendant made the following admissions: That he hit her 3 times. That he used his fist.”

Danielle Matt: It was exhausting to listen to that and see her undergo that and the emotional telephone calls and conversations that adopted … you already know, she was a child.

DeFrance pleaded responsible to accomplice member of the family assault. He wouldn’t serve any jail time, however he could be prohibited from possessing firearms.

Regardless of the violence, Jermain and DeFrance remained collectively. Jermain’s household says she was staying with DeFrance in a camper on his dad and mom’ property.

Just a few months later, DeFrance left city to work as a seasonal firefighter.

Jermain, alone, lonely, and dwelling in a camper, started sharing her world on YouTube:

I’m house alone for 2 extra weeks. So, on daily basis, weblog will most likely be solely me till my boyfriend/fiancé will get house from work. 

I often don’t do a lot. I’m simply … presupposed to be a housewife.

Valenda Morigeau: She was superb about hiding ache … and attempt to faux like every part was OK. 

Quickly, they had been younger dad and mom elevating their two boys. However Morigeau says the violence continued. 

Valenda Morigeau: A number of occasions of getting telephone calls and taking place to ensure she was OK and … it was exhausting for us to look at her return, however that’s what occurs to numerous ladies who had been victims of home violence.

Danielle Matt: They’d break up and make up and breakup and make up.

Based on Matt, the couple finally broke up for good in 2017. 

Danielle Matt:  Michael … nonetheless wished Jermain to do as Michael stated. And, so, when Jermain began to create a life with out him, um, it looks like issues bought worse for her … she was the mom of his children and needed to sort of stroll on eggshells round what Michael wished or how you already know he pictured her or wished her to be as mother.

In early 2018, simply months earlier than her disappearance, Jermain and DeFrance had a heated custody battle over the boys. Based on her household, Jermain had restricted assets. DeFrance, it appeared, had extra.

Danielle Matt: He had an lawyer. … She didn’t have an lawyer … Jermain … was working exhausting to search out stability with work.

A decide determined the children would stay with their father and he or she would have visitation rights. The parenting plan, says her household, was anxious for Jermain. Chayla Russell observed a change in her cousin’s conduct.

Chayla Russell: Michael had the boys and so she was lonely and scared for her security.

Michelle Miller: She was scared for her security?

Chayla Russell: Yeah … she would speak about having nightmares or being scared to be alone …

“48 Hours” requested an interview by way of DeFrance’s lawyer. He declined our request. 

Of their effort to search out Jermain, authorities secured quite a few search warrants, together with at the least two on DeFrance’s property. However as a result of that is an lively investigation, most of the search warrants have been sealed. 

Brittany Williams: Dozens of searches … for Jermain over the past six years. … there have been canine searches … Canines who’re skilled to detect our bodies. 

Det. Man Baker: Each place that we’ve searched has not yielded the proof that might give us the reply.

Michelle Miller: What do you assume occurred to her and why?

Det. Man Baker: All I can say with out compromising the investigation is I believe Jermain’s disappearance is a results of a prison motion. … and any person is aware of what occurred to Jermain, and we want their — their help. Someone is aware of one thing. 

One thing that all the time baffled Baker is what occurred to Jermain’s cellphone. Seems, DeFrance offered a solution.

WHAT HAPPENED TO JERMAIN CHARLO’S CELLPHONE?

Evaro Hill is the final recognized space the place Jermain’s cellphone was lively. Based on investigators it was pinging between 2 a.m. and 10 a.m. the morning after she was final seen.

Brittany Williams: It’s a really closely forested space, a number of completely different wildlife … After which, one — sole freeway that runs by way of the highest of Evaro Hill.

It’s the world the place Jermain’s ex, Michael DeFrance, was dwelling. In his preliminary assertion to police, he stated that he’d dropped Jermain off in Missoula round 1 a.m., and that she had her telephone together with her. So why was it lively on Evaro Hill, roughly 14 miles north of Missoula, hours later? DeFrance modified his story and stated her telephone was with him.

Brittany Williams: In a subsequent interview, he offered a press release that she left her cellphone and he tried to undergo her cellphone, and he was unable to get into her cellphone.

What he stated he did subsequent stunned Baker. DeFrance admitted that two days after he final noticed Jermain, he threw her telephone away.

Det. Man Baker: So, Mr. DeFrance had informed us throughout one among his interviews that he discarded, uh, Jermain’s cellphone in Idaho.

DeFrance, then working as a truck driver, informed authorities he disposed of Jermain’s telephone in Idaho at mile marker 94 on Freeway 12. Legislation enforcement searched the world, however by no means discovered the telephone.

Michelle Miller: I’ve to ask, why would he eliminate her cellphone? What clarification did he have?

Det. Man Baker: I –

Michelle Miller: You’ll be able to’t inform me?

Det. Man Baker: — can’t let you know.

Michelle Miller: … is that uncommon that somebody would – one, admit to having a lacking particular person’s cellphone after which, two, that they might dispense with it?

Det. Man Baker: Yeah. Why would you eliminate the cellphone if somebody was round to offer the telephone again to ’em?

Danielle Matt: Why would he have her telephone? … Why would he destroy it, throw it out at mile marker what the hell ever …  I — I don’t perceive.

Brittany Williams: I wouldn’t say Michael DeFrance just isn’t an individual of curiosity. I’d say that I’m not at liberty to say who’s or who just isn’t an individual of curiosity.

No suspects have been named in reference to Jermain’s disappearance. Police at the moment are contemplating the case a no physique murder, however with no physique, prosecuting a murder is a problem. 

Brittany Williams: I believe it’s essential for everybody to know that you simply solely get one chunk on the apple right here, just one shot. And so I wanna collect as a lot info to make sure a profitable prosecution, ought to we meet that crossroad.

Brittany Williams: It’s my perception that we’re near transferring ahead on this case.

Michelle Miller: Shifting ahead which means submitting fees in opposition to a suspect?

Brittany Williams: If it in the end is decided that that is prison means, completely. 

Brittany Williams: Jermain and her household deserve solutions. And it’s my hope … that somebody comes ahead, offers us some new lead that may result in justice.

Det. Man Baker: I’ve my cellphone on that billboard, not simply the police division’s foremost quantity, ’trigger I would like somebody to name me … as a result of I would like the data.

The billboard’s location was essential to Matt and Morigeau. It seems out towards the reservation and Evaro Hill, the place DeFrance was dwelling with Jermain’s two sons.

Dani Matt: I do know that Michael would most likely need to take that route … to come back to Missoula. And I believed, effectively, the boys may not be capable to see her in particular person, however that image will likely be there and … Jacob and Thomas may see their mom … each time they drove by there. 

Dani Matt: I hope all through these years that Thomas and Jacob haven’t forgot who their mom is, and I hope they know that she loves them very a lot.

In Missoula, there’s a special billboard, this one exhibiting Valenda Morigeau’s face. Her photograph stands as a stark reminder of the continuing disaster of Lacking and Murdered Indigenous Ladies. 

Valenda Morigeau: It took me a very long time to try this photograph shoot as a result of I don’t need individuals pondering that, like, I would like consideration on myself. … it’s not about me. It’s about Jermain. … We’ll now not be silent about our ladies going lacking. … We now have to combat for justice for our family members. 

Michelle Miller: Do you continue to plan on looking for Jermain?

Valenda Morigeau: All the time … I don’t care how lengthy it takes.

Valenda Morigeau: … I’m by no means gonna surrender on her. I don’t care if I’ve to go looking till I’m 80 years outdated.

Craige Couture | Flathead Reservation police chief: If this case isn’t solved and I retire, it’s not going away in my thoughts. … That’ll be a type of issues that will likely be with me till the day I die … That weighs on us. … That weighs on our tribal council. … Everybody right here thinks about it. 

Six winters have handed since Jermain disappeared. Matt and Morigeau now not imagine she is alive.

Valenda Morigeau: So, I’ve a present of when my household makes it to the opposite facet. When my grandma handed away, she got here and informed me she made it. … When my grandpa handed away, he informed me he made it.

Valenda Morigeau: And I had this dream and Jermain was there and he or she’s like … “I just wanted to tell you I found grandma and grandpa, and I’m fine.” … And he or she gave me a hug and he or she turned to stroll away. (crying) And I stated, “Jermain,” and he or she goes, “what?” I used to be like, “where’s your body?” … And he or she regarded me useless within the eyes, she stated, “it’s in Evaro.” She’s like, “I love you, but I have to go.”

When you have any info pertaining to Jermain Charlo’s disappearance, contact the Missoula Police Division at 406-552-6284. convic

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Produced by Marcelena Spencer and Emma Steele. Stephen A. McCain is the event producer. Richard Barber is the producer/editor. Diana Modica and George Baluzy are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.