Staffing shortages cripple federal probe into missing and murdered Native Americans

An Interior Department audit revealed that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Missing and Murdered Unit suffers from severe staffing gaps, with almost half of its posts unfilled and a third of the agency’s overall workforce cut. Between 2021 and 2024, the unit’s budget grew to $17 million, yet 39% was diverted to other BIA law-enforcement expenses, such as vehicle upgrades. The unit was managing 83 active investigations and roughly 400 pending referrals as of November 2024, but lacked a clear timeline for processing them.

Agents were overloaded, often performing research tasks in addition to field investigations, and families like those of Peter Martin, who vanished after a 2024 welfare check on the Fond Du Lac reservation, received minimal updates or victim-services assistance. The audit also noted that in most of the reviewed cases, assigned agents failed to contact specialized victim-services staff, leaving families to rely on external programs. While the bureau says it has adopted many audit recommendations, auditors say hiring weaknesses persist.