Emmilee Risling, 33, vanished along a lonely stretch of pavement known as End of Road, becoming the sixth Indigenous woman to disappear in just 18 months from the remote Northern California region known as the Lost Coast. Five months after she went missing, tribal police and the county sheriff’s department had largely halted their search for the mother of two, law student and accomplished traditional dancer.
This project follows the community, her family, and Yurok tribal officials who continue to look for Emmilee. It explores their efforts to cut through jurisdictional red tape, longstanding distrust of law enforcement, and generations of trauma that place Indigenous women at far greater risk of violent crime—and that also constrain the search for them.
This Picture: A dog walks along the End of the Road, an isolated corner of the neighboring Hoopa Valley Reservation where police received and investigated reports of Emmilee staying before her disappearance in October on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, in Wautec Village, California.
Abby Abinanti, chief judge of the Yurok Tribal Court, bows her head while talking about Emmilee's disappearance and the other women who have gone missing while she's lived in the Yurok community on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, in Klamath, California. This year Abinanti began implementing improvements to the tribal court system which she hopes could prevent similar cases and clear jurisdictional hurdles which prevents tribal law enforcement from following certain leads.
The town of Klamath, home of the tribal headquarters for the Yurok Tribe, dots the side of U.S. Highway 101 at sunrise on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Klamath, Calif. The Yurok Tribe issued an emergency declaration in February 2022 in response to the five instances of tribal women who had gone missing or been murdered in the previous 18 months. Emmilee is still missing, while she's listed on the California Missing Person's page she was never added to the FBI national database.
Mary Risling, 23, stands next a picture of her missing sister, Emmilee, as their parents look through childhood photos of Emilee at their family home on Friday, January 21, 2022, in Mckinleyville, California. Emmilee's family continues the receive anonymous tips about the case from tribal members who don't want to speak with police.
Photos of Emmilee and her family on a trip to Disneyland seen in their family home on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022.
Yurok Tribal Police Chief Greg O' Rourke visits the last location Emmilee Risling was seen before her disappearance in October on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, in Klamath, California. O'Rourke, who is Yurok and grew up in Klamath, lead the investigation and cited a mistrust in law enforcement as a leading factor in his department's inability to solve the case.
Yurok Tribal Police Chief Greg O' Rourke drives through the Yurok Reservation while revisiting the sites where Emmilee was last seen on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, in Klamath, Calif. The Yurok Reservation stretches over nearly 90 square miles of heavily forested hills and river beds, making a comprehensive search for Emmilee nearly impossible.
Students at Trinidad Elementary School, which is located on state land between two separate tribal reservations, are taught Yurok histories during a course meant to foster cultural roots among tribal youth on January 19, 2022, in Trinidad, California.
Maile Kane, 13, left and her sister Gracie Kane, 9, jump on a trampoline outside their home on Thursday, January 20, 2022, in Hoopa Valley, California. The sisters' mother Brandice Davis, was childhood friends with Emmilee, and their father Bob Kane, the former Hoopa Valley Tribal Police, helped search for Emmilee. They said they worry about their own girls' safety as recent cases continued to go unsolved.
Brandice Davis talks about Emmilee’s case while walking with her daughters Maile Kane, 13, and Gracie Kane, 9, near their home on the Hoopa reservations on Thursday, January 20, 2022, in Hoopa Valley, California.
A vehicle’s headlights are seen through the fog along a section of U.S. Highway 101 near the town of Klamath on January 21, 2022. Despite fresh leads and community efforts, Emmilee’s case remains inactive and Emmilee is still missing.