Alaska Vowed to Resolve Murders of Indigenous People. Now It Refuses to Provide Their Names.

Published: Friday, August 29, 2025 at 1:00 pm

Alaska Struggles to Track Indigenous Homicide Victims Despite Promises

Despite repeated pledges from state leaders to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, Alaska is facing criticism for its inability to readily provide basic data on homicide victims. A recent request from the non-profit Data for Indigenous Justice for a list of homicide victims investigated by state police was denied, sparking concerns about transparency and accountability.

The state's Department of Public Safety cited the time-consuming nature of compiling such a list, claiming it would require manually reviewing incident reports. This denial comes despite the existence of a state council focused on missing and murdered Indigenous people and the employment of investigators dedicated to these cases. The non-profit, which has been independently compiling its own database, argues that access to this data is crucial for understanding the scope of the problem and ensuring law enforcement takes these cases seriously.

The state's denial has drawn criticism, particularly given the state's public records law, which mandates the provision of records taking less than five hours to produce. The state has been publishing a quarterly list of missing Indigenous people since 2023. However, the state has not provided a list of Indigenous people who have been killed.

The non-profit has appealed the denial, highlighting the importance of data in addressing the crisis. The group's founder emphasizes that accurate data is essential to prevent individual cases from being dismissed and to acknowledge the scale of the issue.

BNN's Perspective:

While the state's commitment to addressing the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people is evident through the establishment of a council and dedicated investigators, the denial of data requests raises legitimate concerns. The state's explanation for the denial appears to contradict the spirit of transparency, and the lack of readily available data hinders efforts to fully understand and address this critical issue. A more proactive approach to data collection and sharing is needed to fulfill the promises made to Alaska Native communities.

Keywords: Alaska, Indigenous, homicide, missing, murdered, data, transparency, public records, law enforcement, Data for Indigenous Justice, Lisa Murkowski, Mike Dunleavy, Alaska Native, victims, investigation

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