Jackley appoints Marlys Big Eagle

PIERRE—South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has named longtime victim advocate Marlys Big Eagle as the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person specialist, bringing a veteran of nearly three decades with the U.S. Department of Justice into a position designed to coordinate investigations involving missing and murdered Native people.

Big Eagle, an enrolled member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, spent 27 years with the Justice Department, including 23 years as a supervisory victim-witness coordinator.

She also served as the Justice Department’s first Native American Outreach liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person cases in Indian Country.

“Marlys has spent her career helping victims of violence and families looking for missing loved ones,” Jackley said in announcing the selection. “Her credibility with tribal communities, law enforcement, and prosecutors makes her an outstanding choice.”

Big Eagle has received the U.S. Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service in Indian Country for her work assisting victims and Native communities.

The MMIP specialist works within the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office and is intended to help bridge jurisdictional gaps that can complicate investigations involving Native people, particularly when cases involve tribal, state, local and federal law enforcement agencies.

The position also serves as a point of contact for families trying to determine which agency is responsible for an investigation and where they can obtain information about a missing or murdered family member.

“I am deeply honored to be selected to assist families of missing or murdered Indigenous persons as they seek answers and confirmation about what may have happened to their loved ones,” Big Eagle said. “I look forward to working alongside other MMIP stakeholders and partners to help bring answers, support, and justice to these important cases.”

Big Eagle replaces Allison Morrisette, who had served in the position since 2022 and was South Dakota’s first MMIP specialist.

South Dakota established the position following passage of House Bill 1199 during the 2021 legislative session. The legislation was sponsored by then-Rep. Peri Pourier, D-Pine Ridge, and signed into law by Gov. Kristi Noem on March 29, 2021.

The legislation established an Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons within the Attorney General’s Office and called for cooperation among tribal, state and local law enforcement agencies in missing-person investigations.

At the time the legislation was considered, Native Americans represented a sharply disproportionate share of people listed as missing in South Dakota. State data cited during the debate showed 68 of 102 people then listed as missing were Indigenous, although Native Americans represented roughly 9 percent of South Dakota’s population.

Pourier told lawmakers at the time that a dedicated office could help make sense of information spread among different agencies and jurisdictions and improve efforts to reunite missing people with their families.

The bill received broad bipartisan support in both chambers of the Legislature.

Following the bill’s signing, Kellen Returns From Scout of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association described missing and murdered Indigenous people as an issue extending beyond partisan or state-tribal political disagreements.

“These are individuals who are missing, and we don’t know where they’re at,” Returns From Scout said at the time. “People have the ability and the power to intervene, and we should be intervening.”

The establishment of the South Dakota position came amid increasing federal and tribal attention to missing and murdered Indigenous people. Shortly after the South Dakota legislation was signed, then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced creation of a Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to increase federal investigative resources devoted to the problem.

The South Dakota law contemplated a liaison who could work across jurisdictional boundaries, assist investigations and pursue federal funding to help make the position permanent.

Big Eagle now takes over that responsibility with experience on both sides of that state-federal relationship and years of direct work with crime victims and their families.

“I am deeply honored,” Big Eagle said, “to assist families of missing or murdered Indigenous persons as they seek answers.”

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