19 August 2023
MOORHEAD Saturday, Aug. 19, marked a beautiful yet tough day for the family and friends of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind.
More than 50 people gathered at MB Johnson Park in north Moorhead to honor the 22-year-old’s life on the sixth anniversary of her death, hoping to bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women. First Nations Women’s Alliance Executive Director Sandra Bercier prayed that the slain mother was with them as they walked a mile in her memory, as well as the strength for her family to look to the future.
“It’s going to be a beautiful walk,” said Ruth Buffalo, a First Nations Women’s Alliance advocate and special projects coordinator who organized the event.
The walk was held in conjunction with the annual Native American Picnic for the Fargo-Moorhead area. The free event featured barbecue, inflatable games and other entertainment.
Saturday also marked the sixth birthday of LaFontaine-Greywind’s daughter, Haisley Jo. The child, LaFontaine-Greywind’s mother Norberta Greywind, and other family members led the march of roughly 50 people around the park. As one person sang while beating a Native American drum, a long line of people wearing red, a symbol for missing and murdered Indigenous women, walked in solidarity.
LaFontaine-Greywind was a member of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe. She was living in Fargo when she was killed Aug. 19, 2017.
Brooke Lynn Crews, 44, testified she lured the 22-year-old to her apartment before cutting LaFontaine-Greywind’s child from her womb, with intentions of claiming the baby was hers. LaFontaine-Greywind, who was eight months pregnant, died without medical care.
Nearly a week later, LaFontaine-Greywind’s body was found in the Red River.
Crews pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping a child and providing false information to law enforcement. She is serving a life sentence.
Crews’ then-boyfriend, William Henry Hoehn, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnapping a child and providing false information to investigators. A jury acquitted him on the conspiracy to commit murder charge after he denied any part in killing LaFontaine-Greywind.
Hoehn was sentenced in 2018 to 20 years in prison. At 38 years old, he is incarcerated in an Oregon prison, according to an online inmate records website.
The North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it moved Hoehn out of state in 2019 for “protective management purposes.”
LaFontaine-Greywind’s death prompted Congress to pass Savanna’s Act in 2020. It was meant to address a crisis of missing and murdered Native Americans by requiring more reporting and consultation between the U.S. Department of Justice, Department of Interior and tribes in developing national law enforcement guidelines.
Buffalo said the law has not been implemented across the U.S. She said she hoped Saturday’s walk would bring awareness to the gaps preventing the implementation of the law and reignite efforts to seek justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women.
“We just want to bring people together and continue to raise awareness,” Buffalo said.
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Taskforce of Fargo set up a gift registry for Haisley Jo, as she will attend kindergarten this year, Buffalo said. Those who wish to donate can go to shorturl.at/chA14 until the registry closes on Aug. 26.
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