Episode 6 of Stolen: The Search For Jermain -- Trapped in An Abusive Relationship

In the latest episode of “Stolen: The Search for Jermain,” host Connie Walker uncovers details of Jermain and her former boyfriend’s abusive relationship through various social media posts and conversations with family and friends, learning more about the extent of trauma Jermain endured particularly in the year before her disappearance.  

 You can listen to Episode 6 HERE.

Since the podcast premiered in early March, host Connie Walker has investigated Jermain’s disappearance speaking with her friends, family, law enforcement and bystanders, uncovering inconsistencies in her case, sharing what life was like for Jermain at home on the Flathead Reservation in Montana, and the larger issue of domestic violence against Indigenous women in the U.S.

 

This episode once again highlights sensitive topics of domestic violence, as Connie continues to search for answers about what happened to Jermain. Her vast social media footprint proves to be a crucial and invaluable resource, enabling Connie to better understand and retrace the traumatic events Jermain experienced in the leadup to her disappearance. Connie learns more about the physical abuse Jermain suffered at the hands of Michael, and the custody battle around her two young boys that raged on during the year before she went missing. 

This true-crime podcast from Gimlet/Spotify premiered on March 1 and uncovers the missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) human-rights crisis disproportionately affects Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States, notably those in the FNIM (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) and Native American communities.

According to U.S. crime statistics, Native American women are more than twice as likely to experience violence than any other demographic. One in three Native women is sexually assaulted during her life, and 67 percent of these assaults are perpetrated by non-Natives.

Currently, the federal laws surrounding violent crimes create difficulties in dealing with non-Native perpetrators on native lands.

Podcast host Connie Walker, who is Cree from Okanese First Nation in Canada, has made it her life’s work as a journalist to tell the stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women. “Stolen: The Search for Jermain,” marks not only her first story with Gimlet Media but also the first U.S. case of a missing Indigenous woman that she’s investigated. 

  The podcast, “Stolen: The Search for Jermain,” is the first release since her acclaimed series “Missing and Murdered.”

“Stolen: The Search for Jermain” specifically focuses on the case of a missing Indigenous woman, Jermain Charlo, in Montana, who was out one evening at a bar in Missoula and never made it home. Over the course of eight episodes, Walker is on the ground in real time tracking down leads through the dense mountains of the Flathead Reservation, all while examining what it means to be an Indigenous woman in America, as Jermain was. 

Late last week, an announcement by U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland about the creation of an investigative unit  to probe cases of missing and murdered Native Americans felt like a major win for the Gimlet / Spotify podcast
“Stolen: The Search for Jermain."

The federal government formed a task force on the issue in 2019 to pursue such cases. Haaland said the new unit will expand on that work and establish a unit chief position to develop policy for the unit. The unit will review unsolved cases and work with tribal, BIA and FBI investigators on active cases as well, according to the department.

“Violence against Indigenous peoples is a crisis that has been underfunded for decades. Far too often, murders and missing persons cases in Indian country go unsolved and unaddressed, leaving families and communities devastated,” Haaland said in a statement. “The new unit will provide the resources and leadership to prioritize these cases and coordinate resources to hold people accountable, keep our communities safe, and provide closure for families.”