Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis was last seen walking east along Fire Trail Road on the Tulalip Reservation on Nov. 25, 2020. The Tulalip tribal citizen was headed to a friend’s house for a ride to Arlington, but never arrived.
Johnson-Davis has not been in contact with her family or friends since. She is among an untold number of Indigenous women and people who have gone missing, have been found murdered or have died mysteriously over centuries.
“Missing From Fire Trail Road,” a documentary about her disappearance and the broader crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and people, is an official selection of the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary by French filmmaker Sabrina Van Tassel makes its world premiere on Saturday during the film festival.
Two of Johnson-Davis’ sisters, Nona Blouin and Gerry Davis, are among those scheduled to attend the premiere. Cissy Strong Reyes and Roxanne White are also among those traveling to be there. Both are strong advocates for their missing and murdered loved ones and friends, and the greater Indigenous community, and both appear in “Missing From Fire Trail Road.”
Reyes is excited and nervous about the premiere. She will have a poster featuring her sister, Rosenda Sophia Strong, when she walks the red carpet. Strong, a 31-year-old mother of four, disappeared in the fall of 2018. Her remains were found July 4, 2019 in an abandoned freezer outside Toppenish. She had been shot to death.
Seven people have been indicted in connection with the deaths of Strong and her accused killer, Jedidah Iesha Moreno.
Along with Strong’s poster, nine more posters with photos and information about missing and murdered Indigenous women will be on display at the premiere. They include Rosalita “Rose” Longee, Leona LeClair Kinsey and seven more women from the Yakama Reservation and Seattle area.
Longee was 18 when she went missing from Wapato on June 30, 2015. Longee left her residence after an argument and has never been heard from again. Kinsey disappeared from LaGrande, Oregon, in late October 1999. She had told a friend she was headed to the grocery store and then her friend’s house, but never arrived.
“I am excited and very nervous and just honored for being the voice of Rosenda and helping families along Roxanne and bringing awareness throughout Yakama/Yakima valley and on social media,” Strong said.
‘We miss our loved one’
Johnson-Davis’ husband reported her missing on Dec. 9, 2020. Tulalip Tribal Police and the FBI in Seattle are offering a combined reward of up to $60,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Johnson-Davis’ disappearance.
Veronica Jimicum, her cousin, traveled to Toppenish to talk about Johnson-Davis in early December 2021 at the first community listening session held by members of the then-new state attorney general’s task force on missing and murdered Indigenous women and people. The listening session took place at Legends Hotel Casino in Toppenish and was co-hosted by the Yakama Nation.
Jimicum shared Johnson-Davis’ story on behalf of Blouin and Davis, who couldn’t travel to the listening session that day. “We miss our loved one and want her home safe and sound,” she said.
Van Tassel interviewed Johnson-Davis’ family and tribal leaders. She worked with Deborah Parker, an advocate and former vice chairwoman of the Tulalip Tribe, on “Missing From Fire Trail Road.” Parker was executive producer of the film.
White has worked with and advocated for Johnson-Davis’ family since shortly after Johnson-Davis disappeared. White founded Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women, People & Families to represent all missing and murdered Indigenous people with its main focus on supporting families and raising awareness through cultural healing and frontline action.
In a recent Facebook post, White thanked Van Tassel and others for the “powerful documentary.”
“My prayers (are) that someone watches this documentary … remembers something about #MaryEllenJohnsonDavis and … those last hours and days before she mysteriously vanished,” she wrote.