NewsLocal NewsWestern Montana News

Actions

Two years have passed since Jermain Charlo disappeared in Missoula

Jermain Charlo
Posted at 9:33 AM, Jun 17, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-17 15:21:26-04

MISSOULA — Two years ago on June 16, Jermain Charlo went missing from Missoula.

Charlo’s aunt, Velenda Morigeau, said everything reminds her of Jermain.

"We never move on," she said Tuesday. "Even if we find her not alive, that we can find whoever killed her to bring them to justice."

Charlo is from Dixon and her 25th birthday was in April. She has two sons.

"Her boys don't know where she is. One day your mom's home, and you're so little that you don't understand that she's gone missing. You just don't understand why she's not home every night." Morigeau said, "she's a great mom."

Charlo has become a face of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement in Montana.

"Never give up hope. Never stop fighting to bring justice to the women who are gone on, never stop looking for those loved ones that are still missing," Morigeau to.ld MTN News.

A local search and rescue group -- The Lifeguard Group -- has conducted 18 searches for Charlo and has another planned for Friday, June 19.

“As days go by, the odds go further and further away from our favor. But the fact that she’s still missing, the family deserves for us to look. If it was my kid, I would be out looking, and I’d want others to help,” said Lifeguard Group executive director Lowell Hochhalter.

The Missoula Police Department has completed search warrants and interviews and investigated dozens of leads in the case.

"It's important for us to find out all we can, to provide some closure on this case for this family," said Missoula Police Department spokesman Sgt. Travis Welsh.

Morigeau said the family won’t stop looking.

"We have to keep searching for as if she's still alive. That's our biggest hope, is that when we find her she's still with us."

Anyone with any information about Jermain Charlo is asked to call Missoula Police Detective Guy Baker at (406) 396-3217.

Friday's search will begin at 1 p.m. starting at the Evaro Bar on US Highway 93 North.