Families of the missing question whether higher payouts will draw tips
The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the $25,000 minimum reward as part of what officials described as a broader effort to address high rates of violence affecting Native American communities. The new floor applies to more than 50 unsolved homicides and missing-person cases in tribal communities, according to an Associated Press analysis of the FBI’s announcement.
The FBI investigates federal crimes on nearly 200 Native American reservations alongside the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. At the end of 2025, the FBI’s National Crime Information Center recorded just under 1,500 active cases involving missing Native Americans, the agency said. The FBI noted that not all of those cases become federal investigations.
Most of the cases affected by the new minimum are less than 10 years old, the AP found. About a dozen of the cases have been unsolved for more than two decades.
Victims’ families and experts told the AP they were skeptical that the higher amounts would be enough to get tipsters to come forward. They cited widespread fear and distrust of the federal government in tribal communities.
“Everybody’s scared in Oglala,” Lisa Carlow said. Her father, Patrick Carlow Sr., was found dead in his Pine Ridge Reservation home in 2023. “So to me it’s like, okay, what do you guys know that you’re not saying?”
The FBI cited specific cases in its announcement. One was 8-year-old Maleeka Boone, whom investigators said was likely struck by a vehicle on the Navajo Nation. The agency also cited San Carlos Apache teenager Emily Pike, whose body was found after she disappeared from an Arizona group home.
Families and experts said they remained skeptical that the higher dollar figure would draw tips, citing the fear and distrust of the federal government they described on reservations.