For nearly two years, the disappearance of Sa’Wade Birdinground has remained an unanswered mystery in Montana.

Now the FBI has placed her case back into the national spotlight.

On Aug. 18, the bureau launched a new initiative called Voices Not Forgotten, designed to bring renewed attention — and potentially significantly larger rewards — to unresolved homicides, kidnappings and missing-person cases in Indian Country.

Out of the many cases the FBI investigates across Tribal communities, only six were specifically highlighted when the program was announced.

Sa’Wade was one of them.

The decision does not solve the mystery of what happened to the Crow teenager after she disappeared from her family’s home in Garryowen, Montana, on Oct. 6, 2024.

But it dramatically expands the audience being asked to help find her.

A case that has long been painfully familiar in Montana and the Crow community is now being presented as one of the FBI’s nationally highlighted examples of unresolved Indian Country casework.

And the central question remains the same:

What happened to Sa’Wade after she left home — and who may know something that investigators still need to hear?

She Disappeared Without Any Known Contact

Sa’Wade was 13 when she vanished from her family’s residence in Garryowen, within the Crow Indian Reservation.

According to the FBI, there have been no known contacts with her family or friends since the night she disappeared.

Investigators have repeatedly emphasized that her disappearance was unusual.

The FBI described Sa’Wade as quiet, kind and artistic, someone who liked to laugh and was well liked by classmates and teachers. Authorities said she had never previously run away from home or been in serious trouble.

Leaving without contact was considered completely out of character for her.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs continues to list her missing-person investigation as Open.

Its case page says Sa’Wade was last known to be in Garryowen and describes her as having brown curly hair and brown eyes, standing about 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing roughly 130 to 140 pounds.

She was last seen wearing a black mushroom-print hoodie, an anime T-shirt, basketball shorts and purple slip-on Skechers. Authorities have also said she may have had a black-and-purple Adidas backpack and was known to wear an elk-tooth necklace.

Despite extensive efforts, the case has not been closed.

The Reward Kept Growing

As the months passed without answers, federal authorities increased the pressure for information.

In June 2025, the FBI announced a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to Sa’Wade’s recovery.

At the time, she had already been missing for eight months.

The FBI also established a dedicated tip line and said investigators had conducted dozens of interviews, searched hundreds of acres and deployed technical resources as part of the investigation.

The effort extended beyond the FBI.

The bureau has worked jointly with Crow BIA law enforcement and the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, while the Crow community continued raising awareness about the missing teenager.

In 2025, family members, friends and community members gathered for a walk and balloon release marking eight months since Sa’Wade disappeared.

Crow Nation Chairman Frank White Clay said at the time that missing-person cases on the reservation often receive a rapid response, but Sa’Wade’s disappearance had become an exception because so much time had passed without finding her.

Then the financial incentive increased again.

On April 1, 2026, the FBI announced that its reward for information leading to Sa’Wade’s recovery had risen to $15,000.

Special Agent in Charge Justin Gerkin said investigators remained committed to bringing her home and urged anyone with information — even something that might appear insignificant — to come forward.

But Sa’Wade still was not found.

Then Came a Much Bigger Federal Push

The next major development arrived on Aug. 18, 2026.

FBI Director Kash Patel announced Voices Not Forgotten, a national initiative focused on unresolved violent crime in Indian Country.

The FBI said the program establishes a new protocol creating a minimum reward of up to $25,000 for publicly advertised qualifying cases involving homicides, kidnappings and missing persons in Indian Country where the FBI has jurisdiction.

The bureau also created a searchable Indian Country case page designed to make it easier for members of the public and Tribal communities to locate case information and submit tips.

The FBI did not simply announce the program in abstract terms.

It chose six unresolved cases to highlight:

Angel Beach, Sa’Wade Birdinground, Maleeka “Mollie” Boone, Logan Warrior Goings, Mary Johnson (Davis) and Emily Pike.

The bureau described them as cases involving significant unsolved casework in Indian Country.

That placed Sa’Wade in a far more prominent national position than before.

Why Was Sa’Wade One of the Six?

The FBI has not publicly given a separate, case-specific explanation spelling out exactly why Sa’Wade was chosen over every other unresolved case.

But its own records make clear why her disappearance fits the purpose of the initiative.

She was a child when she disappeared.

Authorities say there has been no known contact with family or friends.

Her behavior was described as completely out of character.

Her case remains open despite interviews, land searches, federal resources, Tribal cooperation and progressively larger rewards.

And nearly two years after she disappeared, investigators are still asking the public for the piece of information that could change everything.

The new initiative is built specifically around that problem: old or stalled cases in which public attention may help generate a tip investigators have not previously received.

The FBI said Voices Not Forgotten was also developed in response to requests from Tribal communities and recommendations connected to the Not Invisible Act Commission, including calls to make information about missing and murdered Indigenous people easier to find.

More Resources Have Already Been Sent to the Area

The national campaign is not the first time the federal government has increased its involvement in Sa’Wade’s case.

Under the FBI’s earlier Operation Not Forgotten initiative, the bureau more than doubled the number of special agents assigned to Indian Country work through its Billings Resident Agency.

Those agents were tasked with helping investigate Sa’Wade’s disappearance alongside other cases.

That history makes the latest development especially notable.

The progression has been steady:

A $5,000 FBI reward.

Then $15,000.

Additional federal agents and investigative resources.

And now Sa’Wade’s name is among just six cases showcased under a new nationwide FBI initiative accompanied by a broader reward protocol for qualifying Indian Country investigations.

Yet the most important fact has not changed.

Sa’Wade is still missing.

Someone May Still Know Something

The FBI’s strategy behind Voices Not Forgotten depends heavily on public participation.

Patel said the bureau wants to use awareness in a way similar to its most recognizable wanted-person campaigns — putting unsolved cases in front of more people in hopes that someone recognizes a name, a face or a detail.

The bureau says tips can remain anonymous.

For Sa’Wade’s family, however, the national initiative is not simply about statistics, reward money or a new FBI webpage.

It represents another attempt to answer a question they have lived with since October 2024.

Where is Sa’Wade?

Investigators have searched.

Rewards have increased.

More agents have been assigned.

And now her disappearance has been elevated from a Montana missing-person investigation into one of the FBI’s nationally highlighted unresolved Indian Country cases.

The new attention may bring thousands more eyes to her photograph.

But ultimately, the case may still depend on one person deciding that something they saw, heard or were told is finally worth reporting.