They Vanished Into New Mexico’s Silence
New Mexico is a land of beauty, spirit, and history — but it is also a land carrying the weight of far too many missing Native American women. Women whose names rarely reach national news. Women whose families fight every single day for answers. Women whose disappearances remain unsolved, uninvestigated, or unexplained.
This isn’t a list.
This is a crisis.
And behind every name is a story cut short.
Today, I want to bring you into the lives of four women whose disappearances anchor this tragedy — Melissa Ann Montoya, Tanya Teresa Begay, Betty Ann Claw, and Latisha Candice Desiderio — then widen the lens to the dozens of others whose families are still searching.
New Mexico’s silence has gone on long enough.
THE CASE OF MELISSA ANN MONTOYA
On March 9, 2001, 42-year-old Melissa Ann Montoya, a Jicarilla Apache woman, celebrated the early St. Patrick’s Day festivities at a bar locals once knew as “The Zoo.” She told her cousin she was newly single — finally breaking away from a violent, controlling boyfriend she had feared to leave.
Moments later, he confronted her in the bar.
Then again.
Then again.
Witnesses say she left with him.
Her family never heard from her again.
Her boyfriend denied ever being there that night. Witnesses said otherwise. Shortly after Melissa vanished, he died — taking whatever truth he carried with him. Their home in Colorado burned; authorities found nothing.
Melissa has now been missing for 23 years.
She deserves answers.
Her family deserves truth.
If you have information about Melissa, call:
Jicarilla Apache Nation Police Department – 575-759-3222
BIA Jicarilla Agency – 575-759-3951
THE CASE OF TANYA TERESA BEGAY
On March 3, 2017, 36-year-old Tanya “Span/Tan” Begay, a Navajo woman, stopped at her aunt’s house on her way home to Gallup. She left with her boyfriend, Jason Thornburg, and disappeared.
Her car was later abandoned.
Her phone silent.
Her children waiting.
Days before she vanished, Thornburg reportedly assaulted Tanya with a glass coffeepot. She pressed charges — charges that were dropped once she went missing.
Years later, Thornburg was arrested in Texas for the brutal murders of three people. During interrogation, he confessed to killing Tanya as well — calling it a “human sacrifice.”
He has never been charged in her case.
Tanya’s family refuses to let her name fade.
Neither do we.
If you know anything, call:
Navajo Police Department / Gallup – local authorities
THE CASE OF BETTY ANN CLAW
On August 2, 1996, 50-year-old Betty Ann Claw vanished from Farmington, New Mexico. A mother, a sister, a woman with prescription glasses, scars from a car accident, and a life rooted in community.
Her family last saw her that day.
They reported her missing months later.
And then — nothing.
No media coverage.
No major search.
No answers in 28 years.
If you saw Betty Ann Claw or know anything about her disappearance, call:
San Juan County Sheriff’s Office – 505-334-7744
THE CASE OF LATISHA CANDICE DESIDERIO
On July 16, 2023 — just last year — 33-year-old Latisha “Sha” Desiderio was dropped off at the Basha’s parking lot in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Witnesses saw her enter a white pickup truck.
She was never seen again.
Sha is a mother.
A Navajo woman.
Someone with a name tattooed on her arm, hearts for her children etched into her skin, a rose on her elbow, a scar near her eye — the marks of a life lived, a life that mattered.
Her disappearance is one of the newest cases, and yet already slipping beneath the surface.
If you have information about Sha, call:
Navajo Nation Police – Crownpoint District
AND THEY ARE NOT ALONE
Here are just some of the Native American women missing from New Mexico — a list too long, too devastating, too unacceptable:
- Tanya Teresa Begay
- Ranelle Rose Bennett
- Stephanie Jena Brown
- Anthonette Christine Cayedito
- Betty Ann Claw
- Ashley Nicole Collins
- Theresa A. Concha
- Latisha Candice Desiderio
- Walcie Rae Downing
- Deidra Enoah
- Judith Fern Garcia
- Melanie Marie James
- Christine Julian
- Gloria Jean King
- Melena Montoya
- Melissa Ann Montoya
- Velma Jane Pinto
- Tamickia Tyrissa Platero
- Pepita Madalyn Redhair
- Tiffany Reid
- Ashley Elizabeth Rosales
- Cristina Nicole Rosalez
- Janson Franklinda Secody
- Bertina J. Shields
- Mathilda Silago
- Julia Vicente
Every single one of these women had a life, a history, a family, a community.
None of them should be reduced to a case number or a forgotten headline.
THE CRISIS THE WORLD IGNORES
New Mexico has some of the highest rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the United States. And yet, case after case evaporates into silence.
Witnesses vanish.
Evidence goes unattended.
Families are left to search alone.
And the nation shrugs, as if this crisis is normal — as if Native women are meant to go missing without the urgency other victims receive.
But these women deserve better.
Their children deserve better.
Their nations deserve better.
I say their names because silence is complicity.
And we will not be complicit.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY
- Share this article. Awareness saves lives.
- If you live in New Mexico, amplify these cases locally.
- Support Indigenous-led organizations addressing MMIW (Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women).
- Call in tips — even old ones — no detail is too small.
If you know ANYTHING about ANY of these disappearances, call local law enforcement or the tribal agencies listed above.
Someone out there holds the key to these women’s stories.
Someone knows.
Someone can bring answers home.
And until they do, we keep speaking their names.
Because forgotten women don’t get justice.
But remembered ones do.
