Kriti Mehrotra
It was 2018 when everything turned upside down for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana as Jermain Charlo suddenly disappeared without a trace left behind. As explored in CBS’ ’48 Hours: Where is Jermain Charlo?,’ the 23-year-old mother of two was last seen outside a bar in Missoula, around 40 miles away from her home on the Flathead Reservation. However, despite extensive efforts and searches by officials over the past 7 years, her unsolved case has sadly become a part of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic.
Jermain Charlo Uncharacteristically Vanished After a Night Out
Born on the Flathead Reservation into a caring, prominent, as well as supportive family, Jermain “Liz” Austin Charlo was an extremely creative, independent, and outdoorsy woman. The truth is her roots ran deep, with her not only being a member of the Confederated Salish and the Kootenai tribes but also a descendant of the 1870s peaceful resistance trailblazer Chief Charlo. What’s more is that ever since she was a young girl, she showed signs she was living up to her ancestors’ legacy by arguably often being the kindest and most compassionate person in the room.
This persisted even as Jermain grew older, all the while juggling her career at Big River Cantina, her ambitious dreams, her family of two young boys, as well as her creative passions. She actually shared her two sons – Jacob and Thomas – with her ex-boyfriend, Michael DeFrance, was a blogger who didn’t mind sharing even her most mundane experiences with the world, and an artist. According to her family, by the time 2018 came around, she was hoping to evolve into a seasonal firefighter before pursuing her dream of attending the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico.
All Jermain wanted to do was either be by the river and fish alongside her loved ones, help others through their darkest struggles, or expand on her artistry in every way imaginable. However, everything changed on June 15, 2018, as the 23-year-old decided to go on a night out in downtown Missoula, as she was last seen outside a bar called The Badlander shortly before midnight. She didn’t return home, never responded to any ensuing calls or texts by her loved ones, and essentially disappeared from the face of the Earth, leaving everyone baffled since it was so uncharacteristic of her.
Jermain Charlo Was Reported Missing in Missoula and the Flathead Reservation
It was on the morning of June 16 that Jermain’s family realized something was wrong because she wasn’t responding to anything even though she never went anywhere without her phone. They subsequently called local hospitals, police stations, women’s shelters, and anywhere else they could think of in the hopes of getting any information regarding her whereabouts, but to no avail. Therefore, after 48 long hours as well as a few independent searches on their own, they contacted the authorities for help in both Missoula and the Flathead Reservation on Monday, June 18, 2018.
As per Jermain’s aunts, the Missoula Police Department didn’t do much to help them at first, that is, until they made the drive down there on June 20 to formally file a missing person’s report. Even then, the family said they just quickly did their “due diligence” by checking hospitals and local shelters before declaring that the mother of 2 was not in any sort of immediate danger. Things only changed when the family desperately reached out to them again, resulting in a full-fledged open investigation into her strange vanishing and extensive searches for her across all nearby areas.
That’s when officials came across surveillance footage from outside The Badlander, showing Jermain being social with a few people before walking away with a man shortly before midnight. There was no way this man could be identified from the grainy video, and even the searches for this young woman yielded nothing, so the focus shifted to other possible tips as they came in. In fact, the detective in charge genuinely looked into the possibility of her having become a victim of sex trafficking too, yet nothing became of it, and the case fizzled until details of her personal life unraveled.
Inquiries Into Jermain Charlo’s Personal Life Yielded Additional Information
As officials began retracing Jermain’s steps in the hopes of finding some concrete answers, they realized she had been visiting the Missoula area rather frequently over the past few weeks. It turns out she was doing so because she had recently begun dating a man named Jacob, who lived around South Orange Street in the city, after first coming across him on a dating app. According to reports, despite them being new, they appeared to have a strong connection, with him seeming utterly infatuated with her, and so he completely cooperated when he was brought in for questioning.
As per Jacob’s statements, he was not only out of town but in another state on the fateful night, but he had been texting Jermain until she stopped responding at around 1 am on June 16. He also told officials that she planned on going to his place following her night out, despite him not being there, and it was strange when his call to her at 1 am went to voicemail after several rings. With his complete cooperation, his alibi, and even Jermain’s phone service provider verifying that his call had been silenced and disconnected, he was never once considered a person of interest in this ordeal.
However, Jacob did mention Jermain’s ex-boyfriend by candidly stating that she had told him about Michael DeFrance calling and yelling at her just the day before. According to his accounts, his new lover had expressed that her ex had confronted her about whether she was dating anyone before asserting he wanted to get back together with her. With this and the confirmation that Michael was the man the missing mother of two was last seen with, investigators began looking deeper into him, yet he has never once been named as a suspect in her disappearance because of a lack of clear evidence.
Despite Some Aspects Raising Uncertainty, Jermain Charlo’s Case Remains Unsolved
Once it was ascertained that Michael was the last individual to see Jermain alive, he was obviously brought in to be questioned about what had transpired on the fateful summer night. He told officials that after he and his ex-girlfriend walked away from The Badlander, they got into his 2011 brown Dodge truck because he had offered to drop her off at her destination. He said he did so at around 1 am off Orange Street because she had expressed she would be spending the night at a friend’s place that night – he even went as far as to claim that she had identified this friend as Cassidy.
However, not only did Jermain have no one named Cassidy in her life, but detectives also discovered that her cell phone was pinging off towers in Evaro Hill until at least 10 am on June 16. Evaro Hill is a heavily forested area north of Missoula, on the Flathead Reservation, where Michael resided at the time, and when he was confronted with this detail, he altered his statements. He asserted that his ex had forgotten her cell in his vehicle, so he unsuccessfully attempted to go through it before ultimately disposing of it on June 18, around the same time her family was reporting her missing.
Michael even said he had traveled all the way to Idaho to discard Jermain’s phone at mile marker 94 on Highway 12 without ever explaining why he felt the need to take such drastic measures. Yet, despite all efforts by officials to find her phone and get to the heart of the matter, for which they even carried out search warrants for his property, nothing concrete ever came up. Instead of Jermain, her belongings, or any clues that could possibly lead to her discovery, the only thing investigations have yielded until now are firearms in Michael’s home. Hence, with every possible lead having fizzled out, her case has now sadly gone cold.
It’s imperative to note that while Jermain’s case is cold and her family believes she is no longer alive, they are still determined to find her and bring her the justice she deserves. So, if you have any information pertaining to her disappearance or alleged passing, please do not hesitate to contact the Missoula Police Department at 406-552-6284.
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