This is the second episode in a two-part series, and part of our larger season, focused on family advocates and the effects of the MMIP,

Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Crisis in the United States.

This episode discusses domestic and intimate partner violence.

Listener discretion is advised.

Thank you. is advised. This is the fall line.

Last time, we began the story of Tiffany Reed,

it was just 16 years old in the spring of 2004.

It was around 8 a.m. when she left her home in the

small Navajo Nation town of Shiprock, New Mexico, with plans to walk the short distance to

Northwest High School. She'd spoken with her older sister Deandra that morning, and the two had made

plans for Tiffany to come over to Deandra's place later on so that she could babysit Deandra's young daughters.

It was routine for them. Deandra was working late nights at the Sunri Casino, and Tiffany was willing to help out.

She loved to spend time with her nieces. The sisters had had a tough childhood, and it had made them close.

As we told you last episode, at 16, Tiffany was establishing her independence.

She was developing interest outside her family's fear.

Poetry and music were two of her passions.

She brought home stray kittens, and she dreamed of becoming a veterinarian.

She'd also made friends that liked to have parties, and she'd stayed out all night a few times.

That spring, she'd been tardy to school often enough that her mother, Didera, had been informed.

But Tiffany hadn't gotten into any real trouble.

Things had been going okay, just some growing pains, it seemed like, on her way to adulthood.

Deandra had no reason to believe that on the morning of May 17, 2004, her little sister was heading anywhere but Northwest High. Tiffany took everything she'd need for a school day with her.

...