The Death of Cherokee Finley, Part Two: MMIW
The Fall Line: True Crime
The Fall Line® Podcast, LLC
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2022
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Part 2 of this series, Sonia Perez details the troubling discoveries she made that have left her with serious misgivings in the cause-of-death ruling in her mother's case. After Cherokee Finley was found on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Flathead Reservation on April 29, 1998, hypothermia was listed as the primary cause, but what Sonia saw at the scene—and later heard around town—led her to another possible scenario.
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Written, researched, and hosted by Laurah Norton, with research assistance from Bryan Worters, Kim Fritz, Kyana Burgess, and Michaela Morrill/Interviews by Brooke Hargrove/Produced, scored, and engineered by Maura Currie/Content advisors are Brandy C. Williams, Liv Fallon, and Vic Kennedy/ Theme music by RJR/Special thanks to Angie Dodd
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Part 2 in a two-part series. |
| 0:02.8 | Please listen to Part 1 before listening to Part 2. |
| 0:06.0 | This series discusses drug use, violence, autopsy, and crime scenes. |
| 0:10.8 | Listener discretion is advised. |
| 0:13.3 | This is The Fall Line. |
| 0:29.3 | Last episode, you met Sonja Perez, one of the seven children of Cherokee Finley. |
| 0:44.3 | Cherokee, who was originally from Louisiana, spent most of her life in the Northwestern United States. |
| 0:51.1 | She, her children and her second husband, divided their time between two states where they |
| 0:55.9 | lived on or near two reservations. |
| 0:58.7 | The confederated sailor Shinkutni flathead reservation in Montana, or the Pueola reservation |
| 1:04.0 | in Washington. |
| 1:05.5 | As for Sonja, except for some time in her early childhood when she lived with her biological |
| 1:10.7 | father's parents, her first 11 years were spent in her mother's care. |
| 1:15.8 | She considered her stepfather to be her dad, and she had a close of sometimes volatile relationship |
| 1:21.6 | with her mother. |
| 1:23.1 | Sonja says that she and Cherokee had similar personalities, loving, stubborn, and tough. |
| 1:29.5 | They were both willing to take care of everyone. |
| 1:33.1 | She credits Cherokee for teaching her to have an open and loving attitude toward people |
| 1:37.4 | in need. |
| 1:38.4 | Her mother was always willing to open their home to teenage runaways or anyone who needed |
| 1:43.1 | a meal or a warm place to sleep or just a little safety. |
| 1:47.7 | Sonja has continued that tradition herself and raised her children to do the same. |
... |
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