Navajo Police List 71 Missing Persons Across Seven Districts

The Navajo Police Department's updated missing persons poster lists 71 individuals across its seven districts, with 14 open cases in the Window Rock district that directly borders McKinley County. Over half of all missing persons cases in McKinley and San Juan counties between 2014 and 2019 involved Native Americans, and nearly half of those cases involved people under 27. Gallup, the McKinley County seat, ranks among the top U.S. cities for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The poster count has shifted four times in 2025 alone: 70 on August 15, then 67 on September 13, climbing back to 71 as of the September 25 update. A September 13 district breakdown showed Window Rock at 14, Dilkon at 11, Tuba City at 10, Shiprock and Chinle at 9 each, Crownpoint at 8, and Kayenta at 6. Some of the individuals listed have been missing since the 1970s.

For families navigating multiple jurisdictions, the primary contact is the NPD Tip Line at (928) 686-8563, or by email at tips.npd@navajo-nsn.gov. Families can also contact their local NPD District Dispatch directly. In March 2024, the New Mexico Department of Justice launched the MMIP Portal as a central online database for reporting and searching missing persons cases across the state.

When reporting a missing person to NPD, investigators need the last-seen location and time, a recent photograph, a physical description including height, weight, and distinguishing marks, and vehicle information including make, model, color, and license plate if the person had access to a car. Cases already in the system can be updated through the same tip line.

The NPD posters are displayed in all seven district offices and updated continuously as cases open and close. The poster alone spans a reservation of approximately 27,000 square miles crossing southeast Utah, northeast Arizona, and northwest New Mexico.

New Mexico Senate Bill 41, introduced in 2025, proposes a Turquoise Alert System designed to accelerate searches for missing Indigenous persons, at a projected one-time cost of $2.17 million to modernize the state's Missing Persons Clearinghouse, plus $500,000 annually for tribal outreach and staffing. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham established the MMIP Advisory Council in 2019 and continued it by executive order in 2021. The FBI dedicated 40 personnel to Operation Not Forgotten and in September 2022 released an updated verified list of missing Native Americans in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, working alongside the BIA Office of Justice Services and the MMIWR Task Force.

Volunteer group Navajo Nation Missing Persons Updates, with more than 21,500 Facebook followers, amplifies cases and connects families to resources. The Missing and Murdered Diné Relatives Committee has documented the crisis as compounded by limited media attention and, historically, low policy priority at both the state and federal level.

The First Annual Navajo Nation Missing Persons Day, held November 4, 2023, at the Window Rock Unified School District office in Fort Defiance, Arizona, was the first formal public commemoration of the issue at the tribal government level. The count has not dropped below 67 since.