The Search and the Silence | Besalynn James, Lummi Nation / Bellingham, WA

0:00 Bess left behind everything that mattered to her daily life. Her three dogs, her belongings, and most strikingly, items that contradicted Bowman's own account of the night she went missing. Bowman described her as wearing a black jacket and white tennis shoes. When her sister went to the trailer to feed the dogs, she found those exact clothing items still inside. What is the explanation for that? Surely you're not going to tell me She left without those things, so what, she's walking around without shoes or a jacket? In 20-degree weather? Yeah. At 2 a.m.? Hi, Cassie. Hi, Caitlin. Hi, creepy people. Hello!

0:47 I like how we just both kind of trailed there at the end. That was fun. We like to make it different, change it up for you guys. This is P & W Haunts and Homicides. Where we chat about true crime, the paranormal, and all things spooky, creepy, and whatever else we want, because we can. Maybe slightly murdery. Yes. Well, I feel like that's covered in the true crime, but you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In the Pacific Northwest. Or the PNW. If you're nasty. If thou art nasty. If thou art nasty. I like it. I like it. I don't know, it just came to me. Yeah. We also do a little tarot reading at the end of every episode for a little bit of deeper insight into our topic.

1:36 And Caitlin set up a beautiful altar with her new blood crystal. What's it called? It's a carnelian. Oh, yes. It's beautiful. It's a carnelian agate and it has like exposed drussy. In there, and it is so pretty. So pretty. And you got it on the Blood Moon Day, right? Yeah, it was the eclipse with the red moon. Right. So pretty. And now I have a, I can still smell that candle. It smells so good. Oh, what is it? It's a Midnight Margarita's Ocean Rose and Margarita candle. Fuck.

2:20 It's coming soon. It's time. That's how I feel. Honestly. All right. Well, I feel like that's about the happiest this episode is going to be because it's Caitlin's. Yeah. So I love it. Yeah. Thanks for leading with that. You're welcome. Perfect. And I don't have a lot of them in this case, but I'm feeling, as I look at my first paragraph, I'm feeling the weight of the couple of pronunciations that I have to do here. Oh, okay. So just, you know, send me good vibes if you would. The Lummi Nation is a federally recognized, self-governing tribe whose reservation sits on the shores of the Salish Sea in Whatcom County, Washington, just south of Bellingham, and a short drive from the Canadian border. I cannot believe I said sits on the shores of the Salish Sea in one take.

3:22 Sally sells she-shells. I couldn't do it. I wasn't even looking at that. That was an unintentional tongue twister on top of the pronunciations. So, uh, Before I break my arm patting myself on the back, I guess I'll continue, but I'm so proud. Keep the vibe going. Yeah. The tribe's traditional territory spans Washington's northern coast, the San Juan Islands, as well as southern British Columbia. The Lummi people, pronounced, hopefully the phonetic key in the YouTube videos that I watched, don't fail me now, it's Lakshmish. And there's sort of like a back of your throat kind of a click.

4:12 Oh, yeah. That's hard. It is. And that's as good as it's going to get for me. I think pretty fly for a white guy, you know? Yeah. It means people of the sea. So the Lummi people, people of the sea, have lived in this region for thousands of years. And the reservation today is a tight-knit community of farms, modest homes, fishing operations, tribal institutions, all bordered by Bellingham Bay and the rural roads of South Whatcom County. The Lummi Reservation was established in 1855 through the Treaty of Point Elliott, which was signed with the U.S. government. Boo. Boo. Are we booing the U.S. government or the treaty?

5:03 Okay. Yeah, I mean, a little bit of both, but mostly the government. What's the treaty like? It's, as treaties with Native tribes have historically, well, we'll, I will get to that. Okay. Yeah. The reservation itself is well over 20,000 acres between the combined upland, landmass, and marine tideland territories, though in truth, of course, it's sadly a very small fraction of the tribe's original territory. Yeah. Yeah. So now you see why I would boo the treaty. Right, that's right. Just in principle, a little bit, you know? You know, they really, the name treaty, it sounds like it should be a treat.

5:45 You want a treat, yeah. Right? Guess who knows that word now? Whoopsie. Over time, due to various factors such as land loss through treaties, colonization, and economic development pressures, more colonization, the Lummi have lost access to many of their traditional lands. The home of Bezalyn James on Balch Road runs through a quiet residential stretch of the reservation. The kind of place where neighbors know and look out for each other. It's a community that has carried profound and disproportionate loss. Just for like casually the last... I would say three, four hundred years or so. Aww. Since we treated them. Yeah, since we treated them. Since we trickied them. Yeah. Trick or treat. Yikes.

6:44 A roadside memorial not far from Bezalyn's home honors dozens of Lummi women and men who have disappeared or been lost to violence in the community, with names dating back to the 1950s. Wow. In January 2025... That list grew by one. It might have grown by more, but we're talking about the one today, just to be fair. According to the Lummi Victims of Crime Program, approximately five tribal members are reported missing every year. That's like... A lot. It's a lot. In a small community. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, in like the city of Portland, I don't, I'm sure we have five people go missing every year.

7:29 But think about when it's like in a smaller community that just feels so concentrated. It really does. Yeah. It's, oh, I just think about like five. Five. Like imagine five people from like your neighborhood disappearing every year. Just that's what it feels like. Bye. Oh. The LVOC provides confidential crisis intervention, emergency shelter, and advocates for victims of numerous types of abuse that may impact tribal members at any and every stage of life. Bessalyn Mary James was born October 7, 1962, and grew up in and around the Lummi Nation Reservation. She was one of 11 children raised on a farm along the Red River. surrounded by horses roaming the beautiful landscape. And that is my actual childhood dream. Aw, ponies! Yeah. Her sisters Madeline and Rosalyn remember a childhood defined by that land and those animals.

8:37 Bess would get up every morning before me. Every morning, she'd get up before me and get on the horse. Dad would say, whoever's up first can have the horse. And I'd say, but Bess gets it every time. Get up earlier. Yeah, get up earlier, girl. Early bird gets the horse. Yeah, and or the worm. You don't want the worm. Nah, probably not. That love of horses never left her, according to reporting on the case in the Cascadia Daily. As an adult, Bessalyn, known to family and community as Bessie or Bess, continued to ride, sometimes along the river. sometimes into town, stopping to visit her grandchildren when her son, Ron, was out fishing. Lummi Indian Business Council member Rosalie Revy Jacobs remembered her vividly. She just marched to her own drum. She rode a horse down Haxton Way, and you would just see her with a big smile on her face. Aww. I love that.

9:44 That you just like pop on your horse and go to town and everyone knows you. Saddle up my horse and I ride into the city. Make a lot of noise because the girls, they are so pretty. Anyways. Riding up and down. Wait, what? Did they say the street name? Haxton Way. Riding up and down Haxton Way. By January 2025, Bessalyn was 62 years old, a mother, grandmother, sister, and respected elder within the Lummi Nation. a status that carries particular weight in the community. There's a lot of respect for elders. Yes, definitely. It's a pretty big hit when it's an elder in the community, Lummi police officer Jay Martin said after her disappearance. She lived on Balch Road with her boyfriend. It doesn't sound like that was actually technically maybe his primary residence. I don't know that he was getting his mail there, but he was there enough that a lot of source material said like their house or it. So it was a little bit muddy on that. But my boyfriends be like that. Yeah.

10:58 Boyfriends be like that sometimes. If you like it, put a ring on it, you know? Seriously. Yeah. I mean, no pressure to live your best life unless she didn't want that. Right. That's totally exactly. Yeah. She didn't drive. And by every account from those who knew her, she never went anywhere without her three dogs. Oh, did she take them on the horse with her though? That's what I wondered. Immediately, I was like, how do you horseback ride with a dog asking for a friend? She got one on the backpack, one on the front pack. And the other just trots beside. He's got a good dog. He's got his own saddle. Yeah. Her sisters describe her as a homebody whose house typically showed it. Dog hair, dust, belongings left out on end tables and the couch. To which I say, same, girl. Same. Literally, this is my dream life. I don't. Drive a car. I ride a horse.

12:01 I have three dogs. And you're a homebody. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, end of sentence. But then that last part was pretty important. Minus the boyfriend not putting a ring on it part because your boyfriend put a ring on it and now he's your husband. Right. I was like, now I have to call him something different. Sometimes I still call him boyfriend. It's cute. Yeah. It's a term of endearment. The last confirmed sighting of Bess, by anyone other than Terry Bowman, was at 1.16 p.m. on January 20th of 2025 at her home on the reservation. According to Bowman, Bess left the residence at approximately 2 a.m.

12:45 on January 21st to go for a walk in temperatures in the 20 degrees range. Okay, that doesn't seem like maybe something... At 2 a.m. One would do. Okay, I'm glad you're having that reaction because literally everyone forever has and always will have that reaction to that particular detail. Yeah, that's not right. Some may write about that. She never returned. Council member Rosalie Revy Jacobs said plainly, It's suspicious. I don't know anybody who would leave at 2 a.m. on a walk. It just doesn't make any sense.

13:26 I could see if like she was known for that, you know, like going on night walks or something. But it sounds like people know her pretty well and kind of like what she's up to. Yeah. Also, very cold. Yeah. Cold, an odd hour. It's not like an established behavior. And she wasn't on her horse. I know. Why would you ever walk anywhere again? I know I wouldn't. Bowman called Bess's sister, Rosalind, on January 25th, first to ask her to feed Bess's dogs. And only afterward did she later receive a separate call from the Lummi Nation Police Department informing her that her sister was officially missing. Who asked her to feed the dogs? The boyfriend. Huh. Huh. Yeah.

14:16 So he like knew that she was going to be gone forever. For a minute or had been gone for a minute and was worried about the dogs and he couldn't feed them himself. Yeah, I have a lot of questions. Okay. You involve horses and dogs and I am so invested. I want to interrogate this guy because honestly, I feel like you got a lot to answer for there personally. Sir. I thought you were going to say bub. I almost said bub. I don't even know. I was like, my brain stopped. Like I had a stroke and I just was rage. And I was like, I don't even know what word is about to come out. A Lummi Police Daily Activity Log entry documents a missing person report at the 3200 block of Balch Road on January 21st, 2025 at 6 p.m.

15:10 Case number 25I00487. I'm giving the case number because that is very helpful to find it on the page if you care to go and see it. The date and time in the log don't match when Bess was last confirmed seen, 1.16pm the previous day, January 20th. And neither matches Bowman's own claim that she left the residence at 2 a.m. on January 21st. Nor do they match when Bowman actually filed the missing person report four days later on January 25th. So this really bothered me. And the amount of time that I spent trying to figure out why this log entry doesn't actually correlate with anything that made sense to me with the case... I could have had this done a whole day early. I'm in no way joking. Damn. And unfortunately now when you Google, the AI overview can sometimes be helpful and sometimes, as I found, it propagates problematic theories that while they could be true, I don't know that there's any factual basis for and some of them... I feel like I'm dancing around it, but some of the stuff that it spit out, I was like, that sounds a little... I don't want to sound dramatic here, but does that feel racist? I mean, probably. Yeah, probably.

16:43 Probably a little bit. It just knows what it's been fed. Yeah. And it turns out people on the internet are racist. Weird. And I can't expound on that any further. Not all of them. Not you guys. Yeah. But... enough to where I feel like AI picks up on that. It sure does. It turns out. And here's the thing is some of them make a lot of sense, but I'm not going to really go into it fully because I just don't have enough information to know. Sounds plausible, but whatever the 6 p.m. January 21st timestamp reflects, it doesn't line up with anything else in the public record. And I As I said, I tried looking into a number of possible explanations, but wasn't able to find anything definitive. There are plausible interpretations.

17:35 The log field, that specific date-time field, could reflect when Bess was believed to have gone missing based on information that the Lummi Police Department has, rather than what the report states, like when that was filed. Or it could be an internal administrative timestamp. Don't know what that would be. Could be a clerical error. There was a lot of different information that I just, it really made me mad because I just could see where some of it, I thought that makes sense. And then I was like, but I can't state that as fact. And I like to state facts. Yeah. I don't envy your job at all. Yeah.

18:22 I just, like, so many things, like, potentially made sense, but I'm talking about the potential explanations so much more broad strokes than what I was finding because I just, I don't feel comfortable aligning myself with a particular theory. None of them fully account for the mismatch with every other date and time in the public record, and none of them have been confirmed by the Lummi Police Department. I would be really interested to see if anybody ever followed up and asked like what their official response would be. I don't know. I could literally talk about this for the rest of the day. Go for it. I know.

19:03 She's like, okay, we can have another two-parter. Bess left behind everything that mattered to her daily life. Her three dogs, her belongings, and most strikingly, Items that contradicted Bowman's own account of the night she went missing, like specifically what she was wearing. Oh, okay. Bowman described her as wearing a black jacket and white tennis shoes. When her sister went to the trailer to feed the dogs, she found those exact clothing items still inside. Rosalind told reporters she believes Bess was actually wearing a different native style jacket that she had just purchased at Costco. Not the items Bowman described to police. And clearly because they were literally still there. So what is the explanation for that? Surely you're not going to tell me that she left without those things. So what, she's walking around without shoes or a jacket? In 20 degree weather? Yeah.

20:10 At 2 a.m.? I don't know if it's like a man thing or like, like, I don't know what she was wearing. I guess it was probably this. Like, he can't see that they're still right there or I don't know. I don't know. It's very like that to me is I don't like it. It's weird. It's weird. The trailer itself was another problem. It was unusually clean. Oh, because you said she was kind of like, oh, it's like a lived-in. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah. But it's like lived-in. A very lived-in. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good way to put it, honestly. Rosalind described her sister as a homebody whose home normally had dust, dog hair, and things scattered on the tables. And, you know, when she walked in that Saturday, she said it was definitely cleaned up. Like in a way that didn't really make sense. for her sister, like, not being there. It just, something about that. I feel like it's never a good sign if you go to check out somebody's car or their house and you can tell it was freshly vacuumed.

21:16 Yeah. Like they were expecting company, but they're not there. Yeah, that is kind of eerie in a way. In the weeks following her disappearance, family, friends, volunteers, and law enforcement searched the reservation and surrounding area extensively. but no trace of Bess was found. Then on January 29th, just over a week after she vanished, Lummi victims of crime posted an unusual notice. Due to updates in the active investigation of Bessel and James, search efforts have been postponed until future notice. Please continue to avoid any areas under investigation.

21:59 You can help preserve the Balch Road radius by keeping pet dogs on a leash and by reporting any suspicious activity or tips to 911. So forensically, there was something presumably that they were hoping to preserve that they called off, you know, essentially volunteer search efforts. Huh. And there's been a lot of speculation around that. Like, yeah, that doesn't make sense to me at all. Well, I have my theories and sometimes I don't like to say kind of what I think based on what, you know, I'm reading because I'm like, I don't know if this is true.

22:42 And I hate to just like kind of extrapolate on something. And I, you know, I don't have insider info. But to me... that kind of seems like forensically they had to have found something already that led them to believe that there was greater value in preserving the scene than continuing to search for her. Yeah, it would have to be something like pretty big, I would think. That's just my thought. But they didn't say what it was. Nope. Or if it was anything. Exactly. Okay. The notice asked the public to preserve a specific radius around Balch Road, basically her home in the surrounding area. The request that residents keep their dogs leashed points toward concern about the disturbance of physical evidence in the outdoor area, though this is important. No source has publicly stated that specifically. They've never confirmed that. But no source, like I said, they've never publicly confirmed what, if anything, was being preserved. So they don't specify what, they don't actually confirm that that is what they're doing, but connect the dots. Yeah. What specifically prompted the pause or what investigators found, if anything, has never been publicly explained. In the year and a half since, no outlet has ever returned to that question.

24:12 Not that I could find. Huh. That silence isn't the exception. Not for cases like this one. It's the rule. I don't like that. No. And I will say that of a lot of cases that I have looked at to talk about, there's a lot more about Bess's case than I anticipated. I started looking at this thinking, I just don't know if this is like one that I have to kind of talk about as serious. Kind of of disappearances maybe in the area, but there's a lot more information than I thought there would be, which is really sad to say. Yeah. To anticipate that there won't be enough information for me to talk about this person, you know, for an hour. Right. They're missing. Like, there should be. There should be like a whole three-hour, you know, Odyssey-level documentary of information available. That's how it should be. And I mean, thankfully, there definitely was a lot of information, but... Just not on this part of it. Right. Yeah, definitely some key parts of the case that are... And again, you know, we say this a lot, but sometimes that's intentional.

25:31 Investigators have to hold certain things back because that's going to be their only leverage in proving, oh, this person knows this, so they are the perp. Right. Things like that. I don't know. I do get that. It just makes things more. It's frustrating. That's sort of a separate issue from when there's a case that there's just not information about, period. Those are kind of separate issues in my mind. Sometimes you can have both where there's like almost no information and where they're saying we're holding information because it's an active investigation. I wish they would just say that. Like, why can't you just say that? And a lot of times they do. And that is kind of the thing.

26:15 And it's implied with certain things where they're not specifying. It's like, well, it's an active investigation. This is all we can say. Yeah. But I think it's just hard for like us who aren't, we're not like her family or friends. We didn't know her. Yeah. And it's not like we, we need to know for like, selfish reasons. I just feel like because we want there to be like information on a missing woman. No, I mean, that's exactly what it is. And you want there to be enough information. Out there that hopefully like it jogs someone's memory or like it's enough that people connect with the case and it generates tips somehow, whatever that is. Yeah. Yeah.

27:03 It's not like we're just itching to know, like, oh, did they find, like, a bloody knife in the grass? No, I would actually prefer that that's not what they found and that's not the reason. If I'm being honest, like, it is about that, like, I hope that there's enough out there that it advances the case. Yeah, a thousand percent. Bess's disappearance is being investigated jointly by the Lummi Nation Police Department, the FBI's Seattle Field Office... the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office, the Bellingham Police Department, along with other law enforcement partners. It reflects a genuinely complicated jurisdictional reality that affects nearly every case involving a missing or murdered person on tribal land in the United States. Washington is one of several states that assumed criminal jurisdiction over tribal lands under Public Law 280. a 1953 federal law passed without tribal consent. So I think you can guess how I feel.

28:07 Right. In general, just checking the vibe. So they like give them their own land and space to have like their own laws and things, but then they're like, but wait a minute. Yeah. We don't want to get carried away. But the Lummi Nation's reservation falls under what's known as a partial PL 280 jurisdiction. So state authority there is restricted to eight specific subject areas. Compulsory school attendance, public assistance, domestic relations, mental illness, juvenile delinquency, adoption proceedings, dependent children, and the operation of motor vehicles on public roads. Wow. Okay. So most aspects of your day-to-day life, I would say. Yeah, I see the wheels turning. Okay. I see you trying to puzzle it out. I don't understand that. It is confusing. Okay.

29:19 jurisdiction for major crimes like homicide was never handed off to the state of Washington, which is why the FBI is the lead investigating agency rather than Whatcom County or Washington state alone. So the state has jurisdiction over almost anything, but not this. And in a way, I don't think this is what they intended, but it kind of... I'm trying to see a silver lining in that the FBI is involved. It could be a good thing because, like, they have more resources and... In theory. Things to help, but, like, are they? Are they? Are they? This jurisdictional patchwork, patchwork is hardly ever what you want to hear. No. Tribal, federal, and state authority overlapping and sometimes leaving gaps depending on the nature of the crime, the tribal status of the victim, and the tribal status of any suspect is itself a documented contributing factor in the broader missing and murdered indigenous people crisis.

30:26 Because nobody knows what the fuck is going on sometimes. cases can stall not from lack of effort by any single agency but sometimes from confusion about which agency has the authority to act which is super fucking frustrating that's a nightmare because like things just like follow through the cracks exactly made worse by under-resourced tribal police departments and the FBI's broad caseload across an enormous service territory all of our nation yeah so the fbi being involved can be good but also not they've got a little bit of a divided focus if you will yeah so what happened to bess investigators haven't publicly committed to a an answer not not a specific one Her family has. The Lummi Nation has. What no one can offer them yet is the resolution, a body to bury, a case to close, a person to hold accountable. So there are some theories about what's the party line, what's the official answer, what actually happened. The first one is, well, I mean, it's a very prominent issue on reservation territory, domestic violence and or the idea that there was direct involvement, some sort

31:58 of foul play specifically by Bowman. I could see that as being like the very obvious theory. The most prominently aired theory in coverage of this case centers on Bowman himself, the contradictions in his account, the implausible 2 a.m. walk in freezing temperatures, the discrepancy in the clothing, the unusual cleanliness of the residence, which feels like a fucking slap in the face, but it's just that it looked so freshly cleaned compared to day to day. I'm not trying to say, I'm not actually calling her messy Bessie. The four day delay before finally reporting her missing. Yeah. All of that has led both family members and at least one tribal official to question his version of events publicly.

32:51 He's getting some serious, like, T-Swift-level shade thrown his way. It makes sense. Yeah. Because I'm thinking about, like, if you decided to go on a walk at 2 a.m. In the freezing cold. For one, your husband wouldn't let you. But... Yeah. At least not alone. But, like, if you didn't come back after... Can you imagine Chris just, like, not reporting me missing for four days? For four days? No. I love how we said that in perfect unison. He has been interviewed both by tribal and federal investigators. And while he has not been cleared, he also hasn't been charged. Additionally, no public source has disclosed what physical evidence, if any, investigators have connecting him directly to her disappearance. The next theory is a third party. So basically just anyone other than Bowman. Beyond Bowman, no specific alternative suspect has been named, probably because Bess was the fucking boss and she was an awesome lady and they can't think of anybody else that would mean to do her harm. Right.

34:04 It sounded like she was just so well-loved and known in their community. And just living her best life. So, I don't know. Could have been someone rolling through, but I don't know. However, the theory that Bess came to harm at the hands of a third party, it can't be ruled out entirely, but it does run against the pattern of data that shapes these types of cases nationally. Intimate partner violence is a major driver of homicide against Indigenous women. Indigenous women particularly, but like all women. Yeah. Nationally, spouses and acquaintances are the two largest categories of identified perpetrators in solved cases involving Indigenous women. We say it all the time, jokingly, but it's always the husband. Right.

34:58 And in this case, Specifically, the person who was with Bess in the hours before she disappeared, who waited four days to report her missing, and whose account of what she was wearing didn't match what her sister later found in the trailer. is her boyfriend. And I'm never letting that go. No, I don't think you should. I feel like I've really harped on certain aspects of like the discrepancies and what he has said and like what the evidence that we factually know is confirmed. I'm like, sorry, I'm going to say it again. Say it again, man. I could see like if she really did go out at 2 a.m.

35:39 And ran into someone shady, but like... It's just so unlikely. Like, you have to believe that she did that in the first place. Yeah. And I don't. Like, unless. The only thing I could think of is if, like, they got into a fight. And then maybe you would need to get away at 2 a.m. Technically, there was only one source of... that mentioned something about there potentially having been a fight between the two of them. But it was like such a throwaway comment and it wasn't backed up by any other agency or reporting that I was like, And.

36:20 If you were the boyfriend and you had gotten in a fight and she left. Then you get the fuck out. It's my house. Yes, that. But like, wouldn't that be something you would make sure is no, like, hey, we got into a fight. She wanted space. So I waited. I thought she just had left me. And she's going to cool off. Literally. And then, OK, 20 degrees out for days. And she hasn't like that would make more sense to me. Yes. It sure would. But it doesn't sound like he has said this. Not that I could find. Not to give anyone tips, but. Right. No, but it's like, I mean, make it make sense is all we're saying. And it doesn't.

37:03 So now you get the side eye. Yeah. Bombastic side eye. Substantiating this theory more fully would require public evidence that doesn't currently exist. I'm not saying this is definitively the last and only other theory, but it's the only other one that I'm going to really talk about. Voluntary disappearance. I feel like that obviously comes up a lot. You know, if she were a child, they'd say run away. Right. This theory is very difficult to sustain given what is known. Bess did not drive. Makes it a lot harder to disappear, especially in the middle of the night. She was described by family as a homebody. And in this instance, her three dogs were left behind, which her family members adamantly state she would never willingly do. I believe that. A thousand percent. If I ever leave my dogs behind, never stop looking for me because I didn't go willingly. Seriously. Listen, if she was just some shitty bitch who had a bunch of dogs that she didn't give a fuck about, that's not her. No. And even if she was a shitty dog owner, like, we still have to look for her. Yeah.

38:28 I guess. In the roughly year and a half since her disappearance, she has had no confirmed contact with anyone in her life. Of her three dogs, two are now with family and friends. The third disappeared when she did. Oh. And I think there are a number of ways that you can extrapolate on that. I can't dwell on that because I will be ugly crying in 30 seconds or less. Oh. I'm going to ugly cry. I know. I'm just, yeah, I'm thinking about it. Like something really wrong happened here.

39:13 And like either the dog is hurt or it like went looking for her. I don't know. I don't, like none of the possible, none of the possibilities are great in my mind. Her family and the Lummi Nation. itself have publicly stated their belief that she is the victim of homicide. What's left is the theory the family, the community, and the tribal government have publicly landed on. That someone she knew, presumably intimately... caused her disappearance, and that person has never been charged. In late June 2025, the Lummi Nation actually posted a notice on Facebook stating very plainly that Bess is believed to be a victim of homicide. and asked the public to report any knowledge of human remains, or did somebody make what you thought might have been an off-color joke at a bar type of a thing? Like, you know, one of those crazy drunken confessions? While this notice wasn't an official announcement made by law enforcement specifically... The family believes that the investigators are no longer anticipating recovering Bess alive and that recovering her remains is now the primary goal. And I think

40:47 the fact that they paused the search early on, that is what I kind of immediately thought. Yeah. They needed to preserve evidence because that is going to be what they used to nail someone to the wall for the crime. And they were like, it's not a ticking clock trying to save her life. It's about trying to preserve any chance that we have of justice. Bess's son, Ron Nolan, said, You have to read between the lines. They told me things after the search, and I could piece it together. They're looking for her body. It's a recovery. It's not a find. They're not going to find her alive. Her sister, Rosalyn, began keeping a desk calendar, the kind one might expect to find on a detective's desk. Logging her sister's last text messages, her last Facebook posts, her last known whereabouts, the days since she was reported missing, the meals delivered by well-wishers, the tips that came in. This calendar has it all. And in her words, it literally just became an outlet for the anger that she felt every day her sister remained missing. And I get it. On July 16th, 2025, the Lummi Nation Police Department publicly named Terry Bowman, Bess's

42:18 boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, as a person of interest. Police Chief Jay Martin told King 5 that Bowman had been interviewed by both tribal police and the FBI and said investigators, quote, know where Bowman is and are, quote, putting pieces of the puzzle together. At the time, he was believed to be in Idaho. From what I understand, that is not a state that he specifically has ties to. Apparently, Bess did. Okay. I don't know if that means anything. Yeah. It's hard to say. But he left is the point, kind of. Kind of, that's the more important thing.

43:01 Which I would understand if you were a person of interest and the town is looking at you a certain way. Yeah. You'd probably leave. It doesn't mean you're guilty, but. You can make an argument either way, right? Bess's sister, Rosalyn, learned Bowman had been publicly named while watching the news. Yes. Law enforcement had not contacted her directly about the development. And I know that sometimes this happens, but it feels really shitty. She said it was a total surprise. What if she hadn't been watching the news? How would she ever know? Yep. And this is someone that has been a part of their community, interacted with their family. I feel like for their own personal safety, they should maybe have an awareness about this. Yeah. Her sister, Madeline... Frustrated by the lack of action, told reporters, he's out living his life. I want him in jail so they can turn him upside down and talk to him and get some answers. As of the most recent reporting reviewed from January 2026, Bowman has never been charged in connection with her disappearance. Rosalyn has said she heard rumors that Bowman has actually been seen at the Silver Reef Casino, located... on the Lummi Reservation.

44:18 That was in early January 2026, despite earlier reporting placing him in Idaho. So he's either like back or back and forth? Yeah, begs a lot of questions. I will let everyone noodle on that independently. Marking the first anniversary of her disappearance, on January 22nd, 2026, The FBI's Seattle field office released an updated missing person poster and announced a reward of up to $ 10, 000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gerald Birkin said, In Ms. James' case, Over the past year, law enforcement has conducted multiple investigative actions across several states to try to discover what happened and her whereabouts. We will continue to diligently investigate this case no matter how long it takes. On January 21st, 2026, the actual anniversary, approximately 50 people gathered on the Lemme Reservation in and marched along, I want to say, Quina Road.

45:36 I might be wrong. That's not important. They were chanting, say her name. Oh. Bess's son, Ron, walked carrying a flag representing missing and murdered Indigenous women and people. And Bess's sister carried a flag bearing her sister's photo. Madeline did. Rosalyn... now 67, sat at a sign-in table surrounded by poster boards of her sister riding horses and with her grandchildren. We're basically flying by on a wing and a prayer, she said. Bessalyn James is one of at least 110 missing Indigenous people in Washington state as of early 2026.

46:21 According to the Washington State Patrol's Missing Indigenous Persons List, statewide Washington's homicide investigation tracking system reflects 115 unsolved homicides involving Indigenous victims. Advocates widely believe the true number of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Washington, as well as nationally, is undercounted due to systemic underreporting and racial misclassification in how cases are logged. Washington has actually become a national leader in responding to this crisis, even as cases like Bess's remain unsolved. In 2021, they joined several other states in establishing an MMIWP task force. That task force's recommendations led directly to two concrete tools— explicitly empowering investigations into missing persons and homicide cases involving Indigenous victims. First, the statewide Missing Indigenous Person Alert System launched in 2022. It's a dedicated emergency alert system basically modeled on Amber Alerts.

47:39 And an alert was issued for Bess's own case in February of 2025. As of April 2026, The Missing Indigenous Persons Alert System has issued 220 alerts with 203 people recovered, 12 still missing, and five found deceased. Wow. But they found that many people? That's crazy. Yeah. We actually are set up. on our pod email to receive the alerts. And so they have an activate and a cancel. And we get flooded with them. There's so many that I used to sort them into a folder immediately so that I could come back to them. And now I let them kind of sit in there for a day or two at least to see if the cancel will come through.

48:37 Because that happens a lot. I do like it. Like I like, That it's helping. Yeah. It's sad that it has to come through so often, but like... Yeah. Well, and it's sad that that is kind of... It feels like that's the only way that anything happens. Yeah. If that makes sense. Like, we have to have their own special alert system because otherwise, who knows what'll fucking happen. Yeah. And in 2023... Washington became the first state to establish an MMIWP cold case unit, a dedicated cold case unit.

49:17 Washington State Representative Deborah Lankanoff, who sponsored the legislation creating the unit, put the human stakes plainly. Oh, God, I'm going to ugly cry. No, you're going to make me. I know. We have witnessed women who look like me, aunties, girls who look like me, grandmothers, go missing one after another with unresolved cases, unresolved detention from governing bodies. According to Lankanoff, the cold case unit has helped resolve dormant cases dating back 30 or 40 years. That's so great.

49:58 It's so emotional, but like, so good. And we talked about a case that actually is cited that's more recent, and that's George David. His was like a 20, it was a 2016 case. He was found dead from blunt force trauma to the head inside a friend's apartment in Port Angeles. He had traveled there from Nia Bay before going on to visit family in British Columbia. That state level leadership sits within a broader federal framework as well. In 2020, Congress passed two significant pieces of legislation aimed at addressing the literal crisis. Savannah's Act and the Not Invisible Act. Together, they were intended to improve coordination among federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement on Indigenous cases. And to increase data accuracy, because that's really important.

51:03 Yeah. Involving the cases, like we have to have accurate information. And that's why I really fell down the rabbit hole with that Lummi Police Department activity. log entry that didn't match anything. And there were so many different explanations. One thing that I read, and I couldn't find that there was actual, like, confirmation of this, was that, oh, tribal systems, they log things based on, you know, X, Y, Z, you know, or they, you know, sometimes they backdate or da-da-da-da-da. The FBI always goes off of X, Y, Z. I mean...

51:44 It basically made it sound like, oh, tribal systems do this inferior thing. And the FBI and all of the other police, law enforcement, all of the other departments. They do this other far superior thing, the more betterer. And so that explains it because they're inadequate and they're inferior. And I was like, I could believe that they might have different systems. I could believe that they might not be identical in all of their practices. I don't like the way that this is framed. Yeah. And that's where it started to feel like, wait a second. Is this just like an AI overview? Because I was like not finding journalistic sources that explain this. And I'm like, wait.

52:36 That's where it started to really feel racist. Seriously, though. Yeah. I was like, okay, so number one, you can't prove that this is actually what happened or what the source of the discrepancy is. Number two, it really does sound like, you bad, me good. Yeah. Like, yuck. Yeah. And then it, like, it doesn't mean that it's wrong or a bad way if they do it a different way. Yeah. I still want it explained, like, how it's. I really do want an explanation. Yeah. Different doesn't mean bad, but I still want to know like how. No, I would like to understand the process, the systems, the reasoning, and maybe that would totally like take that off the table and wouldn't be this like interesting detail of the case at all. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Despite all of this institutional progress, Bess's case illustrates a persistent and well-documented failure point. As of spring 2025, her case had not been entered into NAMIS, the National Missing and Unidentified Person System, the federal government's centralized clearinghouse intended to help connect missing person cases with unidentified remains across jurisdictions nationwide.

54:06 I feel like that's something pretty important. Pretty fucking important. Yeah. You know what? Cookie for you. Thank you. Yeah. She was, however, listed in the Washington State Patrol's own missing persons database, which is something. It's not enough for me personally, but a national public radio analysis cited in Cascadia Daily News found that 65% of Washington State's missing people were not listed in NamUs at all. 65%? 65%. Oh my God. And I'm given to understand that that is of the overall, like across racial divide, all of the missing people. Wow. And fewer than half of the missing indigenous people listed in the Washington State Patrol's own database as of January 2025 appeared in the federal system.

55:04 I don't understand why they're not just listed. They're missing. They need to be matched with remains, possibly. I'm sure that someone would like to tell us that it's about under-resourced police departments. And maybe that's true in some cases. I don't care. Do better. Be better. I'm going to say, obviously, defunding the police wouldn't help with entering more of this data into these systems right but you understand that that's why people want to do that right oh they want to defund the police because they are not serving their communities in the way that we would perhaps like right in some cases you know And that's just a minor concern compared to, you know, just killing people in the streets.

56:04 So as of today, she's now in NamUs. MP number 155641. The page states she has dark brown hair, brown eyes, as well as a scar on her right arm and a tattoo that reads, best. Oh, she got her own name tattooed. I don't know why. I don't know why. I just love that so much. She loved herself. And it's just B-E-S. Oh. What it doesn't quite capture is who she was. An accomplished beater who was nearly done making necklaces for each of her grandchildren. I hate you.

56:46 I know. I was like, she beads too? She is me. And she has like unfinished... She had crafting to do, people. According to her daughter-in-law, Miranda Noland, she had almost all of them done, she said, and she was so excited because she was going to give them to them. I don't know why that makes me like so emotional. I mean, it's like the un. It's like this unfinished thing and that's like, I just feel like that's Kind of the theme, really, like with this case. The roadside memorial near Bessalyn's home on the reservation still honors dozens of Lummi women and men lost to violence and disappearance. Her name is now among them.

57:40 Her daughter-in-law also said, we want justice for her because she is the one that is missing. She is the one who was cold. she is the one that's afraid. She is the one that doesn't know where she is. And that last part, she's the one that doesn't know where she is. Because I feel like, and I don't know, like, she didn't really expand on this, but like, assuming that she were just still missing and she were being held somewhere, like that, that last part of the statement would certainly make sense, right? Like, she doesn't know where she is. Like, she's being held. But if her fate is what her family and the tribal nation believes, I feel like that speaks to kind of like a spiritual confusion of like, she doesn't know where she is because this isn't how...

58:40 this isn't how you're meant to go to the other side. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I'm making more of that than what she meant. But I could see how it's like they lay people to rest and probably is, you know, very like ceremonial way. Burial traditions are very important amongst a lot of indigenous tribes. And I just like, I don't know. That just struck me as like, she doesn't know where she is because she's not buried in the place. You know what I mean? I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I'm making more of that than what, like I said, than what she intended. But that just immediately struck me. And I just was like, and she is the one who is cold. She literally went missing on a cold night. I just, it just got me in the feels. I'm going to use the dog tarot. Okay. Because she loved dogs. She loved dogs. Oh, God.

59:35 I think she would like that. I think she would approve. I don't want to put words in Bess's mouth, but I really think, like, I'm confident she would approve of that. I think she would be on board. Yeah. I still will for always. I will for always love that she has her own name tattooed. I don't know why. It's like independent. I don't know. I am me. I love myself. This is who I am. You have to see the photos of her. She is just... She's so pretty. And it wouldn't matter. She could be the ugliest lady that ever lived. Right. But... It's heartbreaking when you see somebody that just like really does. I mean, it's so fucking stupid. But like when you see them in a photo and you can just feel like the radiating warmth, it's like she lit up every room. But like for real, though. But like for real, though. Some people actually do. Yeah. I'm just going to set it aside.

1:00:44 It was literally the only card that didn't shuffle back in. Interesting. I'm going to just set it aside so that I... Just in case. Where do we feel like in the spread here? I mean, I'm feeling like B. Keyboard B, but... Okay. Are you feeling it? That's like in the direction of where I was thinking. I was definitely on like the left-hand side. I was like, even like a little further over because B is like right here. Do what you feel. Well, maybe we split the difference. I feel like the answer is a lot of times to split the difference. Okay, we drew this in reverse. Okay. Okay, I'm going to let you describe it.

1:01:26 Okay, it is two of ones and it has a dog with like one of the inflatable dog collars around its neck. It's like a cone, but it's literally, it almost looks like they're wearing like one of those like Lifeguard rings. Like a life preserver ring. Could be. Yeah. They're not. I mean, it's not. They make those for dogs so that they don't have to wear cones. Yeah. Because we have one. So they don't itch themselves. Yeah. But it's got a stick in its mouth and then the owner is like holding out another stick to the dog. Because one stick is never enough. Two. Did you want me to read this? Two. I was thinking that like there was two dogs left. Yeah, I want you to read that. Okay.

1:02:12 Two sticks are seemingly better than one, but you only have one set of jaws. This card is all about making difficult decisions. It's the fork in the road, or rather the fork in the stick. And the stick the owner is holding out does have a fork in it. Reversed. You have a. Stick firmly in your teeth. Why gamble on that other stick? It could be a better stick or not. You're stricken with choice paralysis. Decide what you want to do and make peace with it. Okay, that's interesting. While you were reading that, I was listening and also skimming the reverse interpretation and I've already glommed on to some things.

1:02:57 Okay, because yeah, this will be like the bigger book, the more expanded interpretation. Keywords are developing goals, involvement in a creative project, Taking Action and Choices. This card shows you taking action to accomplish something you feel passionately about, a creative project, a business, or an adventure. Finding missing people. Yeah, God willing. You may have to make a choice between two options or bring two factors together to achieve success. Okay. And I feel like I've used this word a hundred times today.

1:03:38 I'm extrapolating, but I'm like this max of they're going to have to make a deal to get the information. Yeah, I could see that. It was reminding me of when they were searching and they had to make the choice of kind of shutting down the search in this area or to keep looking. Yeah that's such a good connection thank you look at you i love that i try like i feel like sometimes i feel like a real dum-dum when we read the tarot because i feel like i come up with very obvious connections what seems obvious to me and then you come up with something that i'm like oh i never would have thought of that i could have like read this a hundred times and never would have thought of that yeah.

1:04:23 I just had a thought, too, about the dog, like, having the anti, you know, scratch collar on its neck. It's kind of like, it reminds me of how all of the, like, jurisdictions, like, you kind of have this thing that's, like. Around your neck. It's like a barrier. Like a barrier, yeah. That's the word I was thinking of. Oh, wow. She is next level today. I brought my A game, guys. Sick. My tea game, my tarot game. I was like, my tea game. When the Two of Wands is reversed, it can indicate a delay or difficulty. I would say. Yeah. You may be in for a surprise that requires you to make changes. This one makes me want to cry. No.

1:05:11 Perhaps someone you relied on or believed in disappoints you. Oh. I think so. I mean, I feel like a lot of people think so. Yeah, yeah. Or that could be to like the community, like you kind of are relying on your government to help out. And it's not. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that can cut several different ways, I think. If you asked about money, this card may mean financing for a project gets delayed or an investment doesn't produce the return you'd hoped for. Use caution in financial partnerships or contracts. Well, they weren't married. Brings me back to the very beginning with like the treaties. Yeah.

1:05:53 Oh my God. The trickies. The trickies. In a reading about work, the reverse too can mean you'll have to work harder than you'd expect to bring your dream to fruition. Sometimes it indicates you've gotten off track and need to take action to control a situation. You may have to rein in a colleague or contractor or another person may not hold up his or her end. I feel like, does that just speak to like the jurisdictional and like multi-agency like cluster? Yeah, I think so. In a reading about love, this card advises being upfront and honest with your partner. If the relationship is rocky, you may have to make adjustments, especially if you've been too dependent or detached in the past. Okay. Okay. Let's see what this other one was. It was kind of our— The one that didn't shuffle. Okay, you might have to look at this one for me. It was also in reverse, and it's a two, and it literally has two dogs on it. Oh, my gosh. And so now we have three dogs total in our tarot cards. That's wild. Yeah. What are the leashes?

1:07:05 What's the suit for that? I don't know yet. I'm going to— Get there. Oh, okay, okay. Sorry. I'm rushing you. No, I was just like looking at these two cards together and it's like maybe the two dogs who are left behind, they're like still together. They're calmer with their family because that's what's on the card. It's like two dogs snuggling. Those leashes kind of wrapped around them almost look like a little figure eight. Yeah. And then this dog has like a choice to make. Like it could be maybe protective or. And what's crazy about it is I do remember I came across a picture of at least, I don't know if it, I can't remember 100% for sure if it had all three of the dogs in it, but they looked very similar. And I'm reminded of that because all three of these dogs in the two tarot cards look very similar. And it's all different sizes, shapes, colors of dogs in this deck. Yes. Okay. So it is two of cups. Yes. Shut the fuck up. Two of cups and it's two, two. Interesting. Yeah. Two of cups. Okay.

1:08:14 I'm going to, I will prepare. I'll read the, from the little doggy book. Okay. What's the only thing better than one dog? Two. Caitlin would say that. I feel like Bess would agree. Like three, four, five. Honestly, I would lobby for three. Yeah. I think that would end in, I think that would end my marriage. This card signifies a union, a romantic connection, friendship, or business partnership. And then, so reversed, things are off kilter. Maybe one dog is kept on a shorter leash. Maybe one dog regularly runs off and leaves the other one behind.

1:08:58 Okay. interesting. Yeah. When a dog gives more affection than she gets, it creates resentment and jeopardizes any chance for genuine connection. Take a step back, make sure your own cup is full, then start seeking balance in your relationships. Oh my God. It just makes me think of like their relationship. It really does almost make me feel like there was a fight. Yeah. But I don't think it explains the walk. I don't think that was real. I don't think so either. The walk was also at 2 a.m. Oh. And we got two twos. Yeah. That's weird. You know where else there's two twos? On a ballerina. Get it?

1:09:45 Two twos. This part. Marking the first anniversary of her disappearance. So it was one year and one day. January 22nd, 2026. The FBI's Seattle field office released an updated missing person poster and announced the $ 10, 000 reward. Wow. Alrighty. When the two of cups appears reversed, it suggests disharmony, and a lack of cooperation. It may mean a partnership takes a while to get going or that you run into obstacles. In some cases, it indicates dwindling affection, inequality, or a lack of supportiveness in a relationship. Picking up a vibe.

1:10:33 I don't know. It seems like a vibe. Not one I like, but... In a reading about money, the reverse, too, can signify an uneven investment of resources. It can also represent complications or a delay in receiving money, especially from a joint venture, trust, divorce settlement, or legacy. That's interesting. They weren't married, but the fact that it names, like it specifically says divorce settlement, I was like, hmm, well. If the reading is about your job, this card may mean you don't feel a business partner is pulling his or her weight or you don't get the support you desire.

1:11:18 It can also point to a lack of cooperation in your workplace. This is... I mean, it's more of the same on the relationship front with like the two cards, I feel like. In a reading about love, the reverse 2 sometimes represents a secret liaison... Or it may point to a period of disharmony or cooling affection. Yeah. Cooling. Oh, that's interesting. Perhaps there's a lack of balance or equality in a relationship. Interesting. Yeah, I feel like he, no, like this is totally just speculation just based on what I, the information I have about Bess. It's probably like she probably didn't take no shit. You know, I have to imagine.

1:12:08 I can imagine. And you know what? If a man didn't like that, what may happen. And sometimes, even the best of us ladies, we take some shit that we really shouldn't. And that's unfortunate. But I don't judge. At least I endeavor not to judge the ladies for that. That is, you know, that should be laying down. Squarely at the feet of the shitty, shitty partner. The shit layer. The shit layer. Aw, look at that. He laid another shit. That felt good to me. All right. Should we say the thing? Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Have a creepy ass day. We'll see you next Thursday. Not you, Bowman.

1:12:56 I mean, I really don't have anything all that funny to say. Just not you. Just if you know anything, if you happen to come across this and you know this area and what's going on, just let somebody know. Yeah. There's still a reward, right? There is. Yeah. The reward is actually like, I mean, this case is not very old, but the reward is pretty new. So. Yeah. Still up for grabs. It shouldn't take that. But, you know, if that's what gets you, if that's what gets you there. Yeah. See something, say something. I was literally sitting here like it's running in a loop in my brain. See something, say something.