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On July 29, 14-year-old Dashira Chapple went missing in Fargo.

A total of 11 more North Dakota children and teens have gone missing since, according to the state's missing persons website.

"That feels like a lot when you say it out loud," said Steven Harstad, a chief agent with the state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Harstad said the agency has not drawn a connection between the various cases, but the uptick is "concerning."

The number could be greater, he added — especially if there are children reported as runaways instead of missing. In those cases, their information is typically not listed on the state's missing person database.

"A lot of times, a runaway is not even reported to law enforcement because they have come back in the past," he said. "But even if that child has run away 20 times, the 21st time might be the time they've gotten into a bad situation."

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons system consistently trailing weeks behind the state's entries doesn't help, either. 

Renzo Bullhead, a 20-year-old last seen March 16 in Mandan,

 was the most recent person to go missing who is listed on the website.

According to the state's missing persons website, 18 of the 30 people who have gone missing in North Dakota since the start of 2025 are children or teens. Few of them have pictures attached to their names.

Over half of the children reported missing are tribal members, and so are half of the 11 missing since late July.

"You'd think there was something happening with that many people missing in a small state like North Dakota. These are children, these are loved ones; they're community members whose absence I'm sure is deeply felt by families and communities," said Prairie Rose Seminole, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons advocate.

"Just because a young person ran away doesn’t mean they’re safe," Seminole added. "Not listing them as missing creates blind spots in public awareness and public response."

Children going missing — and staying missing — on reservations is so common, tribal communities have become reluctantly desensitized to the issue, Seminole said.

"We're (tribal communities) disproportionately impacted by jurisdictional gaps, under-resourcing, historical and ongoing systemic issues," Seminole said.

Some lawmakers have successfully introduced legislation to bridge that gap, like Rep. Jayme Davis, D-Rolette, who brought a bill to create an alert system specifically for endangered indigenous North Dakotans, and another to establish a state task force for missing and murdered indigenous people.

Davis previously told Forum News Service the original intent of the "feather alert" was for it to sound when a tribal member went missing, but it was distilled to just abductions after other lawmakers, in addition to the Highway Patrol, voiced concerns of it going off too frequently.

The state officially rolled out the new Feather and Missing Endangered Adult alert systems on Aug. 1. Neither have been used yet because none of the children or teens were reportedly abducted — as such, an Amber alert has also not gone out.

“I don't know if law enforcement can fix the issue, but it can respond with the same tenacity no matter who is missing, regardless of where they’re missing and how many times they’ve been missing in the past," Harstad said.

Anyone with information regarding a missing person is encouraged to reach out to their local law enforcement.

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On July 29, 14-year-old Dashira Chapple went missing in Fargo. A total of 11 more North Dakota children and teens have gone missing since, according to the state's missing persons website.

Almost a dozen North Dakota children, teens have disappeared in 17 days

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