New rewards coming in Minnesota in hopes of solving missing person cases

The State of Minnesota is finalizing the details to launch a new reward to help solve certain missing person cases next month.

The legislature established the Gaagige-Mikwendaagoziwag (they will be remembered forever) reward account during the 2022-2023 session to help solve missing Indigenous peoples cases.

More details are expected to be shared next month, according to the State’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office.

Nevaeh Kingbird was last seen on October 22, 2021 in Bemidj.

Nevaeh is shown age-progressed to 18 years.

“She loved her family, she loved her friends, unconditionally,” said Teddi Wind, Nevaeh’s mother.

Wind received a new age-progressed picture of her daughter from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“I was just overwhelmed with different emotions,” Wind said. “The picture turned out so beautiful.”

The image showed what Nevaeh could look like now — at age 18.

The National Center has age-progressed more than 7700 hundred images since 1989 — more than 1800 of those children were later found, according to the center’s website.

There’s a special team that works on the images — calling it a blend of art and science — to create a new picture of what the child could look like now in hopes it can help find the missing.

Law enforcement has held extensive searches for Nevaeh over the years around Bemidji.

RELATED: DPS renewing search for Indigenous teen who went missing 2 years ago

Nevaeh was last seen leaving the Southview Terrace Park area during the daytime in late October 2021, when she was just 15 years old, and hasn’t been seen since.

A state report found that “between 27 to 54 American Indian women and girls in Minnesota were missing in any given month from 2012 to 2020.” Nevaeh’s mother says she won’t stop looking for her, adding that she’s driven by “hope, love from others, and a motivation” to find her daughter.

If you have any information about Nevaeh’s case, contact Crime Stoppers of Minnesota HERE.