Source: US FBI
The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Sa’Wade Birdinground. There have been no known contacts with family or friends since Sa’Wade was last seen at her family’s residence in Garryowen, Montana, on October 6, 2024.
Sa’Wade is 13 years old. She is 5’4″ to 5’5″ tall, weighs 130-140 pounds, and has brown eyes and brown, curly hair.
Birdinground was last seen wearing a black hoodie with mushrooms on it, an anime t-shirt, basketball shorts, and purple slip-on Skechers-brand shoes. She may have a black and purple Adidas backpack with her and is known to wear an elk tooth necklace.
“Eight months is an incomprehensible amount of time for a family to be without their child,” said Special Agent in Charge Mehtab Syed of the Salt Lake City FBI. “The FBI is fully committed to finding Sa’Wade and bringing her home. No tip is too small or insignificant.”
The FBI is working this case jointly with Crow BIA law enforcement and the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office.
The FBI, BIA, and tribal partners work together to search for and investigate missing persons cases. Such efforts include FBI’s Operation Not Forgotten, launched in 2023, and BIA’s Murdered and Missing Unit, which dedicates additional federal resources specifically to address missing persons on American Indian reservations.
As part of this year’s Operation Not Forgotten, the FBI has doubled the number of special agents working Indian Country cases in the Billings Resident Agency, who will assist with the Birdinground case, among other important investigations.
If you have any information about Sa’Wade’s disappearance, go to tips.fbi.gov, or call the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office at (801) 579-6195.