By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
CHEROKEE, N.C.—With help from the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T), the Cherokee One Feather is detailing each of the 35 documented Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) cases in a monthly article.
Tamara Seay, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), gave birth to a baby girl, Jailyn Bird, on Sept. 22, 2004. Just two years later, in January 2006, Tamara, who was 18-years-old, was found murdered in the Deep Creek area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Three Cherokee men were charged and convicted in connection with her death.
Tamara Seay, who was found murdered in the Deep Creek area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in January 2006, is shown with her baby girl, Jailyn Bird. (Photo contributed)
The case file for U.S. v. Roach reads, “On June 7, 2007, the Court sentenced Defendant Squirrel to a term of 70 months imprisonment; Defendant Slee was sentenced on June 18, 2007, to a 57-month term of imprisonment; and on August 31, 2007, Defendant Roach was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.”
The case text goes on to state, “Defendants Squirrel and Slee were charged as accessories after the fact to first degree murder…Defendant Roach was charged with first degree murder…kidnapping…and the possession and use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence…All three Defendants entered into plea agreements with the Government.”
Though Jailyn was too young to remember her mother, she has learned about her through stories and memories shared by others like her father, Nicholas Bird, “I’m thankful for my dad for telling me the memories he had with her. I try to learn about her through people’s stories,” Bird said.
“Growing up knowing my mom was taken away too soon is so confusing. I don’t remember my mom before she passed, but I do remember how I watched my dad give up on life after she was gone.”
Tamara’s name is on a growing list of 35 Missing and Murdering EBCI members. “Seeing my Mom being a part of MMIW doesn’t feel real; it makes me feel resentment towards the two men involved and the system,” Bird said.
“It makes me mad she didn’t get the justice she deserved. MMIW means a failed justice system to me. I believe it means there was no justice for these women who are took from their families and never brought back.”
As a family member of one of the missing and murdered, Jailyn is making memories she wishes her mother could be here for. “I wish my mom was here for the first time meeting my siblings, or watching them dance at powwows, and every time my dad was with us,” Bird said.
“The most challenging part of her not being here is she didn’t get a real chance at life.”
This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T).
