Indigenous Woman Vanished 5 Years Ago After $400,000 Abuse Settlement — and Her Remains Were Just Found By Samira Asma-Sadeque

Authorities in Washington State say they have recovered remains of an indigenous woman who disappeared in November 2020.

Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis, a member of the Tulalip Tribes in Washington, was reported missing just days before Thanksgiving when her husband called her family to say she had disappeared. Family members of the 39-year-old claimed in the November 2024 documentary Missing From Fire Trail Road that her husband subsequently left the state and changed his phone number.

On Friday, Oct. 31, FBI Seattle said in a statement that human remains recovered in June in a remote area have been identified as those of Johnson-Davis.

The remains were found in a remote area of North Snohomish County, about 30 miles from Firetrail Road on the Tulalip Reservation, where she was last seen in Nov. 2020, per the FBI.

Johnson-Davis’s husband has not been named a suspect in the case, but in 2021, Tulalip Tribal Police Det. David Sallee told PEOPLE that the husband was a person of interest in her disappearance.

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Johnson-Davis had a turbulent life, her sister Nona Blouin said in Missing From Fire Trail Road. The two were placed in foster care with a non-Native family, where they were sexually abused.

More than 50% of Native American women are victims of sexual violence, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. And four out of every five Indigenous women experience some form of violence.

The DOJ report also notes that Indigenous women are more likely to be victimized by non-Native men.

“We’ve learned through doing research that some of the men in jail would say: ‘You can go rape an Indian woman and you won’t get caught,'” Deborah Parker, former vice chairwoman of the Tulalip Tribe and an executive producer of the documentary, said in the film.

The sisters eventually filed a lawsuit against Washington State and child protective services, and each won a $400,000 settlement, per Blouin.

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The cause and manner of Johnson-Davis’s death are yet to be determined, Seattle FBI said in their statement.

The Tulalip Tribes and the FBI are offering a reward up to $60,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of person(s) responsible for Mary Johnson’s disappearance.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI’s Seattle Field Office at 206-622-0460, 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324), or tips.fbi.gov.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.