Tribeca Film Festival Review: “Missing Fire Trail Road”

Missing Fire Trail Road

When Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis first went missing on Fire Trail Road near Seattle, Washington, her sisters notified law enforcement. Knowing that Mary Ellen had drug and alcohol problems, the reservation police reverted to their default position: Since there was no evidence of “foul play,” they would eventually come forward. However, experience states that in the event of a missing person, the search must begin within the first 48 hours. This is when the individuals responsible are most vulnerable to arrest.

As part of the Tribeca Film Festival “Spotlight Documentary”, the world premiere of Missing Fire Trail Roaddirector, writer and producer Sabrina Van Tassel (The State of Texas v. Melissa) explores the case of Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis. Vitally, she exposes the improbability of an immediate statewide search for Mary Ellen by law enforcement and the reasons why.

Johnson-Davis identifies as an Indigenous woman. Due to the complexity of tribal jurisdictional laws, legal issues are the responsibility of the reservation. For example, arrests of non-Natives never occur on reservations because such arrests fall under the jurisdiction of law enforcement outside the county and state.

Law enforcement, tribal members disagree over arrests of non-Natives

The film reveals that law enforcement and tribal members living on reservations disagree on arrest procedures. According to members, jurisdictional complexities have created areas of lawlessness. Predators use reserves as hunting grounds to commit crimes with impunity. As a result, most crimes committed there by non-natives go unsolved. Law enforcement disputes the views of these members. The large number of missing Aboriginal people suggests otherwise.

Investigating Mary Ellen's case, Van Tassel interviews members of the tribe, reservation police, the FBI working on her case, relatives, a possible suspect and others. Mary Ellen's sisters and members of the tribe speak out about the abuse and violence they suffered. Researching the statistics and examining the history of institutional racism and violence perpetrated by non-natives, Van Tassel is shocked by what she discovers.

Crime has reached endemic proportions

The film shows how tribesmen take a stand. Searching for Mary Ellen, they say states and the federal government can no longer ignore the plight of missing women. They are calling for laws to be changed and are leading campaigns and protests.

Typically, all bets are off with statewide or national alerts, APBs, and rapid action to trace natives, especially women. In an unfair and inequitable relationship between money, power, race and gender, the directed action of law enforcement is unfortunately proportionate. For example, when Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis disappeared from the Tulalip Indian Reservation, law enforcement let family, friends and tribal members do the heavy lifting. On the other hand, when a white woman is reported missing, the law enforcement response comes immediately.

Johnson-Davis is just one of thousands of Indigenous women victims. The number of missing, kidnapped and murdered women continues to rise. Van Tassel devoted his energies to a documentary with many themes. One involves delay and slow walking. Thus, she notes, for two years, the blocked investigators and the family searches yielded nothing. The only important information was that Johnson-Davis was last seen on Fire Trail Road.

Abuse and predation of Indigenous children

In his questioning of witnesses, Van Tassel also reveals the abuse and sexual assault of indigenous children. For various reasons, social workers interviewed the families and then placed the children with non-Native foster families. Van Tassel also discovers that in Washington State, authorities historically placed many Native children in boarding schools. A large number of them, men and women, died there. Often disassociated from tribal communities, the state has never felt obliged to investigate their deaths.

Unattached to their tribal culture, the children's education focused on learning English. Sexual predation, physical abuse and torture also took place in boarding schools and foster homes. Without their tribal community, Indigenous children, treated as objects, suffered displacement, alienation, and emotional and physical trauma.

Van Tassel essentially examines this internal dislocation that Mary Ellen and other indigenous people experienced as children. Abusive treatment by foster “parents” often leads to drug use and alcohol dependence among adults. It also often leads to poor choices when it comes to relationship building. Without a community to uphold values ​​and love, adult Indigenous people become lost. It is important to note that a connected tribal community determines the health of each of its members. Without support, healing becomes difficult.

Sue the State

Mary Ellen and her sister sued the state for the abuse they suffered in the foster care system. However, the monetary reward received by the sisters became a curse for Mary Ellen. According to stories, Mary Ellen's husband controlled her money and left her destitute. In fact, friends and relatives bought her sodas and chips because she never had money. When asked about this, Mary Ellen confided that her husband controlled her life. He threatened to beat her if she did not listen or obey. Mary Ellen also struggled with addictions due to the trauma she experienced as a child and her husband's beating.

Van Tassel is urgently examining this profound topic in hopes that reservation laws change. Additionally, his documentary holds its own cinematically and engages its audience, bringing a tone of empathy and compassion for the tribe members and their families. With careful editing, the director merges extracts from testimonies and intersperses them with tribal cultural scenes. These inform the public about tribal culture. The documentary also includes archived historical photos. Uplifting and hopeful, Van Tassel identifies ways the tribal community works to redirect dislocations to bring people together in love and promote a healing environment.

Finally, Missing Fire Trail Road features indigenous activist and leader Deborah Parker and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. Alongside Mary Ellen's friends and family, they bring seriousness and urgency to this dire situation, affirming the moral imperative that laws must change.

To see the film at the Tribeca Film Festival, visit the website. After the festival, find it on streaming platforms.