BUCKEYE, AZ — Frantz Beasley is on a mission to walk more than 4,000 miles, from Los Angeles to New York City. He's willing to talk with anyone and everyone who is willing to stop and chat about the plight of murdered and missing indigenous women.
The number of cases are in the thousands. In many cases, they're locked away as an unsolved crime.
"I get side looks that people think I'm a homeless person running around out here. People think all sorts of thing. But at the end of the day when we have conversation, they understand what I'm doing out here.," Beasley said.
Frantz Beasley leads the nonprofit Respect our Daughters. He is stopping Friday in Phoenix, where he will be part of discussion with police and clergy at a local church.
Beasley is ready to have a conversation about women like 21-year-old Jeanette Jumping Eagle. Jeanette was murdered on New Years Day 2020. Shot and killed by her boyfriend of two months. Jeanette left behind three young boys and her mom Patricia Pancott.
"It's amazing, I was not expecting any of this," Pancott said.
Pancott first met Beasley 10 years ago. In April she says Beasley reached out to her, "and said I'm doing this thing, it sounds crazy but I'm walking from Los Angeles to New York City, and your face and Jen's face just popped into my head. I want to walk in honor of Jen."
And so, Beasley walks up to 35 miles a day. Putting a face and a history to women none of us would know otherwise.
"My fear is that people will forget her. People will forget her story," Pancott says about her daughter.
More than two years after Jeanette's death, there has been no trial. But next month, there will be an evidentiary hearing in South Dakota, where the murder occurred. If Frantz Beasley has anything to do with it, Jeanette Jumping Eagle will not become a statistic.
"At the end of the day," he said, "I've always been one of those believers. Those who want to know, know. Those who want to pay attention, attention."
