TOPPENISH — Destiny Lloyd was a confident girl who grew up to be a young woman who watched over others as a child care worker at Legends Casino Hotel. Many knew her through that role, her cousin said Sunday.
In speaking about Lloyd on Sunday, Myrna Cloud mentioned that they were first cousins. But they were really sisters, Cloud said. Lloyd was her little sister, and Cloud and her family and friends are still waiting for justice.
Lloyd, 23, was last seen on Christmas Day 2017. Her body was found Dec. 29, 2017, just off Marion Drain Road near the intersection with Harrah Road. Two people face trial in U.S. District Court in Yakima, one charged with first-degree murder in Indian Country and felony murder in Indian Country for allegedly hitting Lloyd in the head with a metal tool on or around Dec. 26, 2017, in a robbery attempt.
"I miss her so dearly," Cloud said Sunday, observed as a national day of awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women and people. "She was just a big-hearted person, and it hurts to know somebody took her life."
Cloud, her daughters and a niece were among dozens who gathered Sunday at the Yakama Nation Cultural Center for a walk to Yakamart, where others joined Cloud at an open mic.
Lloyd is among many who have gone missing, have been found murdered or have died mysteriously on and around the Yakama Reservation over decades. The centuries-long crisis has impacted Indigenous people around the world.
A symposium on the issue will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Legends Casino Event Center, 580 Fort Road. Guest speakers will include Bree Black Horse. She was sworn in Thursday as an assistant U.S. attorney specializing in prosecuting cases involving murdered and missing Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest.
Other cases
On Sunday, some went to the cultural center before the walk to make posters and get REDgalia T-shirts. Adrian Jackson and his family led the walk on horseback. His mother, Mona Renee Vallo, a Yakama Nation citizen who was born in Toppenish and grew up in the Lower Yakima Valley, died on March 9, 2022, in New Mexico of injuries consistent with a hit-and-run crash, the FBI has reported.
She may have been struck at approximately 7 p.m. on the date her body was found by passers-by on U.S. Route 66, New Mexico Highway 124, in Laguna Pueblo.
"I have no leads of how she was taken from us," Jackson said at Yakamart.
He and his family appreciate the support others have provided, including information from people including Cissy Strong Reyes, he said, and financial support from organizations for travel and other expenses.
Reyes also attended Sunday with a relative, carrying posters with photos of her sister, Rosenda Strong. Seven people have been indicted in federal court in connection with the October 2018 homicide of Strong and her alleged killer.
"I just wanted to be here to support the families here and just to be visible if they need any help or guidance," said Reyes, who also attended awareness events in Seattle on Saturday.
Jackson wants to help others as much as he can, too, he said. He thanked those who attended Sunday.
"I love everybody for showing up today. It's good to see all these people," he said.
Advocacy
Others who talked Sunday are also still awaiting arrests in the deaths of their loved ones. Court cases can take years to close.
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Ellen Teo joined her family in speaking about her mother, Gail Renee Teo, who was killed in her White Swan home on Aug. 7, 2019. A trial date for the suspect is set May 20 in Yakima County Superior Court. "My mother deserves better. We will fight. We will go to every court hearing," she said. "My mother deserves some kind of justice. Please don't forget her. Say her name. Her name was Gail Teo."
Cloud encouraged others to keep saying their loved one's names, watch out for one another and speak up for all who deserve justice. "We all need to speak up," she said. "Don't just wear red because you want to be involved today. Speak up every single day. ... Don't ever stop speaking up for your loved ones."