Stories of the MMIW: Kimberly Bearclaw Iron - Missing
Human Trafficking has become a dark and terrifying reality in this world. SafeHorizon.org teaches what signs to look for in possible Human Trafficking as well as the national statistics for Sex Trafficking and forced labor. 24.9 million people are the victims of forced labor, 16 million of which are trafficked for forced labor within the private economy. The private economy includes private individuals, groups, or companies in all sectors but the sex industry. Forced labor in the private economy is estimated to generate $150 billion a year in illegal profits. Horrifyingly, 4.1 million people are trafficked for state-imposed forced labor. Meanwhile 3.8 million adults and 1.0 million children are victims of Sex Trafficking. Native American women make up 40% of Sex Trafficking victims and 25% of them are from Montana, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Kimberly Bearclaw Iron grew up on the Crow Indian Reservation, but not much is known about her background. She was just 21-years-old when she disappeared under bizarre and mysterious circumstances. The beautiful young woman was a loving mother to three young children. For much of the year leading up to her disappearance, she had been living in Billings, Montana.
Kimberly was not one to leave the state of Montana very often. When she unexpectedly called her father, Curtis Iron, from Las Vegas, Nevada on September 22, 2020, he was reasonably surprised. Medium reported that just before she took off with her boyfriend and some others, Kimberly had left her children with relatives in Hardin, Montana. This was not behavior typical of her. She was crying over the phone as she begged her father for help getting home. Her boyfriend had been arrested, leaving her broke and with no way of getting back. Before Curtis could learn her exact location the call was cut short. When he tried calling the number back, he received no answer.
NBC stated that over the weeks following that first strange and alarming call, her father received more ominous phone calls that only served to further concern him. She always called from a different number and she never talked for long. Though the calls were always quick, Curtis was still able to pick up on the sound of his daughter's voice. It sounded off, like something was terribly wrong. To make things all the stranger, he could tell that every call was on speakerphone. Kimberly was never known to use the speakerphone feature on her phone, causing Curtis to wonder who was possibly listening to their hastened conversations. He just couldn't shake the feeling that someone was nearby, controlling her.
While her family wondered what to do in this situation, Kimberly's children stayed with her grandmother, Marilyn Chief. Marilyn had already been through all that a person could be tested by. Her brother, son, and one of her grandchildren had all three been the victims of homicides. None of their cases have ever been solved. One might think that after suffering so much senseless loss a person would be unable to go on. One would also be wrong in Marilyn's case. She has ceaselessly fought to find out what happened to her granddaughter while also caring for her children.
Under this strong, resilient grandmother's direction, relatives looked Kimberly up on social media and reached out to her. Occasionally a response would appear, but they were always short, strange, and evasive. Her family believes that they haven't been speaking with Kimberly, but someone else posing as her on her profile. Someone that has some knowledge of what happened to her.
On October 6, 2020, Curtis received the last call he would ever get from his daughter. Once again, she didn't sound like herself. He knew that something was wrong just by the sound of her voice. When the call ended, he immediately tried to call the number back, but no one answered. Police managed to trace the number all the way to Oxnard, California, a coastal town only an hour northeast of Los Angeles. This lead created more questions than answers. How did she end up there? Why would someone that rarely left the familiar comfort of her home state travel so far, so suddenly, without a word to anyone?
Although there has been some communication received from her social media account, police have still labeled this a missing persons case. Until Kimberly reaches out to law enforcement on her own to ensure that she's safe and well, the investigation will remain as such. Her family strongly believes that she has become a victim of Sex Trafficking. With only 10% of Sex Trafficking victims ever being rescued, their uphill battle was made clear. The statistics have never stopped or slowed them down, though. As investigators work to find out what happened to Kimberly Iron, her family continues to hand out fliers, work with the media, and reach out to her social media accounts. So far, four Facebook pages have been found that could possibly be her's. One profile with recent posts were found to be reposts, while another account records her last post on September 21, 2020.
Kimberly Bearclaw Iron is described as being 5'2" tall and weighing 125 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She has brown hair, but could've dyed it blonde since she was last seen, and has a small scar between her eyes. Anyone with any information whatsoever on her whereabouts are urged to call the Big Horn County Sheriff's Department at 406-665-9780. To learn more about Human Trafficking and Sex Trafficking, you can visit SafeHorizon.org, or dhs.gov. To report suspected Human Trafficking to Federal law enforcement, call 1-866-347-2423. To get in touch with the National Human Trafficking Hotline, call 1-888-373-7888.