Five years and counting: Family, authorities seek answers surrounding woman’s death

DeAnna’s death was reported as a drowning. But unanswered questions persist — enough that the case remains open. Enough that her family suspects foul play. While her death may have dropped off the radar for locals who remember it at all, it has haunted her family and friends. They hope that others are haunted, too — that anyone who knows anything is moved by their conscience to come forward. Even a tidbit of information could crack the case.

The aftershocks

DeAnna comes from the Northern Cheyenne Nation, the extended, tight-knit Limberhand/Blackhorse family. Her death upended their world. Her passing also left her three sons motherless. The youngest, Tanner, was only two years old at the time.

Darlene, soft-spoken and still recovering from a stroke she suffered later that year, had always believed her daughter could take care of herself. She describes DeAnna as a woman of many talents — a skilled beader and cook, a part-time wildland firefighter and someone who'd earned certification to work with people with special needs. What she remembers most, though, is DeAnna's steady support for family, and the two of them heading into the hills together to pick berries and mushrooms.

It's been five years that Darlene has wrestled with the reality of her daughter’s death. She wants to know what happened to her daughter. She wants to find peace.

That same trauma sent DeAnna’s younger sister Dalayna’s life into a tailspin.

Before DeAnna’s death, Dalayna had been active in ministry and devoted to helping other women through challenges such as domestic violence and substance abuse. She remembers, only months before DeAnna’s death, reading about two Crow women — one missing, one found murdered.

“My heart went out to these families,” Dalayna said. “I couldn’t imagine what they were going through.”

Living in Washington State at the time, she prayed for them from afar.

“To know just a few months later my family would be dealing with the same tragedy — that I would be living this,” she said. “In those moments I felt like the world should have stopped, hoping that someone is out there praying for us, too.”

Soon after DeAnna’s death, Dalayna suffered from nightmares and anxiety so severe that she stepped back from ministry.

“I was a wreck carrying the guilt of helping others, but then I couldn’t I help my own sister,” she said. “It took years to actually face this. Now I need to know, I want the truth.”

As Dalayna and her family seek answers, she wants the people of Stillwater County to know the truth, too. She is keen to work with — and not against — local authorities to prevent another family from going through the nightmare that hers experienced.

“It’s not just Indigenous people who these things happen to,” she said. “It’s human beings.”

She can’t even fathom the cruelty that might have been inflicted on her sister.

“As Native Americans, we were always raised to help each other,” she said. “Someone would always help you.”

And she is adamant that her sister’s death not be “just another case.”

“I would like for people here in Stillwater County to know. Do they know what’s happening in their back yard?” She asked.

Now living back in Lame Deer, Dalayna is committed to being strong for her mother and DeAnna’s three sons. She is also taking steps to return to ministry. As she prepared for last week’s trip to Columbus — she, Darlene and others convened at the courthouse — she prayed for strength and calm. There were moments, she said, when she wondered if she could ever revisit the place where such pain took place.

“But through prayer and encouragement, that’s how I prepared myself to walk in, giving it to God,” she said. “We’re strong in our faith. That’s what’s holding our family together.”

In the years since DeAnna’s death there had been very little communication from authorities. And what had been shared was shared with a family that was still shell-shocked. In March 2022, on what would have been DeAnna’s 40th birthday, several family members and supporters came to the Stillwater Courthouse to learn more. That time they felt they’d not been heard, that they’d been given the “run around.” They left learning nothing.

This time, Undersheriff Randy Smith spent an hour with Dalayna (Darlene joined in for part) answering what questions he could. He had responded to the call when DeAnna’s body was found.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” he said.

An open case

Because the case remains open, Smith was unable to provide some key information. But he presented Dalayna with copies of some documents the Limberhands had not seen before.

“Your mom didn’t want to know,” Smith said. “And I don’t blame her.”

As Smith pointed out, cases like DeAnna’s are very rare in Stillwater County.

“I’ve worked for the sheriff’s office for 21 years and I can count on one hand the homicides and suspicious deaths in Stillwater County,” he said.

Though the case has remained “dormant” for years, Smith has not given up hope that someone will come forward to reveal what happened to DeAnna that night and morning.

“We have bits and pieces. Not enough to call this a homicide. But enough to call this a suspicious death,” he said. “We will not close this case — I can say — for as long as I’m here.”

Memories of a sister lost

As Dalayna and Darlene share their personal experiences, they describe a sister/daughter/mother who was very strong and kind-hearted. But she had her struggles, Dalayna said, and fell in with the wrong crowd.

“My sister came to visit me (in Washington) right before this happened,” Dalayna said. “She said ‘I’m going to go get Tanner and be right back’.”


But DeAnna never returned. That was the last time Dalayna saw her sister alive.

Since DeAnna’s death, the family has pieced together events from what they’ve heard. They believe she had been at a gathering outside Absarokee on the night and wee hours of July 19 and 20. Around 6 a.m. on that morning, DeAnna had made several calls to family members. But being so early, her calls went unanswered.

Only a few hours later, at 10:24 a.m., a call came into dispatch reporting a woman’s body in the river at the fishing access.

When the family learned of DeAnna’s death later that day, they realized she must have been calling for help. They still live with that sense of guilt.

Darlene remembers that evening, when an officer on the reservation arrived at her door to break the news of her daughter’s death.

“And Tanner was there listening,” she said, still dismayed by the thought.

When told that DeAnna had been found in the river, Darlene asked if her daughter had drowned.

“He (officer) said he didn’t know, but that she was all beat up,” Darlene said.

From that day on, the family has heard different details — much of it hearsay. From early on, too, the Stillwater County Sheriff’s office requested assistance from the Department of Criminal Investigation. They conducted a number of interviews, both in Stillwater County and Lame Deer. Much of what they learned remains restricted — but enough to keep the case open.

Keep her memory alive

As the Limberhand/Black Horse family seeks answers, they wonder what steps to take next. Smith was clear with his advice.

“Continue to speak, continue to be seen so that she is not forgotten,” he said.

By raising awareness and reporting any detail they or anyone might hear — even details that might seem irrelevant — the puzzle may come together, he said.

“Our biggest struggle is people not calling us, not telling us,” he said. “If you were even to get a piece of information, pass it on. Often these cases break from just a little piece of information.”

A prayer for justice, a prayer for peace

The Stillwater River was running clear at Jeffrey’s Landing last week, when the Limberhand/Black Horse family and friends returned to the place where DeAnna had been found. Just as they were about to pull into the fishing access, two bald eagles flashed their ivory tails as they passed overhead. The presence of eagles has long been considered a good omen. And those who caught sight of them that afternoon took it as such.

As DeAnna’s son Tanner, now eight, hopped along the riverbank, the rest gathered to mark the spot and the occasion with a prayer.

Wesley Stops Jr., a friend and pastor on the Crow Reservation, led off by blowing a plaintive note from a Shofar, a hollowed-out ram’s horn. Setting the tone, he then prayed for justice for DeAnna, for peace for the family and for conviction to prompt witnesses to come forward. As Stops poured anointed oil into the river he prayed for all Nations and declared healing and freedom for all.

When the group left the riverbank, Darlene spoke of a dream she’d had not long after her daughter’s death. She remembers DeAnna looking lovely, with her hair coiffed in a striking style she had never seen before or since.

“She was radiant,” Darlene said. “That’s what keeps me going.”

The family left Stillwater County that day feeling and knowing in their hearts there is going to be closure. And they left feeling heard. For that, they are especially thankful.

If anyone knows anything about DeAnna’s death or any details related to any Missing, Murdered and Indigenous People case they are directed to call the Stillwater County Sheriff’s office at (406) 322-5326.