Amidst cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP), it is uncommon for missing persons to be unhoused, according to Olivia Gray, who is the chair of Northeastern Oklahoma Indigenous Safety and Education’s (NOISE) Board of Directors.
This was the case for Baylee Mason Good.
Good is an Osage citizen who went missing after leaving the Tulsa County Courthouse on Aug. 19, 2024, after being let off for a traffic infraction. She was later found living in a houseless community in Tulsa, Okla., on Jan. 29, one month after her maternal aunt Sugar Good-Thompson and her father’s cousin, Deleana Lee Allen, reported her missing on Dec. 26, 2024.
“I saw that she had been arrested in August,” said Good-Thompson. “Now mind you, this is in December … It was for some kind of a traffic fine. Then, she was released. From August on, we didn’t know anything.
“It caused a lot of sleepless nights, not only for her family, but for her friends. I was very grateful for the NOISE organization. They helped get the word out a lot more,” said Good-Thompson, who noted that it was a flyer made by NOISE that led “a complete stranger” to report Good’s whereabouts to authorities.
“Not everyone is on social media. Not everyone sits down and watches the news,” she said.
Investigator Pat Dean of the Osage County Sheriff’s Office was the one to locate Good at the encampment where she was living. According to Osage County Sheriff Bart Perrier, he asked permission to take her photograph to provide proof she was alive, and she consented. First, she wanted to put on some makeup for the photograph, he said.
“[We] opened all the doors for escape, if needed,” said Perrier. “She said, ‘No. My family stresses me out. I don’t want to have anything to do with them.’”
Good-Thompson decided to visit her niece, who she noted had lost weight and was “not in her natural environment.” She wanted to let Good know she was welcome to return home. “I wanted to speak to her myself. I helped her with what she needed at that moment … My sister was emotional,” she said of Good’s mother. “I kind of took [the lead.]
“The sheriffs did what they did. I commend them for it. I’m very grateful they jumped on board. Baylee’s mom is my sister, Baylee is my sister’s firstborn. She is extremely grateful … Whatever has gone on with her on a personal level, only she has that answer,” said Good-Thompson, who is Hopi and resides in Oklahoma City.
ON Police Department Chief Nick Williams was part of the search team and commented that Good did not want “to be around anything or anybody. I was like, ‘Wow, OK.’”
Perrier said that more often than not, someone who has been missing for months is found dead.
Found alive, but alive does not mean ‘safe’
“I never say ‘found safe,’ because alive does not mean safe,” said Gray, who urges sensitivity and nonjudgment of both victims and families.
“We are a family that our missing person was alive,” said Good-Thompson. “She was found alive and that brought us comfort.”
According to both Perrier and Gray, Good’s case is uncommon among reported instances of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Understanding the situation is not simple, said Gray, or even fully possible.
“People can be out on the streets for a number of different reasons. Sometimes it’s poverty, sometimes it’s financial, sometimes it’s mental health reasons, sometimes it’s addiction reasons, sometimes it’s more than one of those reasons all at the same time.
“That doesn’t mean they don’t check in with their families,” Gray said. “What’s really sad is a lot of times, there’s victim-blaming, and there’s blaming of the family, when there are all these different issues that aren’t so easily catalogued and set on a shelf.”
The family is giving their relative space and respecting her choices, said Good-Thompson.
Former classmates and friends, including Alex DeRoin and Jeffrey Kidder, helped search for Good.
One entity that could have done more, Good-Thompson felt, was the Osage Nation. “I do not feel like Osage Nation helped at all,” she said. “I hate to say that. But I have to speak the truth. There was nothing that they shared, or posted or contributed, and she’s a citizen. She’s an Osage citizen.”
ONPD Chief Williams said the police department did share information about the search for Good on social media, but stated that there are other channels where MMIP information could be shared. “There are possible other avenues that could be used to share that, such as Communications or Social Services, as well as several other informational sites … as far as ONPD, we did share flyers as they came in, usually online,” he said.
ON Social Services Case Aide Virginia Hollis said that ONPD takes the lead in MMIP cases. If an adult is being abused and “left,” Protective Services would then take the lead, she said.
A history of ‘Houselessness’
The word “houseless” or “homeless” began to appear pertaining to Native people after the allotment of Native land.
Mention of the word occurs for Native Americans in records as early as 1914, according to archives from the Department of the Interior.
The Department of Justice issued a press release in 1978, providing guidelines for emergency room care of houseless or “indigent” Native Americans. Then-Attorney General Drew S. Days III said, “the hospital may refer an Indian indigent to the Indian Health Service in Shiprock, New Mexico, for free care after the patient has been examined by a doctor and his or her medical condition has been stabilized.”
“Indigent” Osage children attended the Sisters of Loretto mission school called the St. Louis School in Pawhuska, according to a resolution of the Osage Tribal Council of December 8, 1931. Their letter stated, “… There are quite a number of unallotted orphan minors of Osage blood and others whose parents are not financially able to pay any part of the expense of their children in attendance at this school …” The Sisters of Loretto asked the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior to authorize the Osage Indian Agency to pay the Sisters of Loretto in charge of the St. Louis School for education expenses of the Osage children attending the school.
Prior to these recorded instances, the charitable organization, the Indian Rights Association (IRA) anticipated homeless Native Americans. They advocated for assimilation to prevent outcomes of houseless Natives. According to Oklahoma State University History Professor Brian Hosmer, the IRA did so by advocating for individual property holding, assimilation and citizenship.
When experiencing a missing relative, ‘Do not give up’
Good’s family’s advice to others who experience a missing person is “do not give up,” said Good-Thompson.
“I am [appreciative] of everyone’s support and assistance,” said Good-Thompson. “There is no line to be drawn between state and tribal. Especially when it refers to assistance for those in need – no matter what tribal, state or federal agencies we all receive assistance from. It’s more than just about contributions. Lives are at stake on a daily basis. Our family is fortunate that Baylee was found. We are grateful to be able to take the next step.”
Good was employed prior to going missing but had also struggled with addiction in the past.
The late Santee Sioux activist John Trudell described addiction as one form of rejecting the American system. “If you wanted to make it in America as an Indian, you had to become a hollow person and let the [the government and White American society] remold you,” he said. Trudell described a refusal to participate in working society as a way of resisting the American system.
Although all causes of addiction, as well as houselessness are not known, Good made the choice to live unhoused and away from family. Her family is grateful to know that she is alive.
“I just want to express our gratitude for everybody that helped. Everybody that was involved, whether they shared it, whether they posted a flyer, whether they mentioned it … and I would not have been able to do it without NOISE and without the Osage County Sheriff’s Office,” said Good-Thompson.
