What's Left Behind
Lindsay Whiteman was murdered in October of 2018 on the Blackfeet Reservation, part of a crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women across the country that only recently has been gaining awareness. Lindsay left behind six kids. While the children have always been apart, raised by extended family, the murder of their mother distanced them further without a matriarch to tie the family together. This project examines how her six children have been affected and are moving on in the shadow of death.
I photographed this story for the University of Montana's Native News Honors Project 2019.
Tyren "Chaca" Whiteman plays with his scooter at the skatepark in Browning. Donelle Deroche, his aunt with whom he lives, said Chaca is the only one of his siblings that didn't know his mother well and struggles with feeling disconnected from her. “He never called her mom,” said Donelle. “He called her Lindsay.”
Chaca plays video games during dinner at his aunt Donnell's house. Like many nine-year-olds, he spends much of his time playing video games. His grades plummeted and behavior worsened after his mother's death.
Two-year-old Hazley Crossguns, 5-year-old Shakina Crossguns and 7-year-old Micheal Jr. Crossguns flip through the pages of an old magazine in their grandmother’s backyard. They now live with their father, who was Lindsay's partner at the time of her murder and is protective of them from the rest of the family after winning a custody battle against Marselina.