Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women - Five years ago, Mildred Quaempts (Yakama & Cayuse) and Merle Kirk (Warm Springs) asked Oregon legislators for help. During a House committee hearing in February 2019, they told the story of the women in their family who have disappeared or were murdered over the last 60 years. In 2019, Oregon lawmakers declared Missing and Murdered Women a statewide emergency. House Bill 2625, signed by the governor in May of that year, directed Oregon State Police to study how to combat the unsolved killings and disappearances of Native Americans.