Missing Native Woman in California Found Deceased After Feather Alert Issued

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By Elyse Wild

September 23, 2024

Amy Porter, 43, a tribal citizen of the Morongo Tribe, was found deceased yesterday, one day after a California Highway Patrol issued a Feather Alert after she had been missing for nearly one week.

According to a Facebook post by Porter's daughter, she was last seen on Sept. 15 by family and friends in Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, California. On Sept. 16, it was reported that Porter checked into a Pomona hotel with Damon Bell. According to reports from Porter's family, security footage shows Bell leaving the hotel hours before Porter left the hotel alone; she was involved in a major car accident near Live Oak Canyon Road heading eastbound. She was seen fleeing the accident on foot.

Porter's family and friends organized a search at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22, near 10 Freeway and Wildwood Canyon Road. The search party located a deceased body in a ravine in the area around 9 a.m. A Facebook post by her family confirms the body is Porter.

The Feather Alert was codified in California state law in 2022 after legislation authored by Committee Chair Assemblymember James C. Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla Tribe). Launched on Jan. 1, 2023, the statewide alert system provides the public with information to aid in the recovery of a missing Indigenous person. It is the state's first legislative measure to combat the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) crisis.

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