Tragic ending in search for Alexis White Hawk-Ruiz highlights bigger issue in Native community
UPDATE: The medical examiner's office released Alexis White Hawk-Ruiz's official cause of death on June 12, 2023. What follows is a revised version of the original story.
MINNEAPOLIS -- After five months, a search ended in heartbreak for a Twin Cities family.
Alexis White Hawk-Ruiz, 20, vanished from north Minneapolis on Nov. 16, 2022. On April 7, her body was found and relatives think it's suspicious, as she lived with her mother and kept in regular contact with her. She also disappeared just days before her birthday.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office reports that Hawk-Ruiz's body was found in the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, and her official cause of death is listed as "an apparent freshwater drowning."
Her family grieving this tragic ending, and a vigil that marked the place White Hawk-Ruiz was last seen, at Dupont Avenue North and West Broadway Avenue, has now been turned into a memorial, with a sign saying "Rest in Power."
"Hearing that news yesterday really hurt all of us in the room," said Nicole Matthews, the executive director of Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition (MIWSAC).
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The death of White Hawk-Ruiz hit everyone attending annual MIWSAC conference up north this week.
"We closed our conference day with a ceremony to send some love and some prayers to her family," said Matthews.
Matthews says White Hawk-Ruiz's death highlights a bigger issue in our community.
Native women make up just under 1% of the population in Minnesota, but they represent 8% of the murdered women in the state.
"In the past we've seen people's stories told in a way that makes the general public think that we did something to cause our own disappearance," said Matthews, "It's important to talk about what are the solutions are, so that we don't have another mom that has to bury her baby."
Matthews says Wednesday night they will be holding a powwow and honor song in White Hawk-Ruiz's memory.
"We will definitely be dancing and thinking of her," said Matthews.
Police say this is still an open and active case.
