On January 16, 2015, Iris Roberts dropped her daughter off at the front entrance of the Meskwaki Bingo Casino and Hotel in Tama County, Iowa. Rita Papakee, 41, was heading in for what should have been an ordinary afternoon. Iris pulled away. She has not seen her daughter since.
Rita never picked up her last paycheck. When her family reported her missing to the Meskwaki Nation Police Department more than a month later, on February 18, 2015, the search that began would eventually span a decade — involving aerial surveys, cadaver dogs, Sahnish Scouts from North Dakota, FBI Evidence Response teams flown in from Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit, and more than half a million dollars in investigative resources. Her case remains unsolved.
A $100,000 reward — funded directly from Meskwaki Nation tribal revenue — is still outstanding for information leading to her whereabouts.
Who Rita Was
Rita Janelle Papakee was born on June 1, 1973, on the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama County, Iowa — an 8,100-acre community about 4.5 miles west of the towns of Tama and Toledo, home to the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. She was a mother of four, a daughter, a grandmother, a sister, an aunt — and by every account, the kind of person who lit up the room when she walked in.
She loved baking. She planned holiday activities for the children every Halloween and Easter. She was close with her mother, Iris, and the two would laugh until their stomachs ached. “She was really kind-hearted,” Roberts said. “She would go out of her way to help people if she really thought they needed help.”
Rita was also a first: according to Mylene Wanatee, Meskwaki Family Services director, her case represents one of the first instances of a missing Indigenous woman the Meskwaki Nation had faced as a community. In a settlement of roughly 1,450 members, her absence is impossible to ignore. Her photo hangs in the Meskwaki Bingo Casino lobby in a dedicated showcase, surrounded by pictures of her and her children growing up. Missing person flyers are posted at the Tribal Center and at the police department. The community has never stopped looking.
The Day She Disappeared
By all accounts, January 16, 2015, was a routine day. Rita’s parents drove her to the casino where she worked. She walked through the front door. Somewhere between that moment and the end of her shift, she vanished.
Investigators initially believed she may have traveled to the Des Moines or Cedar Rapids area after her disappearance, but that was never confirmed. When she didn’t pick up her final paycheck, her family knew something was deeply wrong. Rita was not someone who dropped out of contact. She was not someone who would leave her children.
Her disappearance was classified as suspicious from early on.
A Decade of Searching
In the ten-plus years since Rita went missing, the search for her has been relentless — and heartbreaking in its results.
In March 2015, the Meskwaki police contacted the Iowa Air Patrol to search the area from above while community members combed the ground. Over the years that followed, investigators searched pig farms, wells, highways, fields, structures, dirt piles, bodies of water, and under bridges throughout the settlement and surrounding Tama County.
In May 2019, the family — with the help of the Tribal Council and the MNPD — brought in the Sahnish Scouts, an Indigenous nonprofit organization from North Dakota that specializes in search and recovery. They conducted a week-and-a-half search of the settlement and county, turning up no leads.
In June 2024, new information led investigators to the “Battleground area” on the south side of the settlement, where an old well at a former residence became a focus of the search. The FBI flew in its Evidence Response Team and Technical Hazardous Response Unit from Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. The BIA’s Missing and Murdered Unit and Crime Scene Unit arrived from Montana. After multiple days of searching — including cadaver dogs and forensic examination of a well — nothing conclusive was found. DNA samples collected during that search were still awaiting results as of mid-2025.
Also in 2024, the FBI administered a polygraph test to those closest to a prime suspect. The results were inconclusive. A tip came in on New Year’s Eve pointing to another location. Within a week, the source stopped cooperating.
As of June 2025, Meskwaki Nation Police Chief Jeffrey Bunn told reporters that the investigation has cost more than $500,000 in personnel, forensic searches, canine deployments, lab analysis, and legal processes. He described the case as the defining one of his career. “I had nothing in my career that was this significant,” he said. “Rita cannot cross over until she’s found, so that is my priority since day one.”
A Family Still Waiting
For the past decade, Iris Roberts has raised Rita’s four children. She has watched some of them become parents themselves. She has baked birthday cakes for Rita every June 1st and released balloons with the family each year.
“I just want closure,” Roberts said on the tenth anniversary of Rita’s disappearance. “Whoever or whatever they did, I wish they would step up and say, this is what happened.”
Her niece Oliviah Walker put it plainly: “The fact that we’ve been able to find community and find support, and raise awareness for her case, it means a great deal.”
Tribal Police Commissioner Mark Bear has said it has felt like “a dark cloud looming” over the settlement. “We’re all doing our due diligence to make sure that nobody forgets and that we’re still looking for her. She knows that, too, wherever she is.”
Why This Case Matters
Rita Papakee’s disappearance does not exist in isolation. Iowa lacks a dedicated cold case unit. Jurisdictional gaps make it difficult to investigate cases that cross between tribal and state land. There is a chronic shortage of data on missing Indigenous persons — until recently, many federal databases did not even capture tribal affiliation. And when Indigenous women go missing, mainstream media coverage is often absent or minimal.
In 2021 alone, more than 9,500 Native Americans were reported missing nationally. Indigenous women face murder rates ten times higher than the national average. These are not statistics that exist apart from individual lives — they are the context in which Rita Papakee’s family has spent over a decade demanding answers that should have come far sooner.
She was a mother. A daughter. A grandmother. A woman who made her mother laugh until her stomach hurt.
Bring her home.
If You Have Information
The Meskwaki Nation is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of Rita Papakee.
Meskwaki Nation Police Department: (641) 484-4844 Tip Line: (641) 484-5400
Tama County Dispatch: (641) 484-3760
BIA MMU Tip Line: 1-833-560-2065
BIA MMU Text Tip: Text BIAMMU to 847411
Have thoughts on this story or other cases you’d like to see highlighted? Share them with us in the comments or connect with us on social media. Together, we can ensure that stories like this one are never forgotten.
Listen to Rita’s episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts!
Don’t forget to follow us on social media, @VanishedVoicesPod, share your thoughts, and let us know what you’d like to hear about in future episodes. If you have any true crime stories of your own, send them our way Vanishedvoicespodcast@gmail.com to be featured on a future episode! And as always, Refuse to let these voices vanish. See you in the next episode of Vanished Voices!
Resources:
Official Case Databases
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Missing and Murdered Unit. (n.d.). Rita Janelle Papakee [Missing and murdered case file]. U.S. Department of the Interior. Rita Janelle Papakee | Indian Affairs
Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Investigation. (n.d.). Rita Janelle Papakee [Missing Person Information Clearinghouse]. RITA JANELLE PAPAKEE | Missing Person Information Clearinghouse
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). (n.d.). Missing person: Rita Janelle Papakee [Case No. MP28859]. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. NamUs (search case MP28859)
Cold Case Aggregators
Iowa Cold Cases. (2026, January 11). Rita J. Papakee. Rita J. Papakee
The Charley Project. (n.d.). Rita Janelle Papakee. Rita Janelle Papakee – The Charley Project
Official Tribal Sources
Meskwaki Nation. (2019, May 14). Sahnish Scouts bring assistance with a renewed search for Rita Papakee [News & Events]. Meskwaki Nation
Meskwaki Nation. (2019, January 16). New reward offered for missing person Rita Janelle Papakee [Press release]. Meskwaki Nation
Meskwaki Nation. (2025, June). Rita Papakee case highlighted on KGAN Channel 2. Rita Papakee Case Highlighted on KGAN Channel 2 | Meskwaki Nation
Investigative & In-Depth Journalism
Schafer, A. (2022, May 26). ‘Where is she?’ Iowa’s Indigenous communities grapple with crisis of missing and murdered women. Investigate Midwest. ‘Where is she?’: Iowa’s Indigenous communities grapple with crisis of missing and murdered women – Investigate Midwest
Schafer, A. (2022, June 6). ‘Where is she?’ Iowa Indigenous communities grapple with missing and murder cold cases: Meskwaki Nation woman missing for seven years now. The Cedar Rapids Gazette / Investigate Midwest. ‘Where is she?’ Iowa Indigenous communities grapple with missing and murder cold cases
Schafer, A. (2022, June). Meskwaki citizen among Iowa’s missing Indigenous women. Indian Country Today (ICT). Meskwaki citizen among Iowa’s missing Indigenous women – ICT
Iowa Public Radio. (2022, June 17). ‘Where is she?’ Iowa’s Indigenous communities grapple with crisis of missing and murdered women. ‘Where is she?’ Iowa’s Indigenous communities grapple with crisis of missing and murdered women
News Coverage — By Year
Reinitz, J. (2019, January 17). Reward doubled for information on missing Meskwaki woman. Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (wcfcourier.com). Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
Neighbor, A. (2019, January 17). MISSING: 4 years since Rita Janelle Papakee last seen. KWWL. KWWL
Indianz.com. (2019, January 17). Meskwaki Nation offers $50K reward for woman missing since January 2015. Indianz.Com
Press Pool. (2020, January 16). Rita Papakee case update — Missing since January 2015. Indian Country Today. ICT
Times Republican. (2020, January 17). Meskwaki PD still seeking missing woman. Meskwaki PD still seeking missing woman
KWWL. (2020, January 17). Five years later, still no sign of missing Meskwaki woman. https://www.kwwl.com/news/iowa-city/five-years-later-still-no-sign-of-missing-meskwaki-woman/article_dd967a09-987b-5a17-977d-3ae5fd0f0e35.html
KWWL. (2021, January 20). ‘One tip can break open the case’: Six years later, family of missing Meskwaki woman continue quest for answers. https://www.kwwl.com/news/one-tip-can-break-open-the-case-six-years-later-family-of-missing-meskwaki-woman/article_67c46851-d07c-5d08-a0c5-85b57f036233.html
KCRG. (2022, January 17). Seven years later, Meskwaki woman still missing. Seven years later, Meskwaki woman still missing
WeAreIowa / Local 5. (2024, February 20). Rita Papakee, missing Meskwaki woman, still missing 9 years later. Rita Papakee, missing Meskwaki woman, still missing 9 years later | weareiowa.com
CBS2Iowa / KGAN. (2024, June 14). FBI, Meskwaki Nation Police search new area related to woman missing for nearly a decade. FBI, Meskwaki Nation Police search new area related to woman missing for nearly a decade
Times Republican. (2024, June 21). No major revelations after new search for Rita Papakee. No major revelations after new search for Rita Papakee
CNN / KRDO. (2025, January 17). 10 years later: A missing woman’s family says they’re hopeful despite a decade without answers. 10 years later: A missing woman’s family says they’re hopeful despite a decade without answers | KRDO
Tama-Toledo News Chronicle. (2025, January 31). ‘Somebody knows what happened’. Somebody knows what happened
CBS2Iowa / KGAN. (2025, June 20). Papakee’s case still unsolved as Meskwaki Police share new investigation details[Exclusive]. EXCLUSIVE:Papakee’s case still unsolved as Meskwaki Police share new investigation details
Tip Lines & Law Enforcement Contact
Meskwaki Nation Police Department — (641) 484-4844
Meskwaki Nation Police Tip Line — (641) 484-5400
Tama County Dispatch — (641) 484-3760
BIA Missing and Murdered Unit Tip Line — 1-833-560-2065
BIA MMU Text Tip — Text BIAMMU to 847411