Norman Brien, a 33-year-old Indigenous man, was last seen on foot near East Mississippi Avenue and South Monaco Parkway in Denver's Washington-Virginia Vale neighborhood at about 7:15 p.m. on Sept. 3, 2026. Nearly a month later, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued a Missing Indigenous Person Alert on Wednesday, asking the public for help locating him.
Brien is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 110 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, according to The Denver Post. He was last seen wearing a black sweater and gray sweatpants. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Denver Police Department at 720-913-2000.
A Month-Old Case Resurfaces With a Statewide Alert
The gap between Brien's disappearance in early September and Wednesday's alert underscores how these cases can linger before drawing wider attention. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation's Missing Indigenous Person Alert program includes a procedure to verify that a missing person is of Indigenous descent before the agency notifies Colorado media outlets to broadcast details to the public, per the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
A Missing Indigenous Person Alert is not automatic: the law enforcement agency must request one, and the missing person must meet specified criteria.
Colorado's Missing Indigenous Person Alert System
Brien's case is among those addressed by Colorado's Missing Indigenous Person Alert system.
The Colorado MMIR Task Force has separately said the Missing Indigenous Person Alert was the state's most utilized alert of 2025, and that most relatives flagged under the program are located within a week — though it is not known whether that pattern will hold in Brien's case.
State Resources Built Around These Searches
Colorado's Missing Indigenous Person Alert program became active on Dec. 30, 2022. The program issued its 100th alert in December 2024, according to the task force's records. The state also operates the Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, which the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice says supports affected families and coordinates among Tribal, federal, state and local partners under state statute.
For now, investigators have released no further details on Brien's case beyond the description, last-known location and the alert itself. Denver police continue to ask anyone with information to come forward at the number listed above.
