Freda Knowshisgun was reported missing after being seen at a Kennewick Walmart on October 18, 2016.
The patrol received the request the same day and said it activated the Benton County alert on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, according to a Washington State Patrol post. Anyone who sees her is asked to call 911.
What the Notice Describes
Knowshisgun is listed at 5 feet 5 inches and 150 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Her description includes a Mickey Mouse tattoo, a tattoo of names, and a flower tattoo on her shoulder.
A possible sighting was reported in Billings, Montana.
The case number on the activation is I-26-000000026. The patrol headed the notice as an at-risk missing-person alert.
Kennewick, Then a Long Gap
Public reporting on Knowshisgun goes back to fall 2016, when she was reported missing.
A Yakima Herald report said she was at the Kennewick Walmart on October 18, 2016. The same account said her mother filed a missing-person report on November 14, 2016, with police in Crow Agency.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs case page lists October 18, 2016, as her missing date and identifies a Kennewick Walmart.
In March 2022, the Yakima Herald reported that a Washington State Patrol list of missing Indigenous people included Knowshisgun, described there as a Montana woman last seen in Kennewick. The paper said the Crow Agency Bureau of Indian Affairs was the investigating agency, and that the patrol's March 16 list held 109 active cases.
How Washington Activates These Alerts
The patrol began administering the Missing Indigenous Person Alert in July 2022, according to the 2025 Report of the Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force. The Kennewick disappearance was already more than five years old by then.
That March 2022 list was not a Missing Indigenous Person Alert count. The patrol did not start administering this alert until July of that year.
The task force report says an activation requires that the person be identified as Indigenous, that sufficient information be available to help with recovery, and that the case be reported to law enforcement with an active National Crime Information Center entry. The patrol said this alert was activated on the BIA's behalf after it received the request Friday.
The task force report says more than 150 people had been reported missing since July 2022, with more than 80 percent recovered.
If You See Her
For a missing-person case, general guidance is to call 911.
The patrol's Facebook post says it is not monitored. A comment under the alert is not a report. A sighting belongs with 911, or with that non-emergency line when it is not an emergency.
