Fort Hall man Matthew J. Broncho has been missing for four years this month.

To bring awareness to Broncho’s absence and others who have been murdered or are missing, founders of the group “Carrying the Message” Wileena George and Paul Frank have organized a caravan.

The event will begin with a few speeches in Lincoln County’s Community Center, including ones from Frank and Broncho’s mother, Cynder Metz.

From there, the caravan will travel through Blackfoot and the Fort Hall Reservation before ending at the Bannock Peak Truck Stop. The vehicles will have signs attached to them to bring awareness to the missing and murdered.

“Anyone can show up to follow the caravan, and we’re just asking everyone to bring posters or pictures,” George said.

Frank described bringing awareness through the caravan event as “a psychological warfare tactic” to “rattle the cage of those who are guilty.” He believes someone knows what happened to Broncho and that they are keeping that information disclosed.

Broncho’s truck was found in Snowville, Utah with his wallet left inside. His dog, who was with him at the time he went missing, was located days later, which Frank described as “suspicious circumstances,” as he believes that Broncho would never leave his dog behind.

Frank mentioned a murder that happened in an area near where Broncho’s truck was found, encouraging him to connect the dots to what might have happened to Broncho, though there is no evidence from the police that connects Broncho to that case.

Frank is dissatisfied with the authorities’ efforts to locate Broncho.

“Sometimes the (Fort Hall Police) drop the ball or make excuses and don’t take it seriously enough,” Frank said. “It’s a non-stop battle with them when they’re supposed to be on our side.”

There are many open cases of missing or murdered indigenous people in Fort Hall, part of what is a nationwide issue.

In an investigation done by the Associated Press in 2018, they described the issues with tribal cases as a “jurisdictional thicket,” inferring that issues with the authorities’ abilities to handle missing person cases are caused by the overlap between different agencies.

The Associated Press also said, “At the end of 2017, Native Americans and Alaska Natives made up 1.8 percent of ongoing missing cases in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database, even though they represent 0.8 percent of the U.S. population.”

As a result of cases so frequently going cold, Frank and George’s mission is to support families that have lost a family member.

“Sometimes it’s emotionally draining and then sometimes it’s emotionally uplifting,” Frank said. “We keep pushing because the family that’s left behind isn’t getting any closure or resolve.”

In addition to his efforts to aid the families of the missing and murdered, Frank aims to educate Native Americans about intergenerational trauma caused by their past in boarding schools.

“We touch on the recovery and the sobriety part with alcohol addiction, drug addiction, as well as domestic violence,” Frank said. “(We talk about) everything you can think of that’s related to that, and I stand for education and information on intergenerational trauma. Many people get affected by that, and some of them are in their sixties and seventies and still don’t know they’re affected by intergenerational trauma. If you see Native Americans in the streets, they’re hardly ever happy. They don’t smile because they have unresolved grief from centuries ago.”

Frank reflected on when he used to work with Broncho.

“I didn’t get to know him totally, but I knew him enough as his coworker to see that he had a lot on his mind and he never shared, and he wasn’t able to open up,” Frank said. “Not having emotional (support) is hard. We can’t open up and share if we’re scared or emotionally vulnerable. I would say he was lost in who he was and what he wanted.”

The caravan will begin at Lincoln County’s Community Center at 10 a.m. on March 18, the day before Broncho’s fourth missing anniversary. To learn more about the event, call George at 208-530-3765, or Frank at 208-530-3748.