Nick Hytrek – Sioux City, Iowa

Monday’s announcement of an arrest in a 41-year-old cold case has given local Native American communities hope that other unsolved deaths may someday have a similar ending. It also shows the need for continuous efforts to raise awareness of the thousands of Native women who have been killed or gone missing nationwide and whose cases remain unsolved.

Omaha Tribal Council member Galen Aldrich, spoke Friday at a press conference at the Great Plains Action Society’s office in Sioux City to offer tribal support of efforts that led to the arrest of a suspect last week in the 1983 homicide of Omaha Tribe member Terri McCauley.

“Since Monday, I think it definitely has given hope and courage for these families to continue to fight for justice for their families or their relatives who have gone missing and murdered. We certainly are here to continue to advocate and support all of the families that have been affected by this crisis, and it’s all about raising awareness,” Trisha Rivers, Siouxland projects director for the Great Plains Action Society, said at a Friday press conference at the social justice organization’s downtown Sioux City office.

A Woodbury County grand jury January 10th filed an indictment against Thomas Popp, 62, charging him with first-degree murder for the death of Terri McCauley, an 18-year-old Omaha Tribe member and mother of two, whose body was found in a wooded area in Sioux City on Oct. 6, 1983, 10 days after she was last seen getting into a car with an unknown man. Investigators determined she had been shot in the face with a 20-gauge shotgun.

Popp was arrested Saturday in Lakeview, Washington, and is awaiting extradition to Iowa.

Josh Taylor, nephew of murder victim Terri McCauley spoke during a press conference Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the Great Plains Action Society’s office in Sioux City. McCauley’s body was found on Sept. 27, 1983. Thomas Duane Popp was arrested Saturday in Longview, Washington as a suspect in the her death.

The news hit home for Omaha Tribal Council member Galen Aldrich, whose daughter Ashlea Aldrich was found dead under suspicious circumstances in 2020. No arrests have been made in her case, and Galen Aldrich said there’s no ongoing investigation.

Aldrich said the close-knit tribe is happy for the McCauley family and will continue to support them as the case proceeds. The break in the case gives others hope their missing and slain loved ones, too, will receive justice.

“I and my wife live in this nightmare every day. There are so many unanswered questions that we need closure. I and my family will continue to fight for these actions,” Aldrich said.

Rivers said four out of five Native American women will experience violence within their lifetime, and three out of five will be sexually assaulted. Murder, she said, is the third-leading cause of death for Native women. Native men also experience psychological and emotional abuse through intimate partner violence.

“This narrative needs to change, and it starts by raising awareness and continuing to push for justice,” Rivers said. “We need to have more conversations. We need to learn how to work with each other, whether it’s within our own Native communities or with non Native allies.”

Rivers called on local legislators to take notice and help tribes address issues that lead to violence in the Native communities on and off the reservations.

A roadside shrine to homicide victim Terri McCauley is shown Monday along 33rd Street west of Trinity Heights in Sioux City. McCauley’s body was found near the site Oct. 6, 1983, and her case was never solved. A Woodbury County grand jury has indicted Thomas Duane Popp with first-degree murder, and Popp, 62, was arrested Jan. 11 in Longview, Washington.