Ashley Loring Heavyrunner (born November 23, 1996; also known as Ashley Loring Heavy Runner) is a Blackfoot woman who went missing on the week of June 13, 2017, near Babb, Montana, U.S.. The circumstances of Heavyrunner's disappearance, and the resulting investigations by several government agencies, became significant to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement.
Background Heavyrunner was born on November 23, 1996 in Browning, Montana, on the Blackfeet Reservation. She is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation, and is a descendant of Chief Heavy Runner, leader of a Piegan Blackfeet band, who was killed during the Marias Massacre.
She and her sister were in foster care for several months before being legally adopted by her grandmother, along with her older brother and younger sister. They lived on her grandfather's ranch near Heart Butte, on the Rocky Mountain Front, where she learned to ride horses. Heavyrunner reconnected with her mother later in life after her mother's struggles with depression and addiction. A godmother and a star athlete, Heavyrunner played volleyball and pursued cross-country running in high school, which she graduated from in 2015. Heavyrunner was frequently described by her friends and family as smart, "feisty" and as someone who was always interested in helping others. A few months before her disappearance, Heavyrunner expressed interest in raising awareness about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women to her sister and to her professor at Blackfeet Community College.
Heavyrunner was reportedly exploring a career in forestry, and was excelling at Blackfeet Community College, where she was studying environmental science. According Heavyrunner's sister, Heavyrunner was waiting for her sister to return from overseas, as Heavyrunner was planning on moving into her sister's apartment in Missoula in 2017 after being accepted into the University of Montana. This was conceived as a fresh start off the reservation, after Heavyrunner's sister learnt of Heavyrunner's recent drug use. According to her sister, Heavyrunner was also pregnant at the time when she went missing. However, she believes that the unnamed father (a family friend) was not involved in her eventual disappearance.
Disappearance
Last contact
According to multiple friends and a video published online, Heavyrunner was last seen at a house party in Browning on June 5, having taken a ride from her family's ranch. On June 6, Heavyrunner sent a message to her sister asking for money, but as she was overseas she couldn't help. Heavyrunner's last messages were via Facebook on June 7, requesting a ride home. However once implored, Heavyrunner went silent. Heavyrunner's sister called Heavyrunner on June 8 once she returned to Browning from overseas, but was unable to contact her, with mutual friends stating that Heavyrunner was with a family friend and could have lost her phone (which had happened before). After June 6, Heavyrunner had apparently been in contact online with various friends (some of whom she hadn't been in contact for years), but not with her extended family; Heavyrunner's sister believes someone else was accessing her phone, due to the vocabulary and spelling used.
Mixed narratives In the months leading up to her disappearance, Heavyrunner had been struggling with the death of her grandfather and a serious breakup. She began self-isolating, skipping classes at Blackfeet Community College, drinking more, and became involved with an older circle of friends (some of whom were rumored to use and sell methamphetamines). Heavyrunner also began experimenting with methamphetamines, with her sister describing her drug use as "a very short, strong phase of her life". The party on June 5 was said to have occurred in a known 'party house' (subject to many investigations) where drugs were used, according to a Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services (BLES) officer speaking with The Guardian in 2019.
One of these new friends was Sam MacDonald; after the June 5 party both MacDonald and Heavyrunner reportedly went to McDonald's cabin for an extended period of time. On June 11, McDonald told her that she needed to return home. As they were driving to Browning, Heavyrunner asked McDonald to pull over so that Valenzuela (the husband of Heavyrunner's cousin) could pick her up, along with directions to a local cabin. McDonald stated that he fell asleep as he'd been up "for days", and upon finding Heavyrunner missing, assumed that Valenzuela had picked her up. In her testimony to the U.S Senate in 2018, Heavyrunner's sister stated that Heavyrunner went missing on June 12, with the FBI officially recording the week of June 13 as the date of disappearance.
When their father went to hospital with a liver condition on June 14, Heavyrunner was once again uncontactable, which was especially unusual as the family was close. Once their family friend confirmed Heavyrunner was not with them (and therefore had not been seen in two weeks), Heavyrunner's family filed a missing persons report and reached out to the wider community about Heavyrunner's disappearance. Heavyrunner's sister claims that upon further questioning, some friends became "defensive", claiming Heavyrunner had been "hurt" and that "someone had taken her to the mountains". Amongst others, Heavyrunner's sister suspected a relative may have been involved in Heavyrunner's disappearance, and that people who knew about Heavyrunner's fate were still present in the community but weren't communicating with authorities. According to a BLES officer, over a century of injustices against the Blackfoot people by the United States created a culture of distrust against law enforcement. The group of older drug-using friends Heavyrunner participated in similarly operates a cone of silence about Heavyrunner's fate.
Persons of interest
Sam McDonald McDonald "partied" with Heavyrunner at his remote lakeside cabin for six days, and was the last person on record to have seen Heavyrunner on the morning of June 11. Heavyrunner's sweater and boots were also recovered near his property. A user of methamphetamines at the time, police questioned McDonald several times, with McDonald stating he had been "framed". McDonald further claims that law enforcement broke the lock on his door and searched his house six times. Heavyrunner's sister spoke with McDonald in the summer of 2019, however McDonald repeatedly passed culpability to Running Crane & Valenzuela, and visa versa.
Running Crane & Valenzuela In the three weeks leading up to her disappearance, Heavyrunner was "romantically involved" with Paul "V-Dog" Valenzuela, the husband of her cousin (Tashina "Tee" Running Crane). Valenzuela filed for divorce around a month after Heavyrunner went missing disappeared, although Running Crane and Heavyrunner's family stated that they were unaware of the relationship until after Heavyrunner's disappearance. Valenzuela is a convicted felon known for repeatedly committing violent crimes in the Seattle area and the Blackfeet Reservation, and is believed to be involved in trafficking methamphetamines into the reservation.
Running Crane told police that she and Valenzuela were in Seattle, Washington at the time of Heavyrunner's disappearance, with Washington state court records showing Valenzuela was present in the Seattle area in early June (after being convicted of an illegal firearms charge). However, Valenzuela also told the Washington State Department of Corrections on June 9 that he'd be returning to the Blackfeet Reservation to collect his belongings, with Valenzuela possibly returning solo to the reservation on June 11. On June 26, Heavyrunner's sister contacted both Running Crane and Valenzuela. Running Crane told Heavyrunner's sister that Valenzuela picked Heavyrunner up and took her to another town, claiming "Paul has her". However, when Valenzuela was questioned by Heavyrunner's sister, he "freaked out" and accused Running Crane of lying. Later via text, he denied picking up Heavyrunner, and stated "Tashina is giving you false info. Ask her she prolly knows more than she's saying." Valenzuela had told Washington law enforcement he'd return on the first week of July. However, he subsequently began evading authorities, only to return for a sentencing hearing in September 2017.
In September 2017, Running Crane posted a 14 minute video on YouTube claiming Valenzuela was framing her for Heavyrunner's disappearance, stating "...he has Ashley. Everyone in this town knows it." However this was soon removed from the internet. Later in 2017, Running Crane met with ABC Nightline, where she spoke of her reconciliation with Valenzuela and her acceptance of his denials of responsibility. Incarcerated at the time, Valenzuela attempted to call Running Crane during her interview. However, once asked about Heavyrunner's case, he quickly ended the call.
In the same interview, Running Crane claimed she had also been searching for Heavyrunner (which the family denied), and denied that she caught Heavyrunner with Valenzuela. After being asked about Valenzuela's text messages with Heavyrunner's sister, she abruptly ended the interview. Valenzuela later contacted ABC Nightline; in exchange for a prison transfer, he offered to reveal who was responsible for Heavyrunner's fate, stating "I'll even bring you where the people who did all this to Ashley. Trust me I am the only one who can." As the transfer was not executed, Valenzuela refused to be interviewed. Running Crane reportedly moved out of the reservation in response to allegations that she was involved in Heavyrunner's disappearance.
Possible post-disappearance sightings Weeks after Heavyrunner's went missing, local reporter Rachel CrowSpreadingWings reportedly saw Heavyrunner as she pulled over to pick berries. A young woman who appeared to be Heavyrunner approached, and responded that her name was "Ashley" when questioned. A man stood intimidatingly on the road; CrowSpreadingWings believed the woman was afraid of him, and noted both looked "disheveled". CrowSpreadingWings reported the incident to the police, but was not followed up with. When she later approached the FBI, she was told there was no record of her tip. Several other sightings have been reported, but by 2025 Heavyrunner's sister believed that Heavyrunner was deceased by the time she returned from overseas on the June 8, 2017.
Response
Initial investigation Two weeks after Heavyrunner's disappearance, in late June, Heavyrunner's family filed a missing person's report with Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services (BLES) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Heavyrunner's family allege that police appeared dismissive about Heavyrunner's disappearance and suggested she didn't want to be found (citing her association with a party crowd and her age of majority), despite protests from her family and friends.
Heavyrunner's family were subject to myriad of conflicting tips about Heavyrunner's fate, which ended up containing little substance. On June 25, Heavyrunner's family received an important lead. A young woman had been seen running from a male in a vehicle on U.S. Highway 89 (near Divide Mountain) on the night Heavyrunner disappeared. Subsequently, Heavyrunner's family BIA and the BLES conducted a three-day search. On June 28, a "tattered" grey sweater and a pair of red-stained boots were recovered near Babb, on the northernwestern edge of the reservation, in an area Heavyrunner's sister described as "desolate" near Heavyrunner's last potential sighting. The sweater, with gray stripes and a "heart on the back", was recovered from a garbage dump. The family was certain these items were Heavyrunner's, as they were Heavyrunner's size, and an eyewitness (along with a local waitress) affirmed the sweater was the same she was wearing on June 5, only now covered in "red spots" and holes.