Family and friends plan to gather in Sioux City tomorrow to highlight the unsolved murder of a Native American woman more than 30 years ago.
Danielle LaPointe is the niece of Lori Ann DeCora, who died five weeks after she was beaten and stabbed in an attack at a house party in 1992.
LaPoint says one person was arrested but never prosecuted.
“She was just missed. I feel like on all fronts,” LaPointe says, “and we were just trying to bring that awareness and bring that back, like, hey, here, she’s a cold case, she’s right there from Sioux City, Iowa, like she’s not forgotten. She is somebody’s family member.”
DeCora was a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. A spokesperson from the Sioux City Police Department says the case isn’t closed and anyone with new evidence should contact authorities.
The gathering Saturday will be held in the area where DeCora was attacked — on the 33rd anniversary of her death.
“She isn’t forgotten, she isn’t invisible,” LaPointe says. “She did matter and she still has loved ones here that care about her and want to see justice for her.”
There was a break in another Sioux City cold case earlier this year. Police arrested Thomas Duane Popp for the murder of Terry McCauley in 1983. McCauley was a young mother of two and a member of the Omaha Tribe.
Family members credit awareness through social media for keeping the McCauley investigation alive. That gives the DeCora family hope for justice in their case.
(By Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio)