Missing and Murdered Children

Sidney Mahkuk was just 11-years-old when she died in October 2005. Sometimes children die due to infections or cancer and it is very sad when that happens. It is tragic for the families of these children because death comes as a shock and were not preventable.

Sidney’s death was tragic because it was preventable. She died from a cocaine overdose. I sit here beginning this entry and think of my own granddaughter, she is going to be 12-years-old in a couple of months. I cannot picture her doing drugs or hanging out with friends on the streets. She is much protected; her mother knows what time she gets out of school and what time she should be walking in the door after she gets out of school. If she does not come in the door at the appointed time her mother is out the door looking for her. If my granddaughter is going to stay after school to help a teacher or stay later for tutoring she calls and asks for permission to do so and tells her mother what time she will be home. If my granddaughter is out of school because she is sick the school calls the home to alert the parents of her absence and she is required to bring a note from home documenting the absence.

It does not appear from what I have read of Sidney’s short life that she had much in the way of supervision from her mother. It also appears that the school Sidney attended did not take an interest in her absences from classes.

Sidney in Life

Sidney was the second youngest of seven children in an American Indian family. She was being raised by her mother Glenda Askenette in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sidney was said to look older than her 11 years and she was also said to have run with an older and tough crowd. She lived in poverty and sometimes poverty is accompanied by poor parenting skills.
From www.rlnn.com:

“…Over the past two years, Sidney and her 14-year-old sister had frequently skipped classes at Heart of the Earth Charter School, according to court documents and a school official. Sidney’s sister, who also had become increasingly belligerent, had been suspended last year.

Calls to the girls’ mother, Glenda Askenette, often weren’t returned. The truancy report notes: “Many kids in family. All have issues.”

The report also said that Sidney’s sister “is young and requires intervention NOW. Mother needs to realize her daughter and possibly entire family requires [sic] multi systemic interventions…”

Sidney also grew up in a home with a history of domestic violence, alcoholism, juvenile delinquency and medical neglect according to court documents. Her father died of a heart attack two years ago and her older brother was sentenced to a sixty-two year prison sentence early last year for a gang-related murder.

Sidney’s family first came to the attention of Social Services in 1999, that case being closed 6 days after it was opened. Social Services was then called again when Sidney was 7-years-old. It was discovered that she had rotting teeth. The other children were also being neglected but not to the point of having the children removed from the home.

Federal law under the Indian Child Welfare Act takes tribal recommendations into consideration when it comes to decisions made in Child Protective Services cases. The tribal recommendation was that the older brother be removed from the home so that his medical condition could be addressed and the other children should remain in the home. The mother should follow all recommendations of Protective Services. There is no record of anyone following up to see if the mother completed what she was told to do. There is a record that states that the brother did not keep his medical appointments.

The article from the Red Lake Net News documents the remainder of the history of Child Protective Services contacts with Sidney’s mother and her family. It is extensive and disappointing in that they did not seem to make much of an effort to intervene on behalf of the children. My children were permanently removed from my custody by Child Protective Services for far less than what happened in Sidney’s family.

Sidney’s Last Days

It is not clear where Sidney spent the last days of her life. The last official record of Sidney’s troubles was a truancy report filed in February 2005. She was enrolled in another school in the fall of 2005 but when she failed to attend classes she was dropped from the official roll on September 21^st. The district has a policy of dropping students who have 15 days of non-attendance. The school district is required to file a complaint with Child Protective Services when a student fails to attend school but officials declined to confirm whether this was done in Sidney’s case.
From www.rlnn.com:

Sidney left her home on the evening of October 22 with her brother’s ex-girlfriend for a short drive around the block. That was the last time her mother saw her alive. When Sidney failed to return home she was never reported missing. Police believe that Sidney died sometime between 2:30 and 7 a.m. October 23^rd.

A man walking down the alley spotted Sidney lying on the ground. Her jacket was pulled over her like a blanket. The man shook her because he thought she was asleep. She failed to respond and when he looked into her face her eyes were rolled to the back of her head. It was then the man realized the young girl was dead. He called police.

It appears that Sidney lay down to die in the alley halfway between a hospital and a funeral home. She died two blocks from the street where her father dropped dead of a heart attack.

Sidney’s mother was notified of her daughter’s death on October 25^th. She was too distraught to go identify her daughter’s body so she left that responsibility to her twenty-something son. I guess it is too much for me to expect that she would take responsibility for her daughter in death when she was incapable of doing so during her daughter’s life.

The family wants answers about what happened to Sidney. They want her murderer to be punished. The police have vowed to find Sidney’s murderer. She died of an overdose of cocaine. Her twelfth birthday was in November. According to her mother she was funny, she loved to spell and she loved animals.

I look at her picture and I see a beautiful girl who is now gone.