It Took 3 Years for Jerole Tsinnijinnie's Remains to Be Found After His Family Claimed Police Ignored Disappearance

Jerole Nathan Tsinnijinnie, a 28-year-old Diné (the tribal descriptor for Navajo Nation citizens) and father of three from Glendale, a city outside of Phoenix, Ariz., was expecting a fourth child with his wife when he disappeared in January 2020. His sister, Kaylene Tsinnijinnie, last spoke with him on New Year’s Day.

For three years, Tsinnijinnie’s family was left in suspense; he’d vanished without a clue. Then, on January 14, 2023, a hiker on South Mountain Preserve discovered a human skull. Another search of the area on January 28 revealed additional human remains. Phoenix police circulated a composite sketch of the victim based on the skull and described him as white or Hispanic. Kaylene noticed the uncanny resemblance to her brother and inquired if it was him. Investigators had DNA tested and found a match: It was Jerole. 

According to the medical examiner report, Tsinnijinnie died from two gunshot wounds to the head. Although the report did not rule out that the injuries could have been self-inflicted, police have been treating the case as a homicide.

In a Fox 10 report, Tsinnijinnie’s mother said, "We’re finally getting closure." Kaylene added, "I had hope that he would be in our presence once again, and that hope just broke completely and came crashing down. It was very painful."

Kaylene and the Navajo Nation Council have publicly spoken about bias in law enforcement against indigenous people (though neither responded to A&E Crime + Investigation's request for comment).

University of Denver law professor Heather Tanana tells A&E Crime + Investigation that wariness of law enforcement by Indigenous people “really is connected back in with those historic considerations that created the feeds of mistrust."

"It’s kind of like a nuanced consideration that you don’t really get unless you’re Indigenous, of why you wouldn’t trust state police," Tanana continues. "Because, in the past, they totally did not act in the best interest of Native Americans."

Tanana, a Diné herself, notes that tribes previously had "absolute control over their community and their people." However, "this happened in Phoenix, so it’s off reservation," she says.

Kaylene wondered aloud to the Arizona Republic whether her brother would still be alive if police had spent greater focus on the case. “We had to do everything on our own,” she said. "There's just a lot of possibilities and a lot of ways that you can get answers and I just didn't like that they didn’t."

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) keeps records of cases throughout the country. According to NamUs, as of June 2023, 3.5% of missing people are identified as American Indian and Alaskan Native. That’s more than three times the percentage of their population. Between 2007 and 2020, 19 Navajos were reported missing, 13 from Arizona. 

The case remains unsolved, and Jerole is yet another name in the NamUs database. While states and federal governments have made progress in providing resources and assistance to Indigenous people, they have a long way to go. 

"The federal government has not held its treaty and trust obligations, and a lot of that is not viewing Indigenous identity, culture, tradition, life as valuable," Tanana says. "So all of that I think plays into the challenges."

Arizona, which is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, was identified in a 2018 report from the Urban Indian Health Institute as having the third-highest number of missing or murdered indigenous women and girls in the country. The state has a vested interest in solving the cases but needs federal assistance.

In October 2020, President Donald Trump signed into law the Not Invisible Act. Its commission’s recommendations were put together in a report called “Not One More” to address missing and murdered indigenous people and inform the public of the plight. It was heralded as a groundbreaking effort that served as a template toward education and transparency. 

However, during the anti-DEI fervor of Trump’s second term, the file was taken down from the Department of Justice website in early 2025, upsetting its congressional authors and the Indigenous community. A consortium of tribal groups reminded the Trump administration in a February 2025 letter that the report has nothing to do with DEI and that "these federal funds and programs are legally mandated under the trust and treaty obligations owed to us." As of November 2025, "Not One More" is still not back up on the Department of Justice's website.