Victim says tribal cops allowed accused rapist in the room while they took her statement

LEWISTON, IDAHO — When Jolene Cliffe heard that Bessie Blackeagle was dead, her "blood ran cold." 

Then she sat on her living-room floor and had "a mental breakdown." 

"I just knew," Cliffe said. "I just knew what he'd done." 

He was Travis Ellenwood. And what he’d done was beat, strangle and murder Blackeagle — who was then his live-in girlfriend — on Oct. 31, 2020, on the Nez Perce Tribe’s reservation in central Idaho. 

Ellenwood pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2021 and was sentenced to almost 20 years in federal prison. 

Cliffe said she knew what Ellenwood had done without being told because of what she says Ellenwood did to her when she was his live-in girlfriend less than two years before. 

It was a narrative she had provided to tribal police more than once with little or no action when she reported the abuse, Cliffe said.

Ellenwood, she said, had repeatedly beaten her. He’d raped her, she said. He’d strangled her, she said. But Cliffe, who was 32 when she met Ellenwood in 2018 and is now 39, survived the alleged abuse. 

What haunted Cliffe wasn’t just that she had dodged death at the alleged hands of her ex-boyfriend. 

It was also that she’d gone to the Nez Perce Tribal Police and told them what Ellenwood did to her — and that he’d gone unpunished, Cliffe said.

"This could have been avoided had they listened to me," Cliffe said. "Had they listened to me, she wouldn't have died."

Cliffe isn’t alone in alleging that the tribal police’s failures had grave consequences, including Blackeagle’s death, a Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team investigation shows.

Tribal residents, former tribal police officers and the former head of the Nez Perce justice system all contend the law hasn’t always been enforced adequately or fairly on the reservation. Some officers have been impeded in their ability to do their jobs, allowing some criminals to reoffend with devastating — and even deadly — outcomes, those critics allege.

Concerns about the tribal police are pervasive and long-standing. In May 2022, the Nez Tribe's General Council, which includes all enrolled Nez Perce citizens over age 18, gave the department a vote of no confidence.

Channa Henry, a former tribal police officer who spent years pushing within and outside the tribe for reform, introduced that resolution due to concerns about "cases going unsolved and not prosecuted" as well as the department's conflicting and inconsistently applied policies, she said.

A federal agency found some of the misconduct allegations against Nez Perce Tribal Police to be true.

Last year, the Bureau of Indian Affairs "sustained findings of misconduct by several former employees of the tribal police," according to a memo obtained by Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism team.

Those three former employees found to have engaged in misconduct were not just any employees. They were:

• Harold Scott, who served as police chief from 2016 until 2023.
• Daniel Taylor, who served as the department’s criminal investigator, a powerful position that involves leading investigations and working closely with the FBI on major crimes that are to be handled in the federal justice system, until 2024.
• Leotis McCormack, who served as police captain until 2024. 

The Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team made a public records request for the BIA’s complete investigative report in September, but the bureau had not provided it as of press time, nearly a year later. 

But the memo from Kenton Beckstead, then head of the tribe’s Law and Order Executive Office, said the misconduct identified by the BIA included "retaliation/reprisal, the willful or negligent making of an untruthful statement of any kind in any written or oral report pertaining to an officer’s official duties, and dereliction of duty."

In an interview with Lee Enterprises, Beckstead described the contents of that BIA investigation, which resulted, he said, from "complaints of deficiencies in operations and investigations" within the Nez Perce police. Beckstead said the bureau's findings were focused on how Scott, Taylor and McCormack violated BIA policies through various actions.

‘Official response’

In response to questions, Rachel E. Wilson, the tribe’s communication manager, provided an "official response" on behalf of the Nez Perce Tribe.

Wilson wrote that the tribe is "dedicated to maintaining the highest level of law enforcement" and is "undergoing significant improvements" under Chief Mark Bensen, who took over the department in late 2023. 

Wilson added that "it is our priority to learn, evolve, and move forward with integrity and accountability. Due process has been followed in all cases to the best of our ability, and we continue to refine our practices in line with national standards."

McCormack and Taylor did not respond to questions for this story, but attorney Matthew Lovell replied on their behalf. 

Lovell said he is representing both men in "ongoing litigation with the Nez Perce Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs" and declined to comment further. 

Efforts to reach Scott were not successful. 

A BIA spokesperson answered some questions about its procedures for investigating and overseeing tribal police but said the bureau "does not comment on how a tribe handles justice, as long as they follow their own rules and federal agreements." 

‘I thought he was gonna kill me’ 

When Cliffe met Ellenwood in early 2018, she was in "a terrible place, emotionally," and was struggling with alcohol addiction, she said. 

Before she knew it, Cliffe was living in Ellenwood’s trailer outside the reservation town of Kamiah. Soon after, Ellenwood’s abuse started, said Cliffe, who is not a tribal member but is the parent of one.

One night, Cliffe said, she was intoxicated and in a fight with Ellenwood. 

"He was yelling at me, and I was crying," Cliffe said. "He raped me. He hit me with a baseball bat. He sodomized me. I remember yelling at him and telling him what a coward he was." 

Cliffe called a friend who took her to a nearby hotel. In the morning, she said, she went to a hospital. After completing a sexual assault forensic exam, Cliffe said Taylor came to interview and photograph her in her hospital gown "without another person present." 

The experience, she said, made her feel "very, very shamed and invaded."

When tribal police called her for a second interview, she "trusted that the right thing would be done" and agreed to meet with them, she said.

But when the officer arrived, Cliffe was stunned to see her alleged assailant, Ellenwood, arrive with the police at the YWCA in Kamiah, she said. She said Ellenwood was even allowed to remain in the room when police questioned her. 

"So of course, I'm going to stand there and tell them whatever I think that he (Ellenwood) is going to be OK with hearing because I don't want him to kick my ass later," Cliffe said. 

Police never did pursue the case against Ellenwood, as far as Cliffe knows. 

Wilson, the tribal communications manager, did not directly answer questions about Cliffe’s allegations, though she did acknowledge "that past incidents may have involved missteps or misunderstandings." 

While she eventually moved out, Cliffe’s relationship with Ellenwood persisted for the next year or so — as did Ellenwood’s violence, she said. After one beating that made her think "he was gonna kill me," Cliffe said she finally left him. 

But she did go to this trailer in Kamiah one last time, to get her things, and found a woman sitting in the bedroom. 

"And the girl," Cliffe said, "was Bessie (Blackeagle)." 

Next: History allegedly repeats itself, with deadly consequences for one Nez Perce reservation woman.