Missoula Police Detective Guy Baker has a special place in his heart for Jermaine Charlo and her family, as Wednesday, June 16 marks the third anniversary of her disappearance.

Baker, the lead detective on the case, described how it began three years ago.

“Jermaine Carlo was a Native American female who was originally from Dixon, Montana but was living in Missoula at the time of her disappearance,” began Baker. “She had gone out to some bars on a Friday night which was June 15, and she was last documented in the downtown area around midnight. She was reported to be last seen in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 16 of 2018.”

Even though the Missoula Police Department didn’t officially get the case right away, Detective Baker was already involved in the search.

“Her family initially reported her to Flathead Tribal Police, but then when it was determined she had actually gone missing in the city of Missoula, and they filed a missing person report with the police department on June 20,” he said. “So, the investigation was assigned to a detective the next day on the 21st. I got involved with it on the 16th of June I believe and I've been working it since.”

Baker said his frustration has been growing for three years over not gaining a resolution to this one particular missing persons case.

“Not only to bring justice to Jermaine, but closure to her family,” he said. “To identify those responsible and to bring them to justice. A missing persons case is a difficult case and the fact that it's been three years since I was assigned this case in the summer of 2018, and I never imagined that three years later, we would still not have the answer as to what happened to Jermaine.”

Baker, with decades of experience as a police detective, has faced the possibility that Jermaine Charlo met with foul play that night three years ago.

“Unfortunately, the fact that she's still missing after her pattern of life was deviated in the early morning hours of June 16 2018, and her family has not heard from her and there's no indication that she's had any activity on social media, that would unfortunately be the case,” he said. “I'm sure the family holds out hope, as we all would, we can hold out hope that we find Jermaine at some point and she's okay. But based on everything that's happened, I'm doubtful, and I'm confident that Jermaine was the victim of a criminal act.”

There is a reward offered to any information as to the whereabouts of Jermaine Charlo, and Baker said her disappearance has helped to bring much needed attention to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons movement throughout the United States.

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