Community unites in hope of finding Renzo Bullhead before winter

The volunteers on foot, horseback and boats shared a common goal: finding Renzo Bullhead, the United Tribes Technical College student who disappeared on March 16, 2025, while crossing a bridge into Bismarck, North Dakota.

The Bullhead family was joined by tribal, state and federal officials on Thursday for the 10 hour search.

Among the volunteers and law enforcement officers were Bullhead’s relatives. His four brothers, Rayden, Scooter, Tyler and Jazz, smiled as they recalled the time Bullhead took their high school football team to state. Rayden described his missing younger brother as a true friend to those that know him. “He’ll always be there for you,” he said.

Mike Faith, vice chairman for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said Chairman Steve Sitting Bear wanted to reactivate the search to help the Bullhead family find their relative before winter.

“Renzo is a relative,” Faith said. “We hope and pray we can find him and bring him home.”

He said over 70 people had shown up for the search, which began in Fort Rice and spanned 40 miles.

“I thought it would just be friends and family,” Rayden said. “It means a lot. I really do appreciate it.”

Leading the search was Travis Bateman, director of Badlands Search and Rescue. The nonprofit, volunteer organization started in 2018 and has assisted in six searches for Bullhead.

Bateman said searching rivers can be challenging, since the conditions are consistently changing as water and debris get pushed by the current. The solution, Bateman said, is having lots of training and advanced technology to assist.

Emergency rescue teams armed with scent-tracking dogs and horses, sonar, drones, boats and UTVs searched water, sandbanks and shoreline on the west bank of the Missouri River, south of Bismarck.

Agencies came together from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Blackfeet Nation, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Spirit Lake Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Also in attendance was BIA officer Dustin Dobbs, MMIP groups and Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

Elliott Ward, who does emergency planning for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said the team chose Fort Rice as a center point for searchers to branch out from, so they could check areas that haven’t yet been thoroughly searched. But time is of the essence.

“Once it freezes up you won’t be able to find anything,” Ward said.

Karissa Monette and her sister-in-law drove from Fargo to attend the search. Monette, a citizen of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, said she felt compelled to help, though she doesn’t know Bullhead personally.

“All our people are connected. When one of us goes missing, it affects all of us,” Monette said. “I hope the family can find him and get some closure.”

Unfortunately, friends and family did not get closure on Thursday. The search didn’t turn up any new leads, said Vicki Alberts, public information officer for Bullhead’s case.

But searchers remain determined. Bateman said he hopes for another search before winter comes. When Buffalo’s Fire asked the Bullhead brothers what they hope for, Jazz replied, “Answers.”