Local Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons advocate Nicole Wagon and her family were featured on an Audible podcast that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize this year, local officials heard this week.
The podcast “Invisible” follows the investigation into the death of Wagon’s daughter Jade Wagon, who was found deceased after being reported missing in 2020.
One year before Jade Wagon’s death, Nicole Wagon’s daughter Jocelyn Watt was fatally shot in Watt’s home in Riverton.
“Two daughters gone in the space of a year,” the podcast description states. “Nicole is the heart of this moving and gripping story. Her fight for justice was ignited after Jade’s tragic death, as well as the murder of her oldest daughter, Jocelyn.”
Wagon spoke about the podcast when she addressed the Riverton City Council this week to thank Mayor Tim Hancock and Riverton Police Department Chief Eric Hurtado for their participation in the local MMIP March that took place May 5.
The podcast did a good job “shedding light onto the epidemic and the issues,” showing that “we’re making headway, nationwide, of calling attention to this,” Wagon said.
Wagon was interviewed for the podcast along with “a devoted group of civilians, elected officials, and law enforcement, both on and off the Wind River Reservation,” the podcast description states.
Some of the people interviewed talked about “how our state has wrapped our arms around the issue and (is) addressing MMIP,” Wyoming MMIP Task Force Chair Cara Chambers told the Wyoming Legislature’s Select Committee on Tribal Relations last week.
“(We’re) very proud of the work that many of us have done,” Chambers said. “It’s very exciting to have been a small part of that podcast.”