SHAWNEE, Okla. (KFOR) — The Sac and Fox Nation is now offering a reward for information that could lead to an arrest or conviction for the death of a Shawnee woman.
“To lose someone you’ve spent a lifetime with is really really hard,” said Rian Griggs, the victim’s sister.
Sky Griggs Jim’s family has never stopped investigating her death.
“This is like, my first actual time really being out here,” Griggs told News 4 at the site of Jim’s last moments. “It’s overwhelming.”
The family of the 30-year-old said on January 9th, 2021m a driver found Jim unresponsive under an i40 bridge on Brangus road. After finding her, he tried to flag another car down for help.
“The other vehicle was a young woman who, I was told, initially slowed down and went ahead and went on,” said Alecia Onzahwah, Jims mother. “And ended up running over my daughter.”
“Why was she laying in the road? What was she doing there?” asked Griggs.
“Either she was alive or she wasn’t when that car came,” said Onzahwah. “Could she have been saved?”
After giving detectives time, Onzahwah received devastating news.
“[The investigator] just told me that he was closing the case and decided to close the case because there was nothing to investigate,” said Onzahwah.
Onzahwah said that didn’t sit right with the family, so they became investigators of their own. They got the 911 call log, the medical examiner’s report, and went through Jim’s phone, to develop their own timeline and theory of what happened.
As they pressed on, they reached out and got the attention of the Sac and Fox Tribe. Jims was a member and did not qualify for other reward programs.
“They see concerns too. They see what we see,” said Onzahwah.
Now, Sac and Fox Police are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Police have also set up a tip line at (918) 968-2031.
“Even though we have our family’s support, it just felt a little bit better because we know that we’re backed by them,” said Griggs.
Jims family said she also had a passion for beauty and makeup products. To help get her story out there, the family has come out with their own makeup line in her honor, Skye Woman Beauty.
Onzahwah also created the Skye Woman Project, it is a resource for Native Homicide Victims.
“I want justice for Skye, I want to be able to tell her children we did the best that we could,” said Onzahwah.