Nearly 8 years later, Duluth woman's disappearance remains unsolved - Jun 15, 2023

DULUTH — Sheila St. Clair hugs the railing as she scales the stairs in the Cascade Apartments. It’s late summer in Duluth's Central Hillside Neighborhood.

Her hair is tied in a short ponytail, and she’s wearing a black sleeveless, knee-length dress.

She turns to face the man behind her.

They pause, walk a few steps, and pause again.

He’s in a white tank top, a dark hat, white envelopes in hand. And, from the landing, St. Clair’s arms lightly gesture up and down, up and down, before she ascends the steps, the edge of her black dress slowly exiting the frame. This 2015 surveillance footage is St. Clair’s last documented sighting. This summer marks eight years since her adult daughter reported her missing, and her disappearance continues to plague community members and baffle law enforcement.

The Duluth Police Department released this stairwell footage on its Facebook page a year after she was reported missing Sept. 15, 2015. What has followed is a series of unanswered and unanswerable questions.

Who was that man in the video? Did the police recover her mobile phone? Were there any clues on it, or in her apartment? What authorities have said is they believe St. Clair planned to travel to the White Earth Reservation in western Minnesota, and she was also known to travel to the Red Cliff area in Wisconsin.

She never arrived in either location, and family members uncharacteristically hadn’t heard from her. She did not have a car and may have received a ride from someone.

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St. Clair is a Native American female, her current age is 56. At the time of her disappearance, she was described as 5 feet, 4-5 inches tall, 115-125 pounds, with brown-black hair and brown eyes.

She has an eagle tattoo on her right arm , and her right foot is impaired, which may result in her walking with a limp. St. Clair sometimes goes by the name Sheila Jackson. One more year of not knowing what to do or where to look or who to talk to. My mom and my family just want my sister to have some peace.

Raven Mitchell, sister of Sheila St. Clair

Police said her disappearance is “extremely suspect,” and she’s listed on the The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System .

A $1,000 reward is available to anyone who provides a tip leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for her disappearance.

The Duluth Police Department is working with this reward fund to investigate incoming tips and to determine which meet the criteria for an award to be granted, said Lt. Matt McShane, of the department's Major Crimes division.

St. Clair’s case inspired the city of Duluth, the Native Lives Matter Coalition and nonprofit Mending the Sacred Hoop to launch the Gaagige-Mikwendaagoziwag reward fund . (“Gaagige-Mikwendaagoziwag” means “They Are Remembered Forever” in Ojibwe.)

Launched in 2022, it’s the first of its kind in Minnesota, and organizers hope the fund’s financial rewards may lead to tips about St. Clair and other missing or murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit relatives. The scene todayThe location of St. Clair’s last known sighting may be enough to uproot, or at the very least, reframe one’s experience of this neighborhood, or Duluth in general. But on a sunny summer day, large hostas bloomed upward and planter boxes adorned window sills at the Cascade Apartments, located at 101 W. Third St.

Hanging plants peeked out from windows, and the main doorway opened to what looked to be a community space with a long, rectangular table.

Duluth streets descend toward Lake Superior, its massiveness easily viewed from this spot on the Hillside.

Takeout in hand, a woman enters the Cascade building. Another, wearing scrubs, walks up the avenue, and a few blocks away, a neighbor removes an “art for sale” sign from a tree.

Across the street stands the Washington Center, a former junior high school now used for housing and city recreation and early childhood programs. Minutes away is the Sacred Heart Music Center, an old church turned fine arts venue, and host to weddings, the Homegrown Music Festival and performances from the likes of Low, Gaelynn Lea and Mason Jennings.

A block down is the American Indian Community Housing Organization — one of 10 designated Regional Cultural Treasures in Minnesota — and home to art exhibitions, folk dancing, a youth gardening program and the Indigenous First Art & Gift Shop.

In these areas and beyond, St. Clair seems omnipresent. Her picture, along with a plea for information, is prominently displayed on a billboard at the intersection on Piedmont and Garfield avenues with Superior Street, thanks to the Native Lives Matter Coalition and the Northland Foundation .)

And, her photos often appear during February’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Memorial March, the National Day of Awareness for MMIWG2S in May and fall news conferences noting the anniversary of her disappearance. (Conflicting reports state she was last seen Aug. 15, 2015, and Sept. 1, 2015.) In addition to Duluth’s annual vigils, Shawn Carr has organized events such as a chili feed fundraiser, collecting about $280 that has been added to the $1,000 reward for information about St. Clair.

Carr is the community outreach coordinator of Idle No More, an Indigenous advocacy group whose focus includes missing and murdered indigenous relatives. He’s often seen at vigils and press conferences alongside other Indigenous community members, speaking out about MMIWG2S.

Carr joined efforts after the May 2015 murder of Lisa Isham . “I wasn’t involved in MMIW. My friend got killed, and I wanted to do something.” Carr didn’t know St. Clair well, but he recalled she was “always sweet” and “a fixture downtown.” He has watched the surveillance footage of St. Clair and an unidentified man repeatedly, trying to see what he can read into it. “It doesn’t look like they’re fighting, but it looks like they’re heavily debating something. They’re a little bit animated,” he told the Duluth News Tribune.

Carr received his last tip as early as last year, and whatever he receives he shares with law enforcement, of which he says have been forthcoming and putting “a lot of money, time and effort” into investigating her disappearance. There are holes in the case, but the police department was very close to determining what happened to St. Clair, then-Duluth Police Chief Mike Tusken said in a September 2020 Duluth News Tribune story .

Whether those gaps remain, remains to be seen.

The case

The Duluth News Tribune met with Nick Lepak, the police department’s missing persons investigator, and Lt. Matt McShane, commander of the Major Crimes division.

The two huddled around a table in a conference room at the St. Louis County Public Safety Building in late May.

The department would not discuss St. Clair’s case, said McShane, because it’s an open investigation, but they could share about processes.

As the sole missing persons investigator, Lepak reviews all tips, of which he receives a couple each week. Lepak encouraged tipsters to call 911 to report a lead or a missing person; this will ensure the team receives the information as soon as possible.

The more details on the who, what, where, when, the better, Lepak added, and no detail is too small.

Lepak begins investigations with the point last seen, or PLS, and interviews with the reporting party, friends, family, school officials, case managers or social workers. He follows leads to locations, where he conducts more interviews, views surveillance footage, etc. While they can present a challenge in gathering PLS info, McShane said, anonymous tips are welcome.

The Major Crimes bureau — which covers missing persons, abuse and neglect, auto crimes, among other things — is down seven investigators, but the Duluth Police Department maintains one missing persons investigator, the same number that was employed at the time of St. Clair’s disappearance.

"Somebody knows something,” said Lt. Dan Chicos in a 2016 Duluth News Tribune story .

“These are the people we need desperately to come forward to give us that information, so we can provide that closure and those answers to her family,” continued the then-commander of the Major Crimes bureau.

“When you talk to a family member, you feel the pain and trauma that they're suffering and you want to provide them answers. Where is she? What happened? That remains our focus,” Chicos said.

The Duluth News Tribune’s attempts to reach family members in recent weeks were unsuccessful, but several have spoken to the newspaper over the years.

In an October 2015 interview , Dustin St. Clair talked to community members gathered at Central Hillside Park. "We need my auntie back," he said. "We're lost without her. The community is lost without her.”

At a 2018 vigil and news conference, St. Clair's sister, Raven Mitchell, spoke to participants.

"We all miss my sister, especially her kids and her grandkids. The whole family just wants to know. It's hard for me to talk to anybody about this or even move on.

"One more year of not knowing what to do or where to look or who to talk to. My mom and my family just want my sister to have some peace, so please if anybody knows, please help us,” she continued.

In a 2019 Red Lake Nation News story , St. Clair’s daughter, Stephanie, said, “She’s still out there somewhere, and we’re going to find her.” As recently as 2022 , St. Clair told the Duluth News Tribune, she hasn’t given up. "It's been up and down a lot,” she said, but she remains "really hopeful.”

Sitting in a West Duluth coffee shop this spring, Carr said he, too, is hopeful for a break in the case.

In the meantime, he aims to keep putting the effort into raising awareness about Sheila St. Clair’s disappearance, and he urges folks with information to come forward.

“Somebody’s gotta get ’em sooner or later because you can’t keep that kind of secret,” Carr said.

If you have info about Sheila St. Clair's disappearance

Call the Duluth Police Department at 218-730-5050.

Those who aren't comfortable contacting the police may email the Native Lives Matter Coalition at nlmcoalition@gmail.com .

This story was updated at 3:40 p.m. Sept. 12 to update the contact information for the Native Lives Matter Coalition. It was originally posted at 6 a.m. June 15. (Sheila St Clair picture, along with a plea for information, is prominently displayed on a billboard at the intersection on Piedmont and Garfield avenues with Superior Street, Sponsored by: Native Lives Matter Coalition and the Northland Foundation . The Billboard Campaign is the Official Reward Announcement launch from the Gaagige - Mikwendaagoziwag Reward Program Committee, a partnership with the City of Duluth, Native Lives Matter and Mending the Sacred Hoop.)

Photo:A billboard, at a three-way intersection of Piedmont Avenue, Garfield Avenue and Superior Street, directs passersby to call the Duluth Police Department with tips about the disappearance of Sheila St. Clair on Monday, June 12, 2023, in Duluth. St. Clair has been missing since August 2015.

Melinda Lavine / Duluth News Tribune