An airman stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota was charged in the murder of a woman who had been missing since August and was killed on the base, officials said on Saturday.
The airman, Quinterius Chappelle, 24, was arrested on federal second-degree murder charges in the death of Sahela Sangrait, 21, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office said on social media.
Ms. Sangrait’s remains were identified last week after they were found on March 4 by a hiker who discovered a badly decomposed body about 37 miles southwest of the Air Force base, the sheriff’s office said.
The hiker found Ms. Sangrait’s body south of Hill City, which is 27 miles west of Rapid City, according to the sheriff’s office.
Ms. Sangrait was from Box Elder, which borders the Air Force base, and she was reported missing on Aug. 10, the sheriff’s office said.
A missing person’s poster said Ms. Sangrait was Native American. South Dakota’s government has introduced initiatives in recent years to address the high number of missing and murdered Indigenous people in the state.
In South Dakota, Indigenous people account for 60 percent of missing persons cases, according to a local news website, South Dakota Searchlight.
Airman Chappelle, who was arrested on Friday night, was being held at Pennington County Jail, according to jail records. Officials did not say how he was linked to Ms. Sangrait. A lawyer for Airman Chappelle was not listed.
An Ellsworth Air Force Base spokesman said that Airman Chappelle was an aircraft inspection journeyman assigned to the 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. He entered the service on April 30, 2019.
The Ellsworth Air Force commander, Col. Derek Oakley, said in a statement that military officials were working closely with area law enforcement agencies.
“First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and family of Sahela,” he said, adding: “We hold airmen accountable for their actions, and if service members are found in violation of military or civilian law, they will be punished.”
The United States attorney’s office is prosecuting the case and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
A missing persons poster said Ms. Sangrait was last known to be staying with a friend in Eagle Butte, S.D., which is about 160 miles northeast of the Air Force base.
Ms. Sangrait left her friend’s house and said that she was going to pick up some of her belongings from Box Elder before traveling to California, the poster said. It was not known if she made it to Box Elder. Her friends and family had not heard from her since she left Eagle Butte, the poster said.
Native American women are murdered and reported missing at disproportionate rates. Homicide was the fourth-leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native women between the ages of 20 and 24 years in 2021, according to a report released last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There were 38 American Indian or Alaska Native women listed as missing on South Dakota’s missing person’s website on Sunday, though this type of data is often an undercount.
In January 2023, the state created a council to advise the attorney general on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
