Three weeks after Victor Saganitso’s killing, family demands answers from FBI

Three weeks since Victor Saganitso was found slain on the Moapa River Indian Reservation, his family and friends are still waiting for answers on who took the life of the beloved 20-year-old man.

They took their search for justice to the FBI’s Las Vegas field office Saturday, chanting Victor’s name and protesting what they said has been a lack of transparency from the investigation. They said they are alsoholding out hope that Saganitso’s case is not added to the list of thousands of unsolved cases of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaskan natives.

“It’s been three weeks, and I know it takes time, but you know we just want them to say this is not going to be swept under the rug and we’re going to keep on this because it happened here,” said Verdie Marble, Saganitso’s grandmother. “He was a Native boy, he was a Paiute boy, he was a Mojave boy and he was a Navajo boy. We just want to know that they’re standing right behind us.”

Saganitso died on Oct. 17 after he was found lying in the street with a stab wound to the chest, according to the Clark County coroner’s office. The reservation is roughly 40 miles northeast of downtown Las Vegas.

Marble, who teared up during the protest Saturday, described Saganitso as “a loving boy” and father, who didn’t deserve to have his life cut so short.

“He always took care of me, always made sure if I needed anything, and made sure everybody’s okay,” Verdie Marble said. “He was the kind of boy that would give a shirt off his back to anybody that needed it.”

Kiara Fields, who is the mother of Saganitso’s daughter Alaia, said Victor’s death was unfair and that he had so much more life to live with them.

“He deserves to be here with us, and it’s just not fair,” she said. “He and my child are very close, like extremely close. That’s his lifeline, and it’s just not fair that she has to go through her life without her father because some ignorant person felt the need to take his life away.”

The Moapa River Police Department previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the FBI was leading the investigation. FBI spokesperson Sandra Breault confirmed that the bureau was investigating the case but declined to provide further details, citing the active nature of its investigation.

Saganitso’s family and friends are concerned by what they said has been a lack of information, especially since they said they have been told that multiple witnesses and cameras may have seen the killing.

In a flyer distributed at the protest, the family said they are asking for a timely investigation and clear and consistent communication from the FBI.

Fields’ mother, Christina Steffen, said on the day of Saganitso’s funeral, multiple people claimed to have information about the incident.

“Within the day, there were two other people that walked up and told several people that they saw exactly what happened there with them, and then we heard there were probably at least five more people that said they made statements,” Steffen said. “They watched the whole thing, but we still don’t even know to this day what the fight was even over. Nobody is saying what happened or why.”

Fawn Douglas, a member of the Las Vegas Paute Tribe, said she came out to support the protest Saturday because it affected all Native Americans.

According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, there are approximately 4,200 missing and murdered indigenous person cases unsolved nationwide.

“This is a big national concern for missing and murdered Indigenous relatives,” Douglas said. “This is a big epidemic, and it’s really disgusting because in these jurisdictions and investigations, people are not coming forward or things just get forgotten. These things just go away, but it really leaves the communities hurt, still fighting, without any justice and healing.”

Contact Devan Patel at [email protected].