A woman leaves a bar with two people and is never seen alive again Monica Bercier-Wickre, a 42-year-old Native American woman, spent the evening of April 7, 1993, with friends at a bar called The Body Shop in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Her husband had dropped her off earlier that evening. When the bar closed, she left with a couple she knew and a man she did not. The group reportedly dropped the man off at his vehicle at another location, and Monica decided to leave with him. That was the last time she was seen alive.
Born and raised on the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota, Monica was a mother of three.
It wasn't until April 26, 1993, nearly three weeks after she was last seen, that Monica was reported missing. The search for her ended in tragedy on June 16, 1993, when a person in a canoe discovered her body in the James River. Due to the advanced state of decomposition, her remains had to be identified using dental records. Investigators suspect foul play, and her death is being treated as a homicide, though an official cause of death could not be determined.
Despite the passage of decades, Monica's case remains an unsolved homicide. The Brown County Sheriff's Office has investigated numerous suspects over the years, but a lack of sufficient evidence has prevented any arrests from being made. The significant gap of nearly three weeks between when she was last seen and when she was reported missing has been a major challenge for investigators. Her family, including her daughter Tonya Hertel, continues to advocate for justice and seeks answers in her mother's death. A reward has been offered for information that leads to a conviction.
