Young Woman Vanishes After Cryptic Facebook Post in 2018: Where is Shacaiah?

Where is Shacaiah?Photo byWhere are they? Podcast

Shacaiah Blue Harding loves to sing and dance, often spontaneously in public. People would stare, and Shacaiah didn’t care. She was very much a free spirit. She was also very close to her family and extended family, as was the norm in her Native American culture.

Shacaiah, who often went by her middle name, Blue, found herself living a tough lifestyle by the time she was 19 years old. She had recently begun struggling with drugs and started bouncing from place to place, but always stayed in touch with family.

Shacaiah was seen walking on Buena Vista Drive in Billings, Montana on July 23, 2018, around 4:00 p.m. Usually active on social media, She posted on her Facebook page just before midnight- a very cryptic and mysterious post.

Shacaiah would never be seen or heard from again.

Where is Shacaiah Blue Harding?

Shacaiah Blue HardingPhoto byFamily Photo

Shacaiah was born on November 28, 1998, to her mother, Tamera Bearcomescout. Tamera said Shacaiah was unique in style and personality. And never cared what others thought of her.

The family was very close- there was a large network of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.

She was also very talented in making videos and doing hair and make-up. In fact, for a while as a teenager, she had planned to attend cosmetology school and pursue that as a career path.

Shacaiah would attend parties and get-togethers as a teenager, but despite her outgoing personality, she wasn’t into the party scene. She didn’t drink or do drugs, even if others around her were. However, that would all change in the spring of 2018 when Shacaiah was 19 years old, although the reasons that may have led her down that path are unclear.

During this time she also became more independent, and would also go several days without seeing her family members.

Her cousin would describe being with her and seeing her behave oddly and call her out on it. She would immediately snap back to reality and start acting normal. However, her family did start to have concerns about her behavior.

Shacaiah Blue HardingPhoto byFamily Photo

On July 5, 2018, Shacaiah went to her mom’s house to return a cell phone. Her mom, Tamera, said it was a bit unusual because Shacaiah didn’t willingly like to give this phone back to her mom.

A few weeks would go by, and the cousins and other family members would start talking and realize no one had seen Shacaiah in a while, so they started looking for her. They checked in with people she knew and places she was known to frequent, but no one had seen Shacaiah.

They learned she was last seen ​​walking on Buena Vista Drive in Billings, Montana at 4:00 p.m. on July 25, 2018. It was not confirmed who saw her. Rumors were she had just gotten out of a relationship, and posted an odd Facebook status update that night around midnight.

It stated, “All depressing but I’m typing it like it’s everything but.. relying on feelings suck.”

Shacaiah Blue Harding's Last Facebook PostPhoto byFacebook

There were no additional posts made after that one.

Her family starts trying to look for her on their own. Remember, this is a girl who often went missing for days on end, and they knew she had been possibly struggling with drugs. However, when they couldn’t find her anywhere, Shacaiah’s mom Tamera finally goes to file a missing person report.

The official report was taken on August 20, 2018, by the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office. Almost a month has passed since anyone saw Shacaiah.

But, police don’t start investigating the case and not much is done. And I’ve seen this a lot when people with a past or drug problem or those who live a transient type of lifestyle go missing, which is very sad. In this case, there is a lot of evidence that Indigenous Americans who go missing also don’t receive adequate attention from either law enforcement or the media. In the case of Shacaiah Blue Harding, we have all elements- an indigenous girl, living on the streets with a possible drug problem.

So the family was on their own.

They had flyers made up and they started to hit the streets.

They received a tip that said that Shacaiah had been hanging around a man that lived in Billings and that he had previously been accused of rape and was overall just known to be trouble. When law enforcement refused to question this man, Shacaiah’s family went over to see him themselves. And of course, he denied knowing where Shacaiah was.

It came out that this tip came from the man’s ex-girlfriend who had seen him stalking Shacaiah when they were together.

Shacaiah Blue HardingPhoto byTyson Adams

A friend of Tamera’s would tell Tamera that she saw Shacaiah downtown and she had been talking to some men who were known to be involved in the human trafficking industry. The family wasn’t able to track down these men- and this friend has since passed away.

Another lead wouldn’t come in for a while, and when it does, it comes from law enforcement. Finally. Somehow, they were able to learn that someone purchased a bus ticket from the area to Colorado. But, other than that, they were unable to research this further. When the family pressed them to find surveillance footage or start investigating to see if this person got on the bus and made it to Colorado, the police stated that it was too weak of a lead to put forth all the effort that would take. Law Enforcement said that it would require a lot of paperwork to make that happen and they weren’t able to do that.

So that lead would take them… nowhere.

Another person that Shacaiah’s family suspected was her ex-boyfriend Eric. Eric and Shacaiah had a rocky relationship, and some friends have said that he was abusive, although no formal reports are confirming that. Eric also lived in New Mexico, and her family felt that she may have purchased a bus ticket to Colorado attempting to make it down to the New Mexico area to be with Eric.

Her family believes she is alive out there and begs for help in finding their daughter, their sister, their cousin, and their friend.

Shacaiah Blue HardingPhoto byFacebook

And this is just the kind of case that can benefit from a public push- so please share her story in any way that you can. Shacaiah’s family deserves answers, and Shacaiah herself might need help.

Shacaiah is an Indigenous Native American girl, standing about 5’4” tall at the time of her disappearance and weighing 120 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes, and may also be going by the name ‘Blue’.

If you have any information regarding Shacaiah, please contact the Yellowstone Sheriff's Office at 406–256–2929 or check out the Facebook page her family has set up and reach out to them- you can find the page titled — Bring Shacaiah Harding “Blue” Home.