Renzo is a relative to us all
Searchers comb the riverbed on March 25 in the hope of finding signs of missing person Renzo Bullhead. (Photo credit: Daniela Aki)
Weekends are a treasure in the Aki home, whether we spend them walking and browsing in the mall together or lounging in small packs throughout the house, snacking and sharing our favorite foods. This past weekend, however, we chose to give our treasured time to another family, that of Renzo Bullhead, a young man who has been missing for more than two weeks. Renzo is a welding student at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota, the son of Deidra (“Roxy”) Leaf and Delaine Blue Thunder. Renzo is also a responsible older brother to four young men and a wingman to an older brother. He is a talented and decorated basketball and football player and a track and field athlete, and he is my nephew.
With my two oldest sons, I joined a 13-person grassroots Mandan search-and-rescue team on Saturday, March 29. On Sunday, March 30, I was asked to become the team’s lead. We scoured the brush-ridden countryside south of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, delicately picking our way across the rock-strewn shoreline while a ridge crew used binoculars and drones from a higher vantage point.
Renzo’s family stayed in my thoughts as I watched one of my sons on the ridge and one on the rocks in front of me, both dedicated to finding a cousin they have never met in person, but who lives in our prayers and voices every day in our home and on our drives around town. Renzo is someone’s son, brother, nephew, grandson, friend and partner, and he is a relative to us all. In Lakota, we say, mitakuye oyasin, which means, “we are all related,” and that is the mindset we must all carry with us for Renzo.
Daily searches for Renzo begin at 10:30 am in the Lewis Goodhouse Wellness Center: Healing Room on the United Tribes Technical College campus. Contact Vicki Alberts, Public Information Officer for the family, at (701) 381-0789, to inquire how you can help.
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