Renzo Bullhead, 20, of McLaughlin, South Dakota, has been missing since the night of March 16, 2025. Bullhead, a welding student at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota, had spent spring break at his mother's home in McLaughlin and was driven back to campus that evening. He then asked to be driven to Mandan, North Dakota, to meet two friends. Around 8 p.m., a friend in phone contact said Bullhead told him he was walking east across the Burlington Northern/BNSF railroad bridge that spans the Missouri River between Mandan and Bismarck, and asked to be picked up on the Bismarck side. The friend said Bullhead never arrived. Surveillance footage reviewed by investigators appears to show a man matching Bullhead's description crossing the bridge from the Mandan side at approximately 8:18 p.m.; a separate camera on the Bismarck side recorded a splash in the river waters approximately twenty minutes later, though the cause of the splash has not been confirmed. He was reported missing on March 18, 2025, by an acquaintance. He was last seen wearing a black puffer jacket; clothing reports vary between black-and-grey plaid pajama pants with a black sweatshirt, and white-and-black checkered sweatpants with white-and-red Jordan basketball shoes.
The Mandan Police Department is the lead agency (case #25000954), assisted by the BIA Office of Justice Services Missing and Murdered Unit (Agent Dustin Dobbs). The Burleigh County Sheriff's Office dive team logged roughly 130 hours searching the Missouri River with sonar and water drones, working alongside North Star Search and Rescue; the North Dakota Highway Patrol deployed aircraft and K-9 bloodhounds; the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted interviews and compiled video evidence; and BNSF Railroad Police assisted with surveillance footage. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, of which Bullhead is a member, and Badlands Search and Rescue have coordinated ongoing volunteer search efforts along the river, with the most recent organized search held October 30, 2025. Bullhead was entered into the NamUs database (Case #144354) on May 23, 2025. The case remains open with no confirmed resolution as of this writing. Tips may be submitted by texting BIAMMU to 847411, calling 1-833-560-2065, emailing OJS_MMU@bia.gov, or calling the Mandan Police Department at 701-667-3250. Case Number 2500954.
