Fred Joe Walking Badger, 42, of Pima and Zuni descent, lived within the Gila River Indian Community in Pinal County, Arizona. He worked as a plumber, attended junior college, and was married to Marilynn, with whom he had four children and a fifth on the way in 1994. Walking Badger had also campaigned against pesticide use on the Gila River Indian Reservation, organizing a petition drive in the winter of 1993 that prompted tribal government hearings involving landowners, farmers, and pesticide applicators, and he had contacted outside environmental groups about testing local water quality.
On May 21, 1994, Walking Badger and Aaron Leland Rivers Sr., 26, were working together on the construction of a Native American spiritual center near Wet Camp Village on the reservation when the two men left the site on an errand. Their fiancées, who had gone to prepare food and expected the men back within about an hour, reported them missing when they did not return. Approximately one month later, on or about June 10, 1994, a turquoise 1993 Pontiac Grand Am bearing a Texas license plate that the two men had been using was found abandoned and burned in a desert area near the Gila River.
Neither man was located for more than five years. On December 15, 1999, human remains were recovered on the reservation and were later identified as those of Walking Badger through dental records; published accounts differ on whether the remains were recovered from water or from a desert area. Rivers has never been found.
The case is investigated jointly by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services Missing and Murdered Unit and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which reissued a Violent Criminal Apprehension Program appeal for public information on July 8, 2024. No suspect has been publicly identified in connection with either man's disappearance, and no arrests have been made.
The case is documented under Bureau of Indian Affairs case number BO23294874 and National Missing and Unidentified Persons System case number 109073. Both Walking Badger's homicide and Rivers' disappearance remain open and unsolved. Anyone with information is asked to contact Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Agent Aaron Summers at (833) 560-2065 or aaron.summers@bia.gov, the BIA Office of Justice Services Missing and Murdered Unit at OJS_MMU@bia.gov, or to text tips to 847411 using the keyword BIAMMU.
