A 17-year-old girl was arrested in connection to the beating death of a 49-year-old woman near Belcourt, N.D., last week, authorities said.
Paul McCabe, a FBI special agent with the bureau's Minneapolis office, could not provide additional details on the arrest because of the girl's age, but said "this is still a very active case."
Last week, federal authorities said they were investigating the suspicious death of a 49-year-old woman Nov. 4 on tribal land near Dunseith, N.D.
Dunseith, about 20 miles west of Belcourt, N.D., is not on the Turtle Mountain reservation, but there are patches of tribal land surrounding the city.
Authorities have not identified the victim, but people in the community say the woman who was killed was Danielle Louise Baker.
ADVERTISEMENT
People who live in the Turtle Mountain area told the Herald that Baker was beaten to death.
Although the FBI confirmed that a woman died, no more information is being released about her death, according to Kyle Loven, FBI media representative in Minneapolis.
The FBI has primary jurisdiction on most North Dakota reservations "with respect to crimes of violence," Loven said last week. So, federal agents are part of investigations on reservations when it is suspected a felony-level crime has been committed, according to Loven.
The Turtle Mountain BIA agency and FBI are investigating, according to Loven.
An obituary for Baker ran in this week's edition of the Turtle Mountain Star, based in Rolla, N.D., identifying her as "born to Dennis Banks." Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, said last week that he had a stepdaughter by the same name. Baker was raised by her "adoptive parents" Jerome and Elaine Dickey, according to the obituary.
