Make the bright choice. Discover incredible offers across the full 242 Citroen range at bright Citroen airside. Enjoy flexible payment options, five year warranty and a deposit contribution of up to 4000 find her daughter. Melanie's is one of many MMIW cases Darlene has taken on pro bono. She helps families plan events and marches, speaks to the media to raise awareness, and sits in as an advocate in meetings with police. She says Melanie's disappearance mirrors similar MMIW cases across the country. She was 21 years old, so she was technically an adult. Police rarely respond to a missing 21 year old the way they do to a missing ten year old, for example. She had a previous criminal record, which sort of changes the way that law enforcement reacts to someone when they're missing because that can sometimes lead to an assumption that, well, they've done something to put themselves in harm's way. We're not going to go look for them.Correct. And I think one of the things that you talked about was victim blaming. So we see a lot of this, and even in this report, talking about not having a job, having criminal charges. She had been in a domestic violence relationship prior to her going missing. I think cases like these, they just get put on a shelf. I don't know if there was policies and procedures in place to ensure that these cases get investigated.I asked Farmington police Chief Steve Heavy about that. You know, this is something that comes up in missing cases all the time. When they have a criminal record, do you look for them differently? Is that a lower standard? Is there a sort of an assumption by law enforcement that, well, they've probably done something to put themselves in harm's way?No. In this case, it just makes it a little harder. The lifestyle of she doesn't really live in a place and have a nine to five job. It's just a little more complex for us to do it, but it certainly doesn't affect our response. It just affects our ability to achieve the same results.The chief points out the challenges his department has faced. Remember Melanie's purse found in that alleyway? Well, Farmington police did submit samples from it for DNA testing. That was much later. Here's Detective Bodoni.We requested that the swabs be tested through our state laboratory, which is the new Mexico department of Forensic laboratory. It's in Santa Fe and it's our state lab where we send all evidence. So they declined to process it because we did not have evidence of a crime. And that's something that they required it. They required a criminal offense to process any DNA. So that's kind of where we ran into an issue.It's sort of a law enforcement catch 22. No proof of a crime means no DNA testing.There was nothing obvious to those bags, that something had happened to whoever was carrying those bags.At this point, we don't have any clue whether there'Keani Reed is associate producer, Bradley Davis is senior producer, Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is senior executive producer. From NBC News. Audio sound mixing by Bob Mallory Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.

find her daughter. Melanie's is one of many MMIW cases Darlene has taken on pro bono. She helps families plan events and marches, speaks to the media to raise awareness, and sits in as an advocate in meetings with police. She says Melanie's disappearance mirrors similar MMIW cases across the country. She was 21 years old, so she was technically an adult. Police rarely respond to a missing 21 year old the way they do to a missing ten year old, for example. She had a previous criminal record, which sort of changes the way that law enforcement reacts to someone when they're missing because that can sometimes lead to an assumption that, well, they've done something to put themselves in harm's way. We're not going to go look for them.

Correct. And I think one of the things that you talked about was victim blaming. So we see a lot of this, and even in this report, talking about not having a job, having criminal charges. She had been in a domestic violence relationship prior to her going missing. I think cases like these, they just get put on a shelf. I don't know if there was policies and procedures in place to ensure that these cases get investigated.

I asked Farmington police Chief Steve Heavy about that. You know, this is something that comes up in missing cases all the time. When they have a criminal record, do you look for them differently? Is that a lower standard? Is there a sort of an assumption by law enforcement that, well, they've probably done something to put themselves in harm's way?

No. In this case, it just makes it a little harder. The lifestyle of she doesn't really live in a place and have a nine to five job. It's just a little more complex for us to do it, but it certainly doesn't affect our response. It just affects our ability to achieve the same results.

The chief points out the challenges his department has faced. Remember Melanie's purse found in that alleyway? Well, Farmington police did submit samples from it for DNA testing. That was much later. Here's Detective Bodoni.

We requested that the swabs be tested through our state laboratory, which is the new Mexico department of Forensic laboratory. It's in Santa Fe and it's our state lab where we send all evidence. So they declined to process it because we did not have evidence of a crime. And that's something that they required it. They required a criminal offense to process any DNA. So that's kind of where we ran into an issue.

It's sort of a law enforcement catch 22. No proof of a crime means no DNA testing.

There was nothing obvious to those bags, that something had happened to whoever was carrying those bags.

At this point, we don't have any clue whether there'Keani Reed is associate producer, Bradley Davis is senior producer, Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is senior executive producer. From NBC News. Audio sound mixing by Bob Mallory Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.

Keani Reed is associate producer, Bradley Davis is senior producer, Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is senior executive producer. From NBC News. Audio sound mixing by Bob Mallory Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.