Kevin Abourezk
ICT
Sheriff’s deputies in Johnson County, Kansas, on Friday morning discovered the body of 27-year-old missing Lakota actor Cole Brings Plenty.
At 11:45 a.m. CST Friday, deputies were dispatched to the area of 200th and Homestead Lane in Johnson County on a report of an unoccupied vehicle. Deputies checked the area and found Brings Plenty’s body in a wooded area away from the vehicle. Investigators and a medical examiner were on the scene, according to a press release from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
Brings Plenty disappeared Sunday, March 31, after leaving the scene of an alleged domestic violence incident in Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence police have accused the Mnicouju Lakota actor and Haskell Indian Nations University student of assaulting a woman.
According to the Lawrence Police Department, officers responded to reports of a female screaming for help early on March 31, but the suspect fled before officers arrived. Investigators identified Brings Plenty as the suspect and he was shown on traffic cameras fleeing the city after the incident, according to police.
He was last seen driving south on Kansas Highway 59 in a white Ford Explorer.
The Lawrence Police Department has offered no further details about the alleged domestic violence incident, but the department submitted an affidavit to the district attorney for Brings Plenty’s arrest.
“I am deeply saddened to confirm that my son, Cole, has been found and is no longer with us,” said Brings Plenty’s father Joe Brings Plenty Sr. and his family in a statement. “We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone for the prayers and positive thoughts you sent for Cole. We would also like to thank everyone who came to walk beside us as we searched for my son and provided the resources we needed to expand our search areas. I learned this week how many people knew the goodness in Cole’s heart and loved him.
“During this incredibly difficult time, we ask for privacy as we process our grief and figure out how we move forward. Please know we appreciate you and appreciate your understanding.”
The Kansas City Indian Center assisted the Brings Plenty family this week in the search for their missing relative by sharing information online and distributing missing person fliers.
“We’re all absolutely devastated on this outcome,” Gaylene Crouser, the center’s executive director, told ICT. “Our prayers are with his family and our community.”
Crouser and others planned to attend a community potluck Friday night from 6-8 p.m. CST in the Haskell Indian Nations University library in Lawrence, Kansas. Prior to the event, mourners gathered on the lawn outside to pray together.
Cole Brings Plenty, the nephew of “Yellowstone” actor Moses Brings Plenty, was known for his role as Pete Plenty Clouds in the “Yellowstone” prequel “1923.” He also acted in “Into the Wild Frontier” and “The Tall Tales of Jim Bridger.”
“It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of Cole Brings Plenty, a valued member of our university family,” said Haskell University President Frank Arpan on Friday in a statement. “Our thoughts are with Cole’s loved ones during this difficult time, and we ask for empathy, compassion, and respect for the family.”
Counselors from Morningstar Counseling, a Native-led counseling firm, planned to be available on the Haskell University campus on Monday and Tuesday mornings.
Cole Brings Plenty’s tribe, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, shared a statement Friday.
“The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe offers its deepest sympathy and support to Cole’s family and friends. He was an exemplary example of what it means to be a good relative and we stand with you in your grief. We respectfully request that Cole’s family be given their privacy as they mourn the loss of their son, brother, grandson, nephew and uncle.”
The tribe called for a “full and thorough investigation” into Cole’s death and said the tribe’s attorney general would contact Kansas authorities to ensure that happens.
Candi Brings Plenty, Cole Brings Plenty’s cousin, shared a Facebook post Friday evening describing her reaction to the news.
“We all just broke down, openly, loudly and hard, in a public space. This Lakota lady came over and cried with us, my Ina Maria Stands, Breana Joy, Pejuta Skuya Win and myself … that’s how deep the love for Cole Brings Plenty is,” she wrote.
Trenton Casillas-Bakeberg, a 27-year-old Cheyenne River citizen, attended high school with Brings Plenty and remained friends with him over the years.
He said Brings Plenty would often reach out to him during his frequent visits back home and invite him to Lakota sweat lodge ceremonies. He recalled a time he and Brings Plenty helped set up a sweat lodge during a Wounded Knee memorial run in below-zero weather.
“We got the fire going. We got the lodge set up and ready,” Casillas-Bakeberg said. “We had sweat in it about two in the morning.”
He said Brings Plenty had an upbeat, infectious personality with incredible potential to succeed at anything he did.
“He was younger than me, but I looked up to him,” he said. “He had that light. I can’t imagine a world now without him.”
Casillas-Bakeberg said his girlfriend, who had known Brings Plenty since the two were young children, dreamed Thursday night that her childhood friend visited her in her former home.
“Maybe that was a sign that he was coming home, just not the way we hoped.”
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