Amelia Schafer
ICT + Rapid City Journal
No foul play is suspected in the death of Lakota actor Cole Brings Plenty, according to an April 10 statement from the Lawrence (Kansas) Police Department and Johnson County (Kansas) Sheriff’s Office.
Brings Plenty was found dead in a wooded area of Johnson County, Kansas, on April 5. The 27-year-old had been missing since March 31. Lawrence police accused the Mnicouju Lakota actor of assaulting a woman on March 31 prior to fleeing the city.
“I learned through this series of events that our Police Department must work harder to increase trust with our Native American community members. Through meeting with Cole’s family members and members of our Native American community, I clearly see that we are not where we need to be in partnering with a community that is very important to Lawrence’s history and to its current culture,” said Lawrence Kansas Police Chief Rich Lockhart in the April 10 press release.
Brings Plenty, the nephew of “Yellowstone” actor Moses Brings Plenty, was most well-known for his role as Pete Plenty Clouds in the “Yellowstone” prequel series “1923.” He had also been featured in “Into the Wild Frontier” and “The Tall Tales of Jim Bridger.”
Brings Plenty was a student at Haskell Indian Nations University.
A wake will be held in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, this weekend followed by a burial at the Brings Plenty family cemetery in Red Scaffold, South Dakota.
The Johnson County Sherriff’s Department did not respond to a request for comment.
This story is co-published by the Rapid City Journal and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the South Dakota area.
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