GERRYOWEN — Since Sunday, 13-year-old Sa’Wade BirdinGround has been missing for a week from his rural home in Gerryowen. BirdinGround’s uncle, Levi Black Eagle, said the search was now expanding.

Black Eagle described his niece as quiet and reserved.

“She’s quite quiet. I would say quite shy and reserved. But she’s a lovely girl,” Black Eagle Sunday said. “She has learning disabilities, but she’s like a regular teenager.”

This has been painful for his family as they continue the search.

“Taking it all one day at a time, remaining hopeful,” Black Eagle said. “I just believe we’re going to find her safe and sound and she’ll be back home before we know it.”

BirdinGround Family

Black Eagle said searches have been conducted near his home daily since, but with no closer to the answers, the search area is now widening.

“It’s a pretty isolated area. His house is considered to be in the country. So we’ve been looking around here, up and down and around. And we’re starting to expand the area from where the ray is coming from the house, so we’re just wandering around in the woods,” Black Eagle said.

He said the community came out in force.

“We had a helicopter and dog teams, we had people along the river. We had people crisscrossing the ground. And so we’re looking anywhere and everywhere,” Black Eagle said.

BirdinGround was last seen wearing a black hoodie, basketball shorts and purple “Skechers” shoes.

“We have a lot of leads that are under investigation. A lot of them are, I don’t want to say dead ends, but don’t really lead anywhere,” Black Eagle said. “So we just take the leads as they come in and follow them up and process them all.”

Alina Hauter/MTN News

He said volunteers are welcome to join BirdinGround’s search.

“They could go down to the Garryowen, they call it the Gerryowen Store, the old museum. That’s where the incident command post is,” Black Eagle said.

For now, the family will continue to search for answers while praying for BirdinGround’s safe return.

“She comes from a family that loves her very, very much. And we just hope and pray that we get her home safely,” Black Eagle said.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Sa’Wade BirdinGround, call the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office at (406) 665-9780 or 911. You can also reach his father Wade BirdinGround at (406) 638 -2561 or (406) 679-5123.