A mother of two from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community has been missing for more than a week. Now her family fears this is yet another Missing and Murdered Indigenous People case. They are calling for more urgency in the search.
Passion Schurz was last seen on March 19 at her family home near Dobson and Chaparral roads within the SRPMIC.
At a nearby park in Scottsdale, four missing person flyers for Schurz are now posted.
“The biggest thing that concerns me is that it's an atypical situation. She doesn't normally leave and not contact her family,” Rhonda Dequier, Missing in America Network Founder, said.
The national network jumped into action after the family reached out for help.
“She had left behind her wallet, her little purse that she carries around. So that was a red flag for us,” Anna Anderson, Schurz’s Mother, said. “It's really not okay with me, considering that she is still my child, and she's left everything, all her belongings. So I'm just really distraught that not enough is being done.”
The Salt River Police Department posted a flyer on social media asking for the public’s help. ABC15 reached out to the department multiple times this week for information on the case, but has not heard back.
Schurz’s family is now raising something larger: the MMIP crisis.
“We need to stop this. It's an epidemic,” Victoria Gonzales, an MMIP advocate, said.
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Gonzales is working with the family after experiencing MMIP firsthand when her 29-year-old son was murdered on a reservation in 2019.
“I know what mom's going through, and that's why I'm by her side to help her,” Gonzales said. “I told her I'm going to do whatever I can to help her find her baby. Because, you know, Native lives matter too.”
The most recent FBI data shows more than 10,000 Native Americans went missing in 2024 alone.
Both Anderson and Gonzales say there needs to be more urgency when adults go missing.
“You just feel like something has to be done right away. Not in the next few days, but right away,” Anderson said.
The women say they have been told by authorities that Schurz does not currently meet the criteria for a turquoise alert, the emergency alert system expanded last year to include more indigenous missing person cases.
Those alerts only go out if local law enforcement has exhausted resources, and there is reason to believe a missing person is in danger.
The Department of Public Safety tells ABC15 they never received a request from tribal police to activate a turquoise alert for Schurz.
Gonzales says she brought the case to tribal leaders and the Chief of Police during a council meeting on Wednesday.
This weekend, advocates are fanning out.
“We hear, it's not against the law to go missing. I hear that every day, so many times. But families know when it's concerning,” Dequier said. “It’s our hope that she’s somewhere and she’s safe, and the family can find that out.”
Dequier plans to ask employees at local businesses whether they may have seen Schurz, while this weekend, Gonzales will be out searching areas close to the reservation.
“We're going to go door to door. We're going to hand out flyers,” Gonzales said.
They’re hoping someone has information to bring the mom back home to her two little girls, and her worried family.
“It hurts really bad, because I’ve done actual, literal footwork on this reservation, looking for her,” Anderson said. “All I want you know to know is that she's okay.”
Anyone with information should contact Detective A. Penunuri at 480-362-7737, per the flyer posted by the Salt River Police Department.
