In March 2020, just as the rest of the world was beginning to come to terms with the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, Pepita Rothaar’s family had a lot busier to do. The young woman vanished into thin air and nothing is known about where she went or what happened to her. The documentary Disappeared: Navajo Nightmare, available on Investigation Discovery, focuses on the search for Pepita by both authorities and her loved ones, as well as the events leading up to her disappearance. If you want to learn more about this case, then you’ve come to the right place.
What became of Pepita Redhair, the redhead?
Pepita Rothaar’s family lived on the outskirts of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Kronpunkt. Her loved ones described her as an intelligent young woman who enjoyed talking to strangers. Skateboarding and cooking were two of her favorite hobbies, and she had career aspirations in engineering and education. Before the unexpected turn of events in early 2020, the 27-year-old appeared to have everything in her favor. Pepita was taken to a neighborhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico by her mother, Anita King, along with two other family members on March 24.
Nicholas Kaye, Pepita’s lover, resided there and she had been living with him for more than three years by this time. The vacation was something the family did frequently, so they didn’t think much about it. But when Anita didn’t hear from her daughter for a while, she started to worry. On March 27, 2020, she made several attempts to contact Pepita, but was unsuccessful. On March 30, Anita texted her daughter again, but this time a man replied, explaining that he had bought someone else’s phone. Almost immediately afterward, she claimed that her beloved daughter had disappeared.
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Is Pepita Rothaar still alive or has she died?
Anita King initially claimed that police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, fought back against her and her demands. She explained that the police took a dismissive stance on the incident. They said that Pepita has reached adulthood. It is in no way restricted in its mobility. I’ve been told it’s okay if she goes missing. I was quite angry about that.” Anita went on to say that the authorities there asked her to speak to Crownpoint Police as Pepita is originally from Crownpoint. However, when Anita reported the incident to Crownpoint police, they told them to report the Albuquerque incident instead.
Due to the epidemic that was just starting to spread around the world, the police were unable to hold face-to-face meetings with anyone who might have relevant information about the case. Anita was particularly dissatisfied with the response from the Crownpoint Police Department, which stated: “They did nothing. They claimed they were not authorized to investigate since the incident happened in Albuquerque. Someone told me she’s an adult and we can’t help you because she was last seen leaving Albuquerque.
On April 19, 2020, Nicholas filed a self-report as a missing person with the appropriate authorities. According to police, the two went out for drinks on March 26, 2020 but got into an argument afterwards. At this point, Nicholas declared that Pepita had left, and the next day a text message from her indicated that she was dating another man. Nicholas continued to insist that Pepita had left him. Nicholas had a hunch at the time that the person in question was someone they had spoken to on March 26th. On the other hand, Anita claimed that he had previously engaged in violent behavior with her daughter, which made her suspicious of him.
Since then, Pepita’s family has looked for her everywhere but found nothing that could lead her in the right direction. They have not given up hope and have continued to make their name known through public rallies. The circumstances of Pepita’s disappearance helped shed light on the issue of other Indigenous women who have disappeared. Pepita’s sister, Shelda Livingston, cited the pandemic as the reason it took police several months to begin investigating the case when speaking at a demonstration in February 2022.
Investigations into Pepita’s disappearance are ongoing, according to authorities, and a detective has been tasked with the mission to locate her. While Anita has tried to be resilient, her daughter’s absence has undoubtedly shaped her. In March 2022, she made the following statement: “When I get home (from work), it hits me. A few weeks ago I promised myself that I would be brave. I will stop sobbing because I have reached the point where I am fed up with how I feel on a daily basis. I promised myself I wouldn’t let myself get sick again because I want to be strong for her.
Surname: Pepita Madalyn Redhead
Age: 27 years old
Last seen: March 27, 2020
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Status: Still missing
Disappeared: Season 10 Episode 3 “Navajo Nightmare”
Details of the case
27-year-old Pepita Rothaar last saw anyone on March 27, 2020. She was last sighted in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After spending the night with her lover, she disappeared the next morning.
background
Anita King gave birth to Pepita Madalyn Redhair on August 4, 1992. Her mother was Anita King. She is a member of the Navajo tribe and grew up in Crown Point, a small town in the Navajo Nation of McKinley County, New Mexico. She is an Indigenous Native American woman.
At the time of her disappearance, Redhair was employed as a cashier at Hot Topic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hot Topic is a clothing store specializing in pop culture and music related items. She took courses at the University of New Mexico with hopes of one day working in education or engineering.
Redhair commuted between her mother’s home in Crownpoint and her boyfriend’s home in Albuquerque, New Mexico so she could spend time in both places.
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Disappear
Pepita Redhair was taken to her lover’s home in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico by her mother, Anita King, on March 24, 2020. The location of the residence was in the 1000 block of Clements Street Southwest.
On March 27, 2020, King made multiple attempts to get in touch with her daughter via phone calls and text messages. however, Redhair did not answer. In the days that followed, King continued her efforts to get in touch with her daughter.
Pepita Rothaar has been completely forgotten since her disappearance.
After being unable to contact her daughter on March 28, 2020, Anita King reported her to the Albuquerque Police Department as a missing person.
On March 30, 2020, King received a text message from a man who stated that he had bought Pepita’s phone from someone else.
detection
Due to the fact that Pepita Rothaar was an adult and free to travel or leave of her own accord, authorities did not immediately identify her case as a case of enforced disappearance when investigating it. The spread of the COVID-19 epidemic also slowed investigations, as standard police protocol prevented them from conducting face-to-face interviews with potential witnesses.
Nicholas Kaye
Nicholas Kaye was the person Redhair was romantically involved with at the time of her disappearance. For the past three years she had called the house he owned on Clements Street in Albuquerque her home. The missing person report Kaye filed with the Albuquerque Police Department on April 19, 2020 was under his own name.
On March 26, 2020, Kaye claims that he and Redhair met another man while going out one night. He also states that this event took place. In the later hours of that day, the couple reportedly got into an altercation, and Redhair then allegedly fled on foot from a home in northeast Albuquerque. On March 27, 2020, Kayer received a text message from Redhair’s cellphone saying she was dating another man, possibly the same person the couple had met the night before. The message said she was dating another man. Nickolas Kaye told police he has not heard from Pepita Redhair, his girlfriend, since the incident. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence in connection with her kidnapping, but he is not helping the investigation in any way.
Her mother alleges that Redhair’s relationship with Kaye was turbulent and that she was the target of physical abuse at the hands of Kaye. It’s possible that someone named Redhair was spotted begging near the corner of 2nd Street and the Freeway in Albuquerque in May 2020.
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