Man charged 5 years after disappearance of Hardin teen Selena Not Afraid

HARDIN – A man has been charged in connection with the death of 16-year-old Selena Not Afraid, who disappeared on January 1, 2020 after attending a New Year’s Eve party in Billings.

Robert Alvin Morning-Bromley III has been charged in Big Horn County District Court with two counts of felony criminal endangerment. Prosecutors allege Morning-Bromley left the teen and an adult at a rest stop along Interstate 90 between Hardin and Billings knowing they were both drunk and not dressed for the weather.

The charges allege that Morning-Bromley’s actions “created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury” to Not Afraid and the adult by dropping them off at the rest stop under the circumstances. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

None of the victims are named in charging documents, but Not Afraid’s aunt, Cheryl Horn, confirmed Tuesday that the charges are related to her niece. The adult victim is identified in charging documents as “Adult Doe.”

“You don’t necessarily want to move on, but you want to heal. But you don’t want to leave things the way they were,” Horn said Tuesday. “It’s time to let Sal rest and get some closure, take some responsibility and I’m very grateful.”

Not Afraid’s disappearance and death attracted national attention at the time and her case was one of the few that sparked the growth of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons movement.

“I would just like to hope that this is just the beginning of cases where our prosecutors, our county, our city, all of our attorneys are just taking on the cases, you know, not just picking and choosing wins, but just trying every case. as important as the next one,” Horn said. “Don’t give up on your loved one. So even if it’s always praying for justice, it doesn’t always mean it has to be a fight because that’s what I don’t like, fighting for justice. I don’t.” I don’t like that saying. I don’t like that word. I don’t like that. You know, those should never be two words together for families.

Not Afraid was reported missing shortly after leaving Billings, where she had attended a New Year’s Eve party. A massive search effort was launched focusing on the I-90 rest stop where she was last seen, and her body was found on January 20 about 1.5 miles from the rest stop. Authorities later determined that he died of hypothermia, but few details explaining the circumstances of his death have since been released until now.

Charging documents filed against Morning-Bromley state that on Dec. 31, a person identified by the initials JB dropped Not Afraid off at a New Year’s Eve party in Billings and saw her enter the residence. JB returned to the residence around 2 p.m. the next day looking for Not Afraid, but she and others had already traveled with Morning-Bromley back to Hardin.

The documents state Not Afraid, the unidentified adult and three other people were taken in a van by Morning-Bromley and the group “continually consumed large amounts of alcohol.” Morning-Bromley later told investigators that the pickup truck he was driving had mechanical problems with the water pump, causing him to stop and start the vehicle at different locations on the trip from Billings to Hardin.

When the group reached the closed rest area, Morning-Bromley stopped just inside a gate. Both Not Afraid and the adult exited the van, and Morning-Bromley “was aware that both (Not Afraid and the adult) had been drinking a bottle of Black Velvet while traveling and were highly intoxicated,” court documents state.

Morning-Bromley started the vehicle and called for the two to return to the truck, but neither listened to his instructions and left the rest stop without them, according to court records. Neither of them were dressed for the weather conditions and the adult was not wearing shoes.

Morning-Bromley called her mother, who was traveling in the same direction in another vehicle about 15 minutes behind, and asked her to pick up Not Afraid and the adult at the rest stop. When the woman arrived, she found the adult who said Not Afraid had run “into the field south of the rest area, through the fence and into the hills,” according to charging documents. The woman honked the horn but left when she received no response.

When Morning-Bromley’s mother arrived at Hardin, she informed him of what happened. He said he didn’t know who the girls were, but “they were little bitches and they didn’t want to come in,” according to court records.

Morning-Bromley did not contact police or other authorities to report that Not Afraid had been dropped off at the rest stop, according to court records, and there is no record of him “ever calling or informing authorities that (Not Afraid) was missing.”

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