Ben Long Wolf, a 36-year-old Native American man, was found dead in Rapid Creek in Rapid City, South Dakota, in May 1998. An autopsy concluded he drowned and was heavily intoxicated; he was discovered half-upright beneath the Sixth Street Bridge in an area he had used as a place to sleep, and appeared to have been unaware of rising water.

Long Wolf’s death was later recognized as the first in a series of at least eight men recovered from Rapid Creek over the next 14 months. Most of those found were Native American and homeless, and the cluster prompted an investigation that included the FBI. Investigators reported no signs of trauma or physical evidence of foul play in Long Wolf’s case or the others, and no arrests or publicly identified suspects have been announced.

Why did so many vulnerable men from the same community end up dead in the same stretch of creek, and does anyone have information about Ben Long Wolf’s life or last days?