by Travis Mateer

I know the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office is busy, what with people dying in parks and on sidewalks and all, but I’m worried that a County with no investigators is being expected to be the primary jurisdiction responsible for determining how Joey Thompson ended up dead in the river 40 miles west from where he was supposedly last seen in Missoula on April 11th.

Since I had been communicating with the Missoula County Sheriff Office about those other bodies, I decided to inquire about the status of Joey Thompson’s case. And the answer? There is no status, because there is no development since an April press release. Here’s the email correspondence:

Since the body of Joey Thompson showed up in Mineral County, I called the Sheriff’s Office earlier in the week and left a message with Sheriff Funke. Have I heard back? No, I have not. Again, I know people are busy, because on Facebook I see that Montana’s Attorney General was visiting Mineral County on Wednesday. Is that why I didn’t get a call back?

Why was our Attorney General visiting Mineral County? Because that girl in the overalls made a nice picture and won a nice award and it’s a very pretty picture and everyone is safe because law enforcement is the best ever!

If I HAD received a call back from Sheriff Funke, I would have asked about the status of the investigation, because according to this May 12th press release, there IS an active investigation:

Another question I have, if there truly is an active investigation going on, is WHO is doing the investigating? I think that’s a fair question, especially for a grieving parent trying to understand what is happening, or NOT happening, which too often is the case.

One thing not happening in the normal way this week is the Week in Review. The pressure after these LONG weeks to review what I’ve spent all week writing about is not something that feels sustainable to me, and my co-host too often has born the brunt of that. I’m considering a more simple Sunday post with links to the week’s articles, and maybe some other audio stuff thrown in, like songs, or chapters of books.

Regardless of what I figure out, I remain committed to the content creation that hits Monday through Friday at 7am sharp (usually), with something more reflective for Sunday. If you understand the media gap I’m trying to fill, and would like to support my work, there’s Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or the donation button at my about page.

Thanks for reading!