Man in Indiana kept bones from more than 500 Native ancestors at his farm

Wednesday, February 27, 2019  

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is working with tribes to identify and repatriate the remains of about 500 ancestors that were found at a farm in Indiana.

The FBI has set up an invitation-only website as part of the process, according to a news release. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation is among those seeking to reclaim tribal ancestors.

"All too often here we have been treated as curiosities rather than a people here," Pete Coffey, an elder who works for the tribe's historic preservation office, told CBS News. "They could very well be my own great, great, great, great grandfather, or grandmother, you know, that had been – I characterize it as being ripped out of the earth, you know."

The remains -- consisting of thousands of bones -- were seized by the FBI in 2014. They had been kept by Don Miller at his home in Indiana.

“We are not treating this material as simply evidence," FBI Special Agent Tim Carpenter, said in the news release. "These objects are historically, culturally, and spiritually important, and you have to take that into consideration.”

The ancestors were among thousands of artifacts and items found in MIller's home. The FBI says some of them were removed illegally from their original places and locations, both from the U.S. and around the world.

Overall, more than 7,000 items were seized from his farm. The FBI said the action was the largest single recovery of cultural property in the agency's history.

Miller died in 2015, CBS News reported. The station contacted his widow, who declined comment about her husband's desire to collect bones, artifacts and other items.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was enacted by Congress in 1990 to return ancestral remains and cultural property to tribes and descendants.

While seizing thousands of artifacts from an Indiana home, FBI makes "staggering" discovery (CBS News February 26, 2019)
What happened to the thousands of artifacts, human bones the FBI found on Indiana farm (The Indianapolis Star February 27, 2019)
Man Had 2,000 Stolen Native American Bones (VICE February 27, 2019)
The FBI raided a 91-year-old missionary’s home and found thousands of stolen Native American bones (The Washington Post February 27, 2019)