‘It hurts to talk about it’: Family, Omak Police asking for tips on teenager’s suspicious disappearance

So long without all the joy Kit would bring. Maliyah says Kit was one of those people who just made those around them smile.

“Kit is funny, smart, goofy,” she said. “Kit loves art. Kit loves to smile, laugh, and make jokes.”

Omak Police are the lead agency investigating. They confirm there are some suspicious circumstances surrounding Kit’s disappearance. They say while they are treating the investigation as a possible homicide, they are keeping an open mind for any possibility about what may have occurred and where Kit could be.

Maliyah says she doesn’t know what to think.

“It hurts to talk about it, even now,” she said. “it just hurts.”

Maliyah says she last heard Kit’s voice in November of 2021. The same month of Kit’s last social media post.

“It was Nov. 11, 2021,” Maliyah said of the Twitter post.

In addition to a sudden halt of activity on social media, Kit also uncharacteristically stopped responding to texts

“Kit's friend ended up looking into the fact that Kit was no long texting, wasn't on social media,” she said. “This was a close friend Kit would text. They called around asking 'hey, have you heard from Kit.'”

Friends, family, even classmates were all asked. No one had. Maliyah and other family members are adamant in their belief that Kit’s disappearance is not voluntary.

“I feel like if Kit did run away, we would have heard from Kit,” Maliyah said.

Kit’s father and other loved ones have plastered missing person posters all over Eastern Washington from Omak to downtown Spokane. They are confident someone out there knows exactly what happened to their beloved Kit.

“We just don't know…we don't have any answers,” she said.

Only longing that someday, they will.

“I do have hope,” she said. “I have lots of hope. I pray about it.”

Prayers that a beautiful life wasn’t ended before it couldn’t truly begin.

“It’s just not knowing if Kit is going to celebrate their 18^th birthday... or are we going to find out later that Kit didn't get to have that,” Maliyah said through tears. “I'm sorry. It’s hard right now. It’s been so long.”

Maliyah says she is appreciative of the efforts from Omak PD. She also says word of House Bill 1177, an effort to create a cold case unit for Indigenous victims in Washington state, gives her hope that cases like Kit’s will have the resources they deserve.

“I think it would be amazing,” she said of House Bill 1177. “I just hope it happens. If not our family, somebody else's. I know other Indigenous families who have missing kids, sisters, uncles, brothers, that have never been found.”

The House of Representatives and Senate unanimously passed House Bill 1177. Now, the bill is headed to the office of Governor Jay Inslee for finalization.