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I'm having a little hard time. I got hearing aid things and they don't work half the time. You can hauler on me because my wife does.

Okay, all right.

How long have you been married?

We got together in 1966, one summer night, I fell in love, but she said, You did?

Meet Ronnie Hossler. The team met Ronnie at his house in Covalough, a small town on tribal land four hours south of Hoopa Valley. Ronnie is a husband, a father, and a grandfather. But lately he's taken on a new role, the role of an advocate, an unwavering voice for his people.

I'm always hoping that people would listen to what I'm talking about because it's happening not only here but all over these reservations, so many unsolved cases. I want somebody to finally step up and start holding these sheriff departments accountable.

Rony Hostler and his family have been appealing to different sheriff's departments and government officials ever since February eighth, 2018, the day his granddaughter, Kadeja Britten, went missing. Kadeja was the light of Rony's life. And though Kadeja was his granddaughter, she lived with him for a time. And he and his wife tried to nurture her many talents to give her a life filled with opportunities.

Kadeja stayed with us for maybe a year or two years. We really tried to do everything we could to keep her, concentrate on her academics. She was a really good basketball player. We supported her on that. We traveled with her. It just hurt. I just hurt.

Kadisha's family feels that her case has been downplayed by authorities, especially because they believe that the evidence in her case clearly points to the person responsible for her disappearance.

I'm just really sorry the way they handled that. They treated it like it was just another girlfriend-boyfriend thing, which it wasn't. You knew who took her. You knew what is it capable of. He's got a rap sheet, everything, endanglement, child abuse, child endanglement. How long.

Is he in jail for right now? He's out.

He's out?

Yeah, they let him go. He lives right here in the Valley with us.

I'm Slesia Stanton, and this is The Vanishing Point.

I'm actually a No-Milaki from the No-Milaki tribe. Kadeja is No-Milaki, Wailaki. We were both raised here. Growing up, she was a very happy child.

Connie Hossler is the mother of Kadeja Britten. She's a petite woman with dark hair and eyes. You can see the heaviness in her expression. Connie and her family had high hopes for Kadisha after she graduated high school with a 3.2 GPA. It was a big deal, especially given the low high school graduation rate of the area. Kadizia and her mom talked about plans for community college in Mendicino and about ways that she could pursue a career in something she was passionate about.

Growing up, she always wanted to play basketball in that WNBA, and she was good enough to do it. She just got with the wrong people.

Connie says she can't help but wonder if Kadeja, or Deej, as she calls her, would have pursued those paths. Maybe she'd still be here today.

Kadeja was in a bad way. She hung out with the wrong people, obviously. She stayed with this person, Nitchie Fallas, who had three children, and she was a good person that she took care of them. She cooked for them, did what she needed to. She cares about people.

When you say she was in a bad way, what do you mean by that?

She was into drugs. She hung out with this guy who sold drugs. She would come to my house quite often just to bathe shower because where they stayed, they didn't have a shower. Her and I talked a lot. She didn't like the stuff that I said. If I said anything negative about Nitzsche, she didn't like it. I would try to tell her I could help her get away, which I could have sent her to a rehab or just some place where she would be safe. She didn't want to hear it. If she didn't like it, she would just stop and leave.

Connie told us she recognized that her daughter was struggling with addiction.

So it had to be maybe two or three years that she was on drugs. And I used to be an addict also. So I was just like, I'm done. I moved to a different spot. I may start working at the school. And I said, Jeez, you can do it. You can get out. You can do something. You could go to college. She said, I thought I was better than her or better than anybody. And I go, It's not even like that, Gigi. Just straighten your life route. It'll be a lot better. But she didn't want to hear that. She wasn't ready.

As Connie mentioned, Kadeja started seeing a man named Niji Fallas. He was nearly 20 years her senior, and he had three children of his own.

I would have never hung out with somebody like Niji Fallas, but that was her choice. And she was only 18 when she started hanging out with him. What was he like? I didn't see the bad side of him. He was respectful to me. I didn't see anything negative, but I had people that told me that he was being rough with her. And so I stepped in and then she got mad at me. And she said, Oh, no, Mommy, I'm okay. It's okay. So then I left her alone.

Tell me about the last time that you saw Kadeja.

She happened to show up at my house, and that's when I sat down and I said, Cis, we can get you help. We can get you out of here. That was two weeks before she went missing because she would tell people I was mad at her, so she couldn't come see me, which wasn't true. She just didn't want to come see me because she didn't like the things that I would say to her or about Nidja. She didn't want to hear it. So I was never mad at her. She just chose to tell people that I didn't want her around, which wasn't true. So I hadn't seen her for two weeks before she went missing. She called me on the seventh and said, Mommy, whatever you do, do not open the door for anybody and to lay low. So right there. I was like, D, what's going on? And she hung up. I called her phone right back. It just went straight to voicemail. And I kept calling it and it kept doing the same thing. So I never got a hold of her again after that.

Connie tried to reach Kadeia multiple times after those calls on February seventh of 2018. When she still couldn't reach her the next day, she notified tribal police. Not long after, her family began circulating missing persons posters, offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Kadizha's whereabouts. Kadeja was kidnapped.

At.

Gunpoint in Covalo, California, and has not been seen or heard from since. Police were able to gather this account from two witnesses who claimed to be at the scene.

Two witnesses, they said the same thing. The one girl claimed that it was an accident.

Again, this is Kadeja's grandfather, Ronnie Hossler. According to his recollection, the witnesses said they were all at the house of a mutual friend of Kadeja and Nezhat. This is what he heard through the grapevine.

Kadeja was with him, two boys and a girl. They went in there. They wanted to party with these two guys there, but they said, We didn't want to party. They were getting ready to leave while Kadeja went into the bathroom. She wouldn't come out.

That's when the witness explained things escalated. Having lost his temper, Niji stormed back inside the house.

He described the pistol that this boy had. They stood on the porch and watched him beat her by the car and throw her in the back seat, and he took off.

When this story began to spread throughout the community, Niji was nowhere to be found. Did you.

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Kadeja Rose-Briton was last seen at a residence in Covalough, California, on Friday, February eighth, 2018, helping forced into a car at gunpoint by her ex-boyfriend, Niji Fallas. No one has seen or heard from Britain.

Since that night.

The witness testimonies were a huge break for investigators in identifying Niji Fallas as a person of interest. But it was information that would only get them so far because at the time, Niji was nowhere to be found. And more than that, these claims, they were a start, but could they really be substantiated? What would have triggered a violent outburst like this? Was it all part of a larger pattern?

My mom was killed through domestic violence. Kadisha knew about that, but I didn't really drill into her.

Again, this is Kadisha's mom, Connie.

I don't know. In this valley, it's like a lot, and we see a lot, but nobody ever gets away. I mean, I was part of domestic violence. I finally got away. So I took me and Kadeja and my son, and I moved to Lake County into a shelter, and we stayed there for a year just to get away from it because their father was coming into my house and fighting with me. So when Kadezia was in high school, she told us she didn't want to go to school and leave me because she was afraid what he would do. So that's when the tribe had a lady that helped us. And she's like, come on, we'll pack you up and move you. So they did. So I was fortunate. Not a lot of people get away. Not a lot of people stay away. And that's the sad part.

Domestic violence is somewhat of an epidemic in the Covalough area and on reservation land in general. In fact, according to a 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice, 83 % of American and Alaskan native women have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime. The person we talk to next is no stranger to navigating these complex issues.

Right. Yeah, no, I can share everything. I'm not prohibited from talking about any of it. I don't work for that agency anymore.

This is Trent James, a private investigator based out of Houston, and former deputy sheriff at the Mendicino County Sheriff's office. He was stationed in Covalo at the time of Kadez's disappearance. We asked him about his experience in Covalo.

So very small community, very, very rural. The valley itself is composed of various areas that are reservation land and some that are not. Basically, I like to relate it to the resident deputy position as being back in the 1800s, where it's one sheriff for an entire town. That's pretty much how it was. It's a gnarly place to work. It is. It's pretty hardcore. A lot of homicides, a lot of kidnapping, robberies. I've seen and dealt with pretty much everything you can imagine. And as a cop, especially in that capacity as a resident deputy, it's better to get to know people on a personal level. They learn that you're a human, they can trust you. And so Kadeja and her family just happened to be in that group of people that I got to know.

Trent James tells us that the violence that Kadeja experienced at the hands of Niji escalated in January of 2018 after he brutally assaulted her.

From what she said that she was trying to leave him, the relationship was toxic, which it was for sure. And she was trying to break up with him and he wasn't having it. So she left that night. She walked away from him. She went to one of his relatives' houses. And Niji found out she was over there. And he went over there, walked in the house, grabbed her by her hair, pulled her outside, and then started just beating the shit out of her, and forced her into his vehicle and drove away. And at some point, I think that she was able to get out of the car and ran away. And then she went to, I think, it was her step mom's house, and they called 911. And she was super beat up. I saw the photographs and she had a visible injury to her face. And according to her, he kicked her, punched her a bunch of times, hit her with a hammer at one point. And so she reported it and they looked for Niji that night, but he was nowhere to be found. So the deputies did a warrant for his arrest.

Tribal police took a report to. The next day when I was on duty, it was like, Okay, let's find this guy. I already knew who he was. I had a lot of interactions with that guy. He was a known meth dealer, always had guns, been to prison multiple times already at this point. And he was not pleasant to interact with by any means at all. And in that area, it's very challenging to find people on the reservation like that that do not want to be found. They have a lot of family members, a lot of friends, and it's very easy to go into hiding. A lot of people don't want to, quote unquote, snitch. He was one of those guys that did have a lot of resources in that regard. I think it was like a week had gone by at this point. We still hadn't found him.

Following her report of the January assault to law enforcement, a restraining order was issued against Nezhi. At the time, he was a convicted felon out on bail. This report led to an immediate warrant for his arrest. According to the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, women in abusive relationships are about 500 times more at risk when they decide to leave a relationship. So maybe that's why, a few days later, and unbeknownst to her family, Kadejas story changed.

Kadeja showed up to the tribal police station in Covalo with Niji's sister. Her name is Casey Fallas. And Kadeja told the tribal police, Hey, you know that night that I reported Niji beat me up, well, I lied. I made the whole thing up. It was actually his sister, Casey, that I got in a fight with. She's standing right here next to me, and I need to drop the charges against Niji. And Casey standing there, corroborated her statement and said, Yep, that's right, I beat her up. That was a very common thing, not just on the res, but in domestic violence situations in general, where the victim of a crime will come back and change their statement because they no longer wish to testify in this case, more than likely it was due to the fact that he threatened to kill her or more bodily harm. She was obviously afraid of him. And that's more than likely what made her want to go and try to drop the charges.

But Kadeja's request to drop the charges couldn't be fulfilled. She'd made the request to the tribal police department, and they didn't have the authority to do so. After Kadeja went missing, felony warrants were issued for Niji for a slew of charges, including burglary, possession of a firearm by a felon, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, and corporal injury to a spouse, cohabitant, or dating relationship, meaning Kadeja. The warrants were out, but Niji Follis was nowhere to be found still. Trent James remembers being more determined than ever to track him down.

This was like a month, a long fucking time since a warrant was originally issued. And it was some random ass house that none of us ever fucking expected ever in a million fucking years.

After asking around town, one of Trent's friends, a sergeant on the tribal police force, got a tip on where Niji was staying. So Trent and tribal police headed there and surrounded the home.

So you pull up to a reasonable distance and you get on your PA, on your patrol car and say, Hey, fuck face, get out of the house. We know you're in there. Come out with your hands up. If we see anything else in your hands, you're going to get shot, right? That's why I cuss so much too. These aren't the guys that you're in. You're going to be like, Sir, can you please put your hands behind your back? No. Fuck no. You will geteaten alive, eaten alive. Eating alive in two seconds. So yeah, you say get the fuck out of the house. He gave up immediately.

Six days after pointing a gun at Kadizia and forcing her into a car, Niji Fallas was arrested and booked in the Mendocino County Sheriff's office. I was there for his.

First interrogation with the detectives. They called me in because I had known him more than anybody. He got taken down to Ukiah. And I was sitting there with the lead investigator at the time. And Nichi, it was just us three in a room. And he just kept saying, I don't know. I don't know where she's at. Beats me. Yeah, you do. But he just kept saying, It's so fucking irritating. I still remember this shit. He's just like, Oh, it's not my business. It's not my business. I was like, Bro, you were fucking dating her for six months. She was at your house every fucking day. What the hell are you talking about? Plus, I know you're a controlling piece of shit and you beat your chick. So yeah, everything she does is your business. Don't give me that bullshit. No, it's not my business. Okay, what other friend could she be hanging out with then that we don't know about? That's not my business either. So it's just like that. And Niji is very familiar with the justice system, so it was completely fucking nowhere. We had nothing to hold over his head, and he knew it, right?

So he knows. He knew. He knew what he did was going to be sufficient and he wasn't going to get caught up for it.

Eventually, Niji went before a judge to face the charges. So we.

Went to court, say, four or five times. Every week we would go down there, and then they would postpone it. Then they would do this. They would do that. They read that statement on the stand. She explained everything that he had done to her. I knew then what was going to happen was that Kadeia wasn't there to witness, so they had to let him go. He was never charged with her kidnapping or her being missing, he would never charge.

Nearly all the charges against Niji Fallas were dismissed by the district attorney's office. And all that was a single charge of possession of a firearm by a felon. We're not entirely sure why. Niji served 15 months of a four year sentence before he was back in Mendesino County in February of 2020. Four months later, he was arrested again, this time for possession of drug paraphernalia and a stolen firearm. The violation led to a 27 month sentence, but he was released from federal prison in half that time. Since then, he's gone on to face multiple charges in state and federal court related to drugs and firearm possession. He has yet to be charged in connection with the abuse or disappearance of Kadezia. Currently, Niji Fallas resides somewhere in the local community. It's a fact that causes some Covalo residents like Kadezia's family to worry.

Do you see him out? I do see his family. And I go to the store the other day, and it's his sister. And it affected my son at that time. He's like, Man, Mom, I could just hurt her. I could just hit her. Let's just go. But it affects me every single day.

I don't go to no more events here in this valley. I stay away because I don't know what I'll do, how I'll respond if I run into him.

We tried to locate Niji, Follis, but were unable to do so. Ronnie continues to advocate for Kadezia. At a recent press conference, he expressed his frustration with the police and the lack of action against Niji.

That case was all dropped because he wasn't there to witness against him. Why? That's one of the biggest questions I have is why? Why is my granddaughter still missing?

This whole investigation comes back to the moment that Kadizha was forced into that car. What happened after they drove off? What is Niji not saying? And are there others that could come forward to provide the full story? According to Trent James, both witnesses who gave testimony of that day have unfortunately passed away. But one of them, on their deathbed, expanded on their original story. She claimed that when Kadeja and Niji got into that car, they weren't alone. In fact, she'd been their driver. And the way she says that the car ride unfolded is very concerning. Do you guys.

All believe what I'm telling you guys? We want to know why. Why is she still missing? Why this guy had to kill my granddaughter?

Next time, on The Vanishing Point. She said.

That Niji called her on her cell phone and he sounded upset. He was crying and he was like, I fucked up. I fucked up. I didn't mean to. And she's like, What the fuck are you talking about?

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Vanishing Point. This six-part series is released weekly, absolutely free. But if you want to binge the whole season right now, you can. Subscribe to Tenderfoot+ on Apple Podcasts or at tenderfootplus. Com. The Vanishing Point is a production of Tenderfoot TV, an association with Odyssey. I'm your host, Silesia Stanton. The show is written by Meredith Studman, Alex Vestpestad, and Jamie Albright, with additional writing assistance by me. Executive producers are Donald Albright and Payne-Lindsey. Lead producer is Jamie Albright, along with producer Meredith Studman. Editing by Alex Vestpestad with additional editing by Sidney Evans. Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan. Additional production by Laura Freiter and Ali Hossler. Research by Laura Freiter and Taylor Floyd. Artwork by Byron McCoy. Original music by Makeup at Vanity Set. Mix by Dayton Cole. Thank you to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, Beck Media and Marketing and the Nord Group. Special thanks to Gregor Borg, the KIDE 91.3 radio station in Hoopa, the Two Rivers Tribune, and all of the families and community members that spoke to us. For more podcasts like The Vanishing Point, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app or visit us at tenderfoot.

Tv. Thanks for listening.