Kriti Mehrotra
After an 8-month pregnant Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind was killed for her unborn baby in 2017, her loved ones, her indigenous community, and the entire nation were left baffled to the core. That’s because, as explored in ABC’s/Hulu’s ‘Me, Hereafter: First She Stole My Baby,’ this Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe member was essentially given a forceful at-home C-section before being strangled. Thankfully though, her devoted parents never once stopped searching for her, only to uncover the heartbreaking truth and then gladly take in their surviving grandchild as their own.
Who Are Savanna Greywind’s Parents and Daughter?
It was reportedly back when Turtle Mountain Chippewa native Norberta was just a mere teen that she first came across Spirit Lake Sioux youngster Joe, only for them to soon fall head over heels. Thus, of course, they gradually decided to settle down and welcomed four beautiful children into this world — Joe Greywind Jr., Casey Greywind, Kayla Greywind, plus Savanna Marie Greyward. It turns out this family initially resided in Fargo, North Dakota, before relocating to the Spirit Lake Reservation near Devils Lake, that is, until they decided to return to the city again for good in 2016.
“[Savanna] loved the city life,” Norberta still vividly remembers. “But she also – – she was a country girl too. She loved riding horses, and so she was often back and forth [between the areas].” As for Joe, the fondest memories he has of his little girl primarily revolve around her big personality, her kindness, her loving care, as well as of her just leading “the way as a bigger sister.” “She had a positive attitude all the time,” this patriarch candidly conceded in the ‘Me, Hereafter’ episode. “She always wanted to work, have nice things, be a nice person. And she did all that.
It thus comes as no surprise that even though they had their fair share of natural differences over the years, Savanna gladly lived with her parents as she planned to welcome her first baby. The truth is she was actively earning well as a Certified Nursing Assistant at a nearby old-age home at the time, but she still preferred this arrangement since it allowed her to save for the future. After all, by the summer of 2017, this 22-year-old already had plans to not only resume school to evolve into a registered nurse but also move in with her boyfriend of seven years, Ashton Matheny.
Little did Savanna know everything would crumble apart on August 19 — that’s when her upstairs neighbors lured her into their apartment, just to slash open her belly, steal her baby, and kill her. According to her parents, they’d ordered pizza for lunch before Brooke Crews knocked on their front door at 1:15 pm to ask their daughter for some paid help in a sewing project, to which she agreed. She’d apparently promised to be back before 2:30 pm so as to take younger brother Casey to work, but she never returned — this was so uncharacteristic her parents dialed 911 within mere hours.
Norberta and Joe had actually made their way upstairs first, yet Brooke told them Savanna had left long ago — a vehement assertion the former didn’t believe for a second owing to a terrible gut feeling. In fact, she even told officials on the fateful day itself that to her, it seemed like their neighbor and her boyfriend had killed their daughter for her baby, only to be told not to jump to conclusions. Nobody expected her to be right since the mere thought of this act was so disturbingly heinous, but she was — a newborn girl was found in Brooke and William Hoehn’s flat on August 24, 2017.
Investigators obviously rushed this infant to the hospital considering the circumstances, and it was determined she was born 4-5 days prior in surprisingly perfect health at 4 pounds 13 ounces. However, she was subsequently placed under Cass County Social Services’ temporary protective custody, that is, until DNA tests confirmed she was Savanna and Ashton’s daughter 3 weeks later.
Where Are Savanna Greywind’s Parents and Daughter Now?
Although Haisley Jo was initially in the loving care of her father, with seemingly unrestricted access to her maternal grandparents, it appears as if the latter alone has full custody of her these days. The reason behind this change is unknown, yet we do know the 6-year-old is currently doing incredibly well despite the horrific circumstances of her birth and knows precisely who her mother was.
Coming to Norberta and Joe, they have since fought for the Savanna’s Act to be signed into law, especially as it pushes to raise awareness about the crisis of violence against Indigenous women. Moreover, and more importantly, it allows for transparency throughout the state, federal, as well as tribal jurisdictions to have a better understanding of how many individuals are impacted by this.
“There are so many missing and murdered Indigenous women out there that are not found,” Norberta said in the show. “Women have gone missing 10, 12 years. I could not imagine living every day, not knowing where your child is at.” She knows she’s fortunate in at least this sense, which is why she and Joe are now determined to make a change, all the while keeping Savanna alive in their heart.
As for their beautiful connection with Haisley, Joe admitted in the Hulu original that she is “the best thing in my life right now. She makes everything a lot better. She makes me feel young.” Norberta also said, “I knew when I seen Haisley right away that she was Savanna’s baby. Oh, she looked so much like Savanna. We had a ceremony, and they gave her an Indian name, which means ‘survivor.’ I tell her stories about her mom, tell her that mommy’s in heaven. She always looks up in the sky and asks which star is her mom, and I tell her the brightest one.” In other words, today, the Greywinds are doing their best with what they have.
Read More: Savanna Greywind’s Murder: Where Are Brooke Crews and William Hoehn Now?
