In 2018, Rosenda Sophia Strong was a 31-year-old mother of four and a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Rosenda was known to be very outgoing and someone people recognized by her unique laugh.
Rosenda Strong (Yakima Herald)
Rosenda lived with her sister, Cissy Reyes. On October 2, 2018, Cissy lent Rosenda some money, and an acquaintance picked her up from their house. The two drove the short distance to Legends Casino in Toppenish, Washington, in an older model Nissan. Rosenda was wearing blue jeans and her sister’s pink Nike sweater.
Rosenda was last seen that night in the casino by her aunt, playing the slot machines. Rosenda hugged and greeted her aunt and seemed bubbly overall. At around midnight, she was last seen leaving the casino with a man, seemingly voluntarily. Rosenda was not seen or heard from again.
UPDATE - July 12, 2019
Almost nine months after her disappearance, on July 4, 2019, two homeless men found human remains in an unplugged freezer. The freezer was located in the 64000 block of U.S. Highway 97 on the Yakama Reservation, and dental records confirmed that the remains were those of Rosenda Strong.
The police are now actively investigating Rosenda’s disappearance as a homicide.
UPDATE - July 1, 2023
Federal prosecutors believe they know what happened to Rosenda Strong. Several men were arrested in connection with the murder of Rosenda Strong and the death of another woman, Jedidah Moreno, but new evidence suggests that Jedidah Moreno was the one who shot Rosenda Strong. Court documents show that both women were at a house together on Donald Wapato Road in Wapato on October 5, 2018. The two women then got into an argument, which resulted in Moreno fatally shooting Strong. Moreno then enlisted the help of men who were either at or near the house at the time of the shooting to help cover up the crime by placing Rosenda’s body in a freezer and then dumping it.
The following day, there was an altercation, and Moreno shot one of the men who had helped hide Rosenda’s body. After leaving the building, she was then brought back to the house by the same group of men. She was bound with duct tape and forced into the trunk of a car where several bullets were fired into the car, killing her. Her body was then transported to a remote area and dumped. The men are now awaiting trial.
The hardest part is knowing that my sister called all of them her friends.Cissy Strong Reyes, sister of Rosenda Strong
Source:
'She considered them her friends': 6 men charged in cover-up of Rosenda Strong's murder
