Jermain Charlo and Michael DeFrance have an argument at the home they share. Jermain tells police DeFrance held her down across the hood of a van, hit her four times in the face and head, threw her on the ground, and spat on her. When he is subsequently arrested and convicted for partner or family member abuse (PFMA), this is DeFrance's second domestic violence conviction. His first conviction is sealed and occurred prior to 2013. With each conviction, the consequences become harsher, and this time he is ordered to pay a fine, spend a day in jail, forfeit firearms for a year, and complete 40 hours of a domestic violence treatment program.

Dixon, MT

Jermain and DeFrance have an argument at Jermain's aunt's house. When the aunt intervenes, DeFrance grabs her, throws her to the ground, and lands on top of her. Though he is arrested, it is later unclear if he is ever charged or convicted in the matter.

Dixon, MT

Jermain calls the police to her home to report an argument between her and DeFrance. She claims DeFrance took her phone, dropped it in water, and broke it. An arrest can be made as a PFMA if police deem the offender has damaged someone's phone as they are trying to call for help. However, the responding officer regards this matter to be civil, not criminal.

Dixon, MT

Jermain begins a job as a tree planter with the SKHA Tribal Forest Services. She posts excitedly about her new job on Facebook.

Jermain posts about her relationship with DeFrance, calling it abusive, and shares he is pressuring her to be with him or she will lose her kids. She posts that when she refused a kiss from him, he put his hands on her, threw her up against a pull-up bar and choked her. She states that there were no marks on her neck, but she felt the burn from the incident all day.

Dixon, MT

Jermain posts about a threat that DeFrance made, saying he would find their kids a new mom.

Dixon, MT

On the way home from the concert, Jermain tells police that DeFrance pushed her out of his moving vehicle on Interstate 90. Jermain posts on Facebook asking friends to contact her dad or brother to pick her up from the police station. DeFrance is arrested and charged with PFMA second offense, however, this is actually his third offense (his first offense was sealed). This case is eventually dismissed for unknown reasons. After DeFrance's arrest, Jermain attempts to retrieve her kids from his parents, who initially refuse to release them to her.

Interstate 90 between Missoula and Bozeman, MT (Approx. Location)

Jermain tells police she let DeFrance stay with her, but when he got "handsy" she asked him to leave. He left but took their kids with him. Because they did not apparently have a custody plan in place, the police do nothing further.

Dixon, MT

Jermain and DeFrance appear in tribal court to determine a custody plan. DeFrance is given residential custody. Jermain is to have the kids Monday through Wednesday and every other weekend. She is also ordered to pay $800 per month in child support, an amount that by all accounts is much higher than would be reasonable, considering Jermain's income. Jermain has no legal representation present.

Flathead Reservation Tribal Court

A couple of weeks after Jermain and DeFrance appeared in court regarding the custody arrangement for their two sons, Jermain's aunt and her grandmother Vicki see bruises on Jermain's face and arms. She initially tells her ya-ya that she tripped while getting her kids out of the bathtub. Later, she tells her mom that DeFrance hit her and caused the bruises.

Dixon, MT

A friend of Jermain's receives a message from Jermain, who explains she is in the hospital following a suicide attempt. She tells the friend she had tried killing herself because her kids' dad "has been a problem and it has been hurting me."

Dixon, MT

Despite their ongoing custody issues, Jermain makes a post on Facebook congratulating DeFrance on his recent engagement to his girlfriend.

Jermain posts on Facebook that she started a new job as a bartender at Big River Cantina, a busy local bar in Dixon.

Dixon, MT

A week before she goes missing, Jermain changes her Facebook status to "In a relationship", but does not reveal with whom. In hindsight, it is believed to indicate her relationship with Jacob Love. This is Jermain's final post on Facebook before she vanished.

After the truck rally, Jermain asks DeFrance to drop her at the Orange Street Food Farm. She is seen by her boyfriend, Jacob Love, running down the alley toward Love's apartment. She explains to Love that DeFrance was yelling at her, asking if she had a boyfriend, and expressing he wanted to get back into a relationship with her. Jermain tells Love she is keeping her relationship with him a secret from DeFrance. This information helps form the foundation for a search warrant application filed on July 13, 2018, by the Missoula County Sheriff's Department.

Orange Street Food Farm

Jacob Love and Jermain's last communication occurs via text message on the night she disappears.

The Badlander Bar

Jermain and DeFrance are seen at The Dark Horse bar, where they enter at about 10:00 pm. They then go to the Golden Rose and The Badlander, two bars in the same building. Witnesses say Jermain was playing pool, dancing, and having fun. The bartender at the Badlander describes Jermain as being more interested in her phone, while DeFrance seemed more interested in talking to Jermain or being "chatty". The bartender says he didn't feel either Jermain or DeFrance were intoxicated. Jermain and DeFrance are seen on surveillance video talking with several groups of people in the alley behind the Badlander during the night. According to Lowell Hochhalter, the coordinator of the searches by The LifeGuard Group (a group that has conducted several searches for Jermain since her disappearance), Jermain is much more social on the video, going back and forth between groups of people talking with several folks, while DeFrance is less social, standing nearby, not talking much. Shortly after midnight, Jermain and DeFrance are seen walking down the alley. Jermain is not seen again.

The Badlander Bar

Jermain is later reported as having last been seen between midnight and 1:00 am on June 16 between Russell and Orange Street. There have been no sightings of her since, and her social media activity has gone silent. Police later consider whether she is a victim of human trafficking.

Orange Street Food Farm

In a search warrant application by the Missoula County Sheriff's Department dated June 27, 2018, Verizon Wireless records show Jermain's phone was located about 3.6 miles North/Northeast of the DeFrance family home between 2:00 am and 10:00 am on June 16, the hours immediately following her disappearance. Location records put DeFrance's phone nearby as well.

DeFrance family home

Jermain's family reports her missing to Tribal Police on June 17 and to Missoula Police on June 18. The family files a missing person report with the police on June 19, but the report is not actually filed until June 20. A detective in Missoula is assigned to her case on June 21, but because he was going on vacation, the case is reassigned to Detective Guy Baker on June 26. It is now 10 days after Jermain first went missing. In the meantime, Jermain's family reaches out to the LifeGuard Group, who begin searching the downtown Missoula area around the bars and the Orange Street Food Farm, where DeFrance told the family he dropped her after they left The Badlander. (Oddly, he had told the police he had dropped her off some 8 blocks away.) The LifeGuard Group specializes in human trafficking cases. Their first search for Jermain takes place on June 22, 2018.

Missoula County Sheriff's Department applies for a search warrant for the DeFrance home for personal property belonging to Jermain Charlo, including her cell phone. As a basis for this warrant, they cite Verizon Wireless records obtained on June 26, 2018, showing the location of Jermain's cell phone at or near the DeFrance residence in the early morning hours of June 16, 2018. In a return filed by the sheriff's office following the search, photos were taken of the property but no evidence was seized. Later, DeFrance told Missoula Police he had Jermain's phone after he dropped her off, but he destroyed it and disposed of it.

Missoula County Sheriff's Department applies for a search warrant for Jermain's EBT records in order to look at her financial activity. The department was told by Jacob Love that DeFrance did not know Jermain had a boyfriend and that she was staying at his apartment on the evening of June 15, 2018. Jermain's aunt informs the department that Jermain and DeFrance had a violent history as a couple. The warrant also states that DeFrance gave Jermain a ride to the Orange Street Food Farm after leaving the Badlander.

Missoula County Sheriff's Department applies for DeFrance's location information from Google. DeFrance allows the Missoula police to extract data from his phone, including his Gmail account. With that, Google turns over DeFrance's location history in response to the search warrant.

Missoula County Sheriff's Department applies for a search warrant after obtaining DeFrance's location information from Google, and state they have reason to believe that a crime of homicide has been committed. Up until that point, their search warrants had pinpointed "unlawful restraint" as the reason for the application. In the warrant, they ask for a 10-day surveillance of the DeFrance property, including infrared photography and drones. The department wants to capture evidence of hidden buildings, bunkers, storage areas, and other areas of concealment. They believe it is likely that DeFrance will move to a gravesite or stash location on his property or tamper with evidence related to the offense of deliberate homicide. No return was filed so it is unknown if the surveillance ever took place.

Missoula Police and FBI cadaver dogs search the DeFrance property. Several items with blood are found and turned over to the crime lab. The lab finds the blood to be inconclusive as to whether it belongs to Jermain.

DeFrance family home

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council vote unanimously to increase the reward money to $10,000 for any information that leads to solving Jermain's case. The request to the Tribal Council came from Jermain's aunt, Valenda Morigeau, and she is supported by Detective Guy Baker. Morigeau also requests financial support for the family to pay $2,600 to keep Jermain's missing person billboard up on Highway 93 near Missoula for an additional six months, to which they agree.

Flathead Reservation Tribal Court