“This case has torn my family apart,” Nicole Wagner told “Dateline.” “Our family will never be the same again, ever.”
Her twin brother, Leo Wagner, has been missing for more than five years. The 26-year-old was last seen April 27, 2021, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in St. Mary, Montana.
“What I hope for, in the future or in the present, is that my brother’s remains can be found, so we can lay him to rest the proper way,” Nicole said.
Leo grew up in Browning, Montana, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. “He loved to play basketball. He loved to ride horses. He loved his family,” Nicole said. “He’s an outgoing person, happy and always smiling.”
Nicole says that as an adult, her brother faced unbearable tragedy when one of his children died. “It was kind of tough for him,” she said. “Our family would check on him and stuff, just to keep an eye on him.”
On April 14, 2021, Nicole visited Leo and noticed he didn’t seem like his normal self. “I could tell something was bothering him, and I kept asking him, but he wouldn’t tell me,” she said.
Nicole remembers Leo asked her to stay longer, but she said she had to leave. “I’ll always regret that for the rest of my life.”
Two weeks later, Leo disappeared.
According to Nicole, on April 27, their father stopped by their mother’s house in Browning, where Leo was staying, to drop off some shirts for him. A group of people were at the house with Leo when their father arrived.
Nicole told “Dateline” that Leo then put on a white tank top and one of the cowboy shirts their father had just brought. “Next thing you know, they leave, and that was the last time my dad seen Leo and my mom seen Leo,” she said.
When Leo hadn’t returned home by the next day, the family called Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services (BLES) to report him missing.
In the following days, the family was able to piece together some of what happened after Leo left the house after talking to members of the community. He apparently made a few stops at houses around town before driving to a gathering near Lower St. Mary Lake in St. Mary. The area is about 30 minutes from Browning.
Nicole says she, her brother Billy and other family members searched that area in early May and discovered a cabin in disarray. “We see all the blood in the window. We see all the blood on the cabin, and then my dad and Billy find the sock and a shoe he was wearing,” she recalled. Nicole told “Dateline” she isn’t sure what happened in that cabin but believes Leo may have met with foul play.
Shortly after that, Nicole went on Facebook to ask her community for help. “I called everybody out, and I lost my voice from yelling for Leo, and I couldn’t even talk,” she said. “And everybody was just coming out, flooding out there and everything, and I appreciated every single one of them.”
The search widened from there. Nicole remembers private and volunteer dive teams going to St. Mary Lake to search for Leo. Nothing of note was found during those searches.
On May 9, 2021, BLES told the public in a statement that it was scaling back search efforts for Leo the following day. “Blackfeet Fish & Wildlife will continue to search the area,” the statement read.
NBC affiliate KULR of Billings reported on a news conference BLES held June 1, 2021. It said, “BLES said they searched approximately 70 square miles and multiple agencies assisted them.” BLES also laid out its timeline of Leo’s disappearance. “They said they responded to a call of someone under the influence walking the shore line of St. Mary’s Lake and when they got there, they couldn’t find the man or the caller,” KULR said. “An hour later, they were told the man was walking along West Shore Road with an injured arm.” West Shore Road is one of the main roads near the area Leo was last seen.
During the same news conference, BLES officials revealed that on May 2, 2021, they responded to the cabin Nicole says her family found while searching for Leo. BLES said that the cabin looked burglarized, and as if someone had been injured there. KULR said BLES confirmed with family that clothing found at the scene belonged to Leo and then “a full scale search was issued.” Nothing further was found at that location.
In June 2021, the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office was brought in to assist with the search for Leo at the lake using its brand-new side-scan sonar. The sheriff’s office posted on Facebook that “although side scan sonar is never a guarantee, it significantly increases the odds of locating drowning victims.” The search did not locate Leo.
In early August 2021, NBC Montana reported that BLES announced that St. Mary Lake would be closed for nine days while it performed searches for Leo. Those searches also came up empty.
Nicole says that in the years following Leo’s disappearance, communication with law enforcement has been challenging. She says the family has yet to receive an official update from BLES. “We never hear nothing back when we report something,” she said. “Like, they don’t call us, they don’t text us or nothing.”
“Dateline” reached out to BLES to discuss the case and the family’s concerns but has not yet received a response. “Dateline” also has not heard back from the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Missing and Murdered Unit, which has the basic details of Leo’s case on its website.
Last week, the Montana Justice Department issued a news release about a new statewide public service announcement to raise awareness about missing Indigenous people in the state. The PSA video features Leo, James Douglas Limberhand, Shacaiah Blue Harding and Ashley Loring Heavy Runner.
“Behind every missing person is a family at home waiting for answers,” state Attorney General Austin Knudsen said in the release. “This tragedy has had a devastating impact on our tribal communities, and the Montana Department of Justice is committed to being part of the solution.”
Related: “Dateline” learned about Leo’s case while working on the episode “Secrets in Big Sky Country” for Season 5 of the “Dateline: Missing in America” podcast series. Ashley Loring Heavy Runner disappeared from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana, in June 2017.
Nicole says Leo’s face is still up on posters around Browning. “It’s sad that Leo’s kids look at those posters and, ‘Hi, Dad. I love you, Dad. Where you at, Dad?’” she said.
So far, no one has that answer. But Nicole will not stop searching for the twin who she says will always be in her heart. “I love my brother a lot, and I do miss him.”
Leo Wagner is 5-foot-7 with brown hair and eyes. At the time of his disappearance, he weighed 140 pounds. He was last seen wearing a blue-striped western shirt with a white tank top underneath, blue jeans and blue shoes. He has a tattoo of a “W” on his hand. He would be 31 years old today.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Leo Wagner, please contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Missing and Murdered Unit at 1-833-560-2065.
If you have a story to share with “Dateline,” please submit it here.
