Highlights
- Austin missing since Feb 3rd, 2018 from Fort Hall, ID
- Justin Beasley indicted on second degree murder for stabbing Austin to death
- Alden Brewster assisted in the murder
- Blandon Coby hid and moved body
Press Release from The Tribe
”Since 2018, Pevo’s missing person’s case was investigated by Pocatello police, Fort Hall Police Department and the FBI. In September 2019, new information was provided to the Fort Hall Police and FBI special agents that led to a location on the Fort Hall Reservation where human remains were found,” the statement reads. “After further forensic investigation by the FBI, it was confirmed to be the remains of Austin Pevo. The family have been notified. No further information has been released to the Tribes on funeral arrangements.”
Source: Harris, Shelbie. “Three local men charged in connection to murder of a Fort Hall man missing since 2018” Idaho State Journal. Apr 21, 2020
Post from Idaho Cold Cases | Facebook
Excerpt from Patreon Private Blog | Austin Pevo
For this blog, I first want to talk about Unfound’s commitment to covering more minority group disappearances. This is something that Emily brought up to me a while ago and I thought it was a very good idea. As you know, my attitude has always been that we cover the cases as we come across them. So that means if we cover women for many weeks in a row—that’s what happens. Many men? Same thing. Whatever the demographic, I am ready to cover whoever we find.
But Emily thought we weren’t coming across enough minority group disappearances by simply “letting things happen”. So she has been out there trying to track down family members of missing Native Americans and African Americans, etc. And I am hoping you’ll be seeing our concentration on that in the upcoming weeks and months.
The question is, overall, in all media, do minorities get enough true crime attention? Probably not. I mean, if we’re going to break down the percentages for the US population, white people make up 62% according to the 2010 census. And I’m sure that number has gone down in the last 9 years. So, let’s say white non-Hispanic people make up 60%.
That means the rest are minorities.
So, do you think minorities get 40% of the true crime attention in podcasts and on tv? I think the answer is a distinct “No.”. My perception is minorities get FAR less attention than that. In fact, I’d say they get less than 20% of the overall coverage in true crime.
Why is that?
Let’s just get to the tough question: Is it racism? I don’t believe it is. It CERTAINLY isn’t the reason that we haven’t covered minorities more on Unfound. And I don’t believe in media in the US that there is a huge racial bias against minorities when they are the victims of murder and missing persons cases.
I’m not say there aren’t racist reporters out there. There are. However, I don’t believe there are enough to affect the coverage by several percentage points. Nope, I don’t believe it. However, I must admit I’ve never worked in a newsroom.
So, I can only speak about the issues we have had in trying to cover more minority cases. First and foremost, there just aren’t as many Facebook Pages and websites that are set up for missing minorities. What I’m saying is minorities make up 40% of the population, but Pages covering their disappearances are only probably 10% of all Facebook missing persons pages.
That surely affects how myself and Emily can find these families.
Why do they have fewer Pages? I don’t know. Of course Facebook is free. Setting up a page is free. Mostly everyone has a niPhone or Android phone they can use to set up an account if they don’t have a computer. And the Internet is free if people go to a library if cost for having the Internet is an issue.
So, I’m not sure what the answer is.
The other issue that Emily and I have encountered in talking to family members who are minorities, is they are much less willing to give out names of suspects and witness. Yes, they will talk about them in private during our initial conversations. But when I tell them that I would like those names mentioned during an interview, they say, “I can’t do that.” Off the top of my head I can think of 3 separate minority cases where we were very close to having a family member on the program, then for the person to back out because he/she chose to not name names.
Now, I am fairly forgiving in those circumstances in general. As you know, Unfound has done several interviews where names aren’t mentioned. However, in the cases I’m talking about here, the person didn’t want to name anyone—didn’t even want to use fake names. The person did not want to give hardly any indication as to who suspects could be.
Well, to be honest, that can make an interview difficult. I have to admit that behavior like that also gets me thinking, “Is what I’m being told the truth?”
Why does this happen in minority cases more than when we cover “white people” cases? I can only guess—and I’m not trying to be a white person trying to explain minority problems. But my perception is there is much more peer pressure in minority communities. I think they also worry more about backlash than white people do. In fact, in at least a couple of the minority cases that didn’t make it to air on Unfound, I truly believe these family members were worried about revenge if they mention any names publicly.
And as much I want people to name names, if they’re worrying about their personal safety, then I’m not going to give them a hard time. More often what I get—at least when I cover Caucasian disappearances, is people worrying about getting sued. Whereas, with minorities, they may be more concerned about some other kind of backlash.
This has been my personal experience. However, it very well could be that the next ten minority cases I cover, there are no fears at all. Either way, we’ll keep trying to find these groups to talk to because we believe these cases deserve more attention.
Now, Austin Pevo’s disappearance specifically . . .
Austin Pevo: Minority Report | Ep 145
Austin Forrest Pevo was a 23 year old from Fort Hall, ID. He was a firefighter and competitive Native American dancer. On the morning of February 3, 2018, his mother dropped Austin off at his job. However, he soon discovered work was canceled for that day. Austin then made a phone call and left. He was never seen again.
Charley Project: http://charleyproject.org/case/austin-forrest-pevo
NAMUS: https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/43326
Article: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/fort-hall-man-has-been-missing-since-february-his-family/article_98996b81-fbbd-5a54-80df-0c9fc74e9d62.html https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/police-local-man-missing-for-over-months/article_af528f31-c51a-5f9f-ae92-b21e3eeff967.html
If anyone has any information regarding the disappearance (now murder) of Austin Pevo, please contact the Fort Hall Police Department at 208-238-4000.
Edward Dentzel’s Private Blog | Austin Pevo In Memoriam | Excerpt
But Austin was stabbed to death. Stabbed. To death. Not shot. Stabbed, presumably multiple times. It takes a certain kind of person to knife someone to death. Shooting someone? You can do that from several feet away. But stabbing? You have to get up close and personal. And I think that last word is the key: personal.
So let’s talk about that. Do you feel that the death of Austin was personal? I do. Just like I felt the story about Clyde pulling a knife on Austin felt personal. Clyde did that for some reason that had nothing to do with money or possessions. It’s clear Clyde did that over some type of beef that Austin never did reveal.
The Unfound Podcast Channel 
Happy Sunday I feel so bad for his family. Sending my condolences and prayers. I also updated my blog post on Missing People and added Unfound’s new link. Maybe it will help for some new followers.
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