In The NoCo

A Berthoud writer’s horror novel highlights the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women

By In The NoCo,

Published May 5, 2025 at 5:35 AM MDT

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Author Cassondra Windwalker, a woman with dark brown hair with faint blue or purple highlights is photographed outside with a blurry waterfall in the background. — "I hope readers come away with a sense of urgency and horror, and even disbelief that this is actually our reality in our society, the idea that Native women are ten times more likely to be murdered than non-Native women," says Cassondra Windwalker, author of the new novel Ghost Girls and Rabbits. "If you want to dismiss this as a Native problem, we can't do that — this is a society problem."

Writer Cassondra Windwalker’s new horror novel uses fiction to highlight a real-life crisis that often goes ignored.

Ghost Girls and Rabbits touches on the thousands of unsolved cases of Indigenous American and Alaska Native women who were missing or murdered. More than 4,000 cases fit that description, according to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The novel tells the story of two Indigenous American women: one who has lost her daughter, and the other who has herself been kidnapped. Windwalker is originally from Oklahoma, spent time in Alaska and now lives in Berthoud.

Ghost Girls and Rabbits comes out May 5, which is also a day of awareness to call attention to the issue. Windwalker spoke with Erin O'Toole about the horror writer who inspired her, and how she hopes the book raises awareness about an urgent problem.

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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