Wooley said via email that BPD has a practice of not identifying survivors of violent crime, but “the case involving Silver Little Eagle has become very public and acknowledged by the victim’s family and the County Attorney’s Office.”

Little Eagle’s father, Goldstein Little Eagle, told The Gazette she spent a day in the hospital, and is currently recovering with the assistance of friends and family. A GoFundMe page launched to cover the costs of her recovery has generated more than $25,000 in the past three days.

In a statement published on social media, her family said they were grateful that Little Eagle did not become another statistic contributing to the state and nationwide crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Four out of five American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence, according to data from the National Institute of Justice. Those same women are 1.5 times as likely as non-Hispanic white women to be physically injured.

Little Eagle and her family said that among these statistics are real women, “sisters, daughters, mothers and tribal leaders.”

“Had Councilwoman Little Eagle not been found by a family member, it is very likely she would have died from this violent attack. That speaks to the severity of her injuries. We are calling for justice that the perpetrators are prosecuted for this crime,” the statement read.

Billings police also recovered Little Eagle's vehicle that was reported to have been stolen at the time of the assault. Officers found the vehicle on the 1700 block of Montana Avenue, according to Tuesday’s press release from BPD.

The investigation is still ongoing, and BPD will not provide any information on the severity of Little Eagle’s injuries. There is no indication that the assault was racially motivated, or connected to human trafficking, according to the statement from BPD.