BACKGROUND
Kit Mora was 17 when they went missing from Omak, Washington, USA.
They identified as non-binary and used they/them pronouns. They were also mixed, indigenous (related to the Penticton Indian Band) and latino (Mexican). They also identified as asexual and aromantic, but they’ve only came out to their close friends.
Kit had a rough start in life- they were born in a home with a documented history of alcoholism, drug abuse and domestic violence, and their dad was in and out of jail. After a brief time in a foster home, they were adopted by their paternal great-grandparents at the age of 4. By that time, Kit’s mother has been reported to CPS 39 times, with three documented cases of neglect- claims of physical abuse were proven to be inconclusive. Kit was said to be “nervous about anything that included physical touch” and didn’t like to talk about the vague memories of their earliest childhood. They’ve also developed PTSD due to the abuse they’ve suffered and the separation from their siblings.
Kit grew up and lived with their relatives in Yakima, and went to multiple schools in the East Valley area. Kit was a good student with good grades who liked school and would help others with their homework. They were quiet and dressed in an androgynous way, which has sadly made them a target of bullying. Before they went missing, they told their grandpa that they were going to be the assistant to the art teacher.
Their favorite music artists were Elvis, Queen, Nirvana and Nicki Minaj, and they also enjoyed some country songs. They’ve had a habit of randomly bursting out into song.
Loved ones said that Kit was a real artist- they loved to draw, especially horses, dragons and fantastical creatures.
Kit’s sister, Charlotte Groo, said that her sibling was “artistic, creative, optimistic and quiet“, but also that “(they) would say something when it needed to be said”.
Amythist McCarty and Kayla Shelton, Kit’s friends, fondly remember that they were their first friend due to their “sweetness”. When Kit moved to Omak, the friends stayed in contact through phone calls, which would sometimes last hours, and through text messages.
DISAPPEARANCE
While Kit was technically reported missing on the 15th of April, they haven’t been heard of since November of 2021- that’s when their social media went dark and they’ve stopped contacting anyone; Kit was also taken off the school roll due to not attending classes soon after, in January, after 33 days of unexcused absence.
At the time of the disappearance, Kit was living with their biological mother, Lorie Sue Nelson, and not with their adopted family. Charlotte believes that Kit’s mother had something to do with their disappearance- she had a history of drug abuse and criminal behavior, but claimed to be “reformed” at the time. Kit had a desire to reconnect with her, which is why they moved to her home in Omak, which borders the Colville Reservation. Kit was originally reported as a “runaway”- only after a year their disappearance was deemed a missing person’s case. There was no interest around the case, and seemingly no police working on it either.
Originally, Kit was only supposed to stay with their mother for a few weeks, but Lorie kept finding reasons for them to stay longer. Kit’s adopted family believes that it was convenient for Lorie to keep Kit, as they seemingly served as a free babysitter for Lorie’s four kids, all under the age of five. By the end of summer, Kit was enrolled in a local school, which they’ve enjoyed going to, seeing it as a break from the kids and their mother. There were also problems with Lorie seemingly losing acceptance over Kit’s gender identity- while it’s reported that she was accepting at first, she texted photos of Kit wearing long, flowery dresses with puffed sleeves and pigtails to Maliyah Nelson, Kit’s older half-sister, which she deem to “not be in character” for Kit. On social media, Kit wrote that “(Lorie) says she accepts me, that my ‘family’ here ‘accepts me,’ but her actions say otherwise”. Lorie’s seeming acceptance of Kit’s gender identity was one of the reasons why they even moved to Lorie’s house in the first place.
Kit kept communicating with others less and less due to being overwhelmed with taking care of their siblings. Their last contact with Amythist McCart was in November of 2021, where Kit reminisced about childhood.
In late November, Charlotte, Kit’s adopted sister, had a gut feeling that something happened to Kit- it’s been three weeks since they’ve responded to any messages from their friends- and called the police in Omak to give Kit a welfare check. The six-sentence report stated that the police checked on Kit, who came to the door and said that they were fine, but Charlotte has doubts if it really was Kit; There’s no info on how the police confirmed their identity, and Lorie had other daughters who could pose as Kit. Before that welfare check, police was in the apartment only five days before due to a call from a neighbor relating to a domestic dispute, and then police was back only a day after the welfare check to arrest Lorie’s boyfriend, who has allegedly struck her with a baby gate. Kit wasn’t mentioned in any of these reports.
On chrismas, the last new photo of Kit was shared online.
Between December 2021 and September 2022, CPS has recieved calls about Kit’s home being potentially unsafe, but it was really investigated months after Kit went missing. There were also preventative measures that were supposed to be taken before Kit was crossed out of the school roll, like meetings with parents or submitting a truancy petition, but that didn’t happen; The school district has refused to release their records as they are now 18 and they can’t do it without Kit’s permision.
In June of 2022, CPS once again came to Lorie’s house, to find her four young children in an upstairs bedroom with tangled hair, caked in dirt and sitting in soiled diapers. Their bodies were covered in bruises, burns and bite marks that appeared to be from “an adult human”. They were taken into custody and then to a hospital. Later on, however, they were given back to Lorie, despite the petition filed against Nelson by the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families said that “The family situation results in no adult in the home performing parenting duties and responsibilities that assure child’s safety”. The police report states that Lorie’s children appeared to have been “choked, bitten, burned, hit with belts and possibly sexually assaulted”- and yet, no charges against her were filed. The police was aware that Kit also live there, but they didn’t ask about their wherabouts.
When it seemed like the system has failed them, Amythist, Kit’s childhood friend, decided to investigate for herself- she drove to Omak with her grandmother and cousin to look for Kit in September of 2022. The party’s first stop was The Storehouse Merchantile- a thrift store that was owned by Kit’s mother, where they also worked in summer of 2021. What they’ve found instead was an abandoned building with its windows covered with sheets of paper. After asking around, it turned out that the store closed months ago.
The next stop was the Omak police station- Amythist asked the cops standing outside if they’ve heard anything about Kit, to which they responded that they’ll check. After about 15 minutes, police said that they’ve managed to contact Lorie Sue Nelson, who said that Kit’s been missing since April. Amythist was shocked- how could nobody know or care that Kit’s been missing for months? She has also learned that no missing person report was officially filed, because nobody has reported Kit’s disappearance.
In September of 2022, police decided to ask Lorie about Kit once again. She said that Kit has moved out in April of 2022 and that she hasn’t been in contact with them, thinking that they’ve moved back to Yakima. Kit’s family says that the story doesn’t add up, as they think that Kit was “kind, loving and extraordinarily anxious” and wouldn’t just leave without contacting anyone.
Two weeks after Amythist’s visit to Omak, Lorie and her children moved out. Lorie deleted all her social media and blocked Kit’s family members on messaging apps.
The police has no leads as to where could Kit be- a reddish stain from a matress left behind by Lorie was tested, but it ultimately wasn’t even blood. Cadaver dogs were dispached to a place where Kit’s body might’ve been buried, but it turned out empty. Amythist said that police told her that “Kit ran off with an online girlfriend” which she finds unlikely, due to Kit being aromantic and asexual.
CONCLUSION
It’s so awful that Kit seemed to be failed by every institution that was supposed to keep them safe. Neither CPS nor the schooling system did much when they’ve noticed that something was clearly not right. Kit was already vulnerable in so many ways- indigenous, having problems with a lot of their peers, queer, possibly mentaly ill (Amythist mentioned that she thought that Kit sounded “depressed” in their last messages and their family often mentions their struggles with anxiety)… And yet they’ve still slipped through the cracks. Though, frankly, maybe it’s not as suprising when you think about how many Indigenous people go missing or are murdered in the US, with women and queer people being especially vulnerable. Kit appears to be, sadly, another victim of the system that doesn’t put much effort and resources into cases of missing and murdered indigenous women, children and queer people. It does seem like Kit is deeply loved by their family and friends, so there was at least a little light in their life.
I don’t think that it would be suprising if I’ll say that I believe that Kit’s mother likely knows what happened to them. Given the absolute hellhole her apartment seemed to be, it wouldn’t suprise me if Kit’s life ended there. Lorie seems a bit too pragmatic to plan out killing Kit, as she’d lose a free babysitter- if she killed Kit, I feel like it would be something sudden, like maybe Kit mouthed off during an argument (their family said that Kit was quiet, but would speak up if they believed something was wrong), or did something that set Lorie off, leading to her hurting Kit and killing them on accident.
It also seems like Lorie’s boyfriend was physically abusive at least; There’s a chance that he was the one to hurt Kit. In such disfunctional households we often see a large rotation of people coming through, very often unsavory ones; So it’s possible that someone like that did something to Kit, though admittedly this is just my speculation due to knowing what often happens in houses of addicts who can’t/don’t want to get their life in order.
There’s also a chance that Kit did end up running away, but I don’t see why they wouldn’t contact their adopted family or friends. The family says that Kit wouldn’t run away due to being “too anxious”, so why wouldn’t they contact a family member to pick them up and just take them home to Yakima? I don’t believe that Kit was in a conflict with their family, and even if they were, they don’t strike me as people who would let their vulnerable child stay in such an awful situation out of stubbornness or pettiness. It’s possible that Kit ran away temporarily and planned to come back, but something happened to them, though I’m not sure about that- it’s possible, sure, but I think other theories are more likely.
It’s such a strange case, because we know so much about Kit’s background, but almost nothing about the actual circumstances of the disappearance; We don’t even know when they were last seen! I do think that something happened to Kit in November, when they’ve stopped responding to anyone on social media. Their truancy could also be a good clue, as I’m sure that their absences could be used to count when they were last seen alive for sure, as they were likely in school. The fact that Kit was reported missing months after they were last seen has certainly made looking for them much more difficult, and it’s unfortunate that it happened. The cynical part of me wonders if there really are no clues, or if the police are just not putting effort into the investigation.
There is a 10,000$ reward from Kit’s adoptive father for info that will lead to their safe return or the location of their body.
Kit Mora was 16 when they went missing, making them about 19 now. They were 5’2 (62 inch / 158 cm) and 140 – 150 pounds (64 – 68 kg). They are biracial (latino/native american), with brown hair and eyes. They have a small scar under their left eye and moles on their face. Kit is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. If you have any info about Kit’s werabouts, contact the Omak Police Department at 509-826-0383.
Source: Reddit