Community saddened and hurt

Grand Forks Herald

The investigation into the death of two young brothers from Red Lake is ongoing as the community begins to mourn, according to tribal officials.

"There have been no conclusions made by authorities other than that the bodies discovered are in fact of the two missing boys," Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. said in a statement released today.

The boys, brothers Tristan White, 4, and Avery Stately, 2, went missing Nov. 22 and had been the subject of extensive searches by several local, state and federal agencies and hundreds of volunteers. On Sunday, a search dog led St. Louis County Sheriff's office volunteers to a lake about half a mile from the boys' home on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, where the bodies were found encased in ice.

The community is "deeply saddened and hurt" by the discovery, according to the statement from Jourdain.

"So many people were hoping for the safe return of these boys back home," he wrote. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family in the wake of this disappointing news, and their heartbreaking loss."