INDEPTH: ANNA MAE PICTOU-AQUASH
Timeline
CBC News Online | February 9, 2004
March 27, 1945
Anna Mae Pictou born to Mary Ellen Pictou and Francis Thomas Levi at Indian Brook, near Shubenacadie, N.S.
1962
Anna Mae Pictou moves to Boston with Jake Maloney. She gives birth to daughters Denise (1964) and Deborah (1965). Pictou and Maloney spend the next few years moving back and forth between Boston, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
1972
Pictou, who is no longer with Maloney, meets Ontario Chippewa artist Nogeeshik Aquash. The couple become increasingly involved in the Indian rights movement.
Feb. 27 - May 8, 1973
Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash and her new husband, Nogeeshik Aquash, take part in the American Indian Movement's (AIM) occupation of the village of Wounded Knee, S.D., to protest the tribal leadership of the nearby Pine Ridge reservation. She helps sneak food and supplies to protesters.
Summer 1975
Pictou-Aquash and AIM security chief Leonard Peltier attend an AIM conference in Farmington, N.M.
June 26, 1975
FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams shot from a distance, wounded and then executed at close range at Pine Ridge. Leonard Peltier later convicted and sentenced to two life sentences at Leavenworth, Kan.
Sept. 5, 1975
Anna Mae is arrested for possession of explosives found by FBI agents in her tent on the Rosebud reservation, near Oglala, S.D. She's questioned about the deaths of the two FBI agents. Rumours circulate that she co-operated with the government and is an FBI informant.
November 1975
Pictou-Aquash goes to Denver to stay with friend Troy Lynn Yellow Wood.
Dec. 12, 1975
Pictou-Aquash taken to the offices of the Wounded Knee Legal Defense Committee in Rapid City and questioned by AIM members.
Dec. 13, 1975
Aquash reportedly taken from Rapid City to the Rosebud reservation area.
Feb. 24, 1976
Woman's body found north of Wanblee, S.D., at the edge of the Pine Ridge reservation. FBI pathologist concludes she died of exposure, with no signs of violence.
March 2, 1976
Body buried as Jane Doe.
March 3, 1976
FBI in Washington uses severed hands from body to identify Pictou-Aquash. The hands had been cut off by local officials.
March 11, 1976
A second autopsy, demanded by Pictou-Aquash's family and performed by an independent pathologist, finds a .32-calibre bullet in the skull, suggesting an execution-style killing. Pictou-Aquash is reburied in a traditional Mi'kmaq ceremony, and a murder investigation begins.
1992
Robert Ecoffey, named acting superintendent of the Pine Ridge Bureau of Indian Affairs, leads an effort to resurrect an active investigation into the case.
1999
AIM activists Russell Means and Ward Churchill allege that AIM leaders Vernon and Clyde Bellecourt – acting as FBI operatives – ordered Anna Mae's execution.
March 2003
Former AIM security guard Arlo Looking Cloud and AIM member John Boy Graham are indicted on charges of first-degree murder in the death of Pictou-Aquash. Looking Cloud is charged with first-degree murder. Graham is not found.
March 31, 2003
Arlo Looking Cloud of Denver pleads innocent to first-degree murder for Pictou-Aquash death.
April 2003
U.S. federal grand jury hears evidence.
Dec. 2003
John Graham arrested in Vancouver on charges of first-degree murder in the death of Pictou-Aquash. He's released on bail six weeks later, intent on fighting extradition to the U.S.
Feb. 7, 2004
U.S. federal jury convicts Arlo Looking Cloud of first-degree murder.
Apr. 23, 2004
Looking Cloud is sentenced to life in prison.
Feb. 21, 2005
A B.C. Supreme Court judge recommends John Graham be extradited to the U.S. to face charges in the death of Pictou-Aquash.
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