Native American group puts focus on Claudia Benn, the victim, amid tumult of Honie execution

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SANDY — Amid the tumult of the execution early Thursday of Taberon Honie for the brutal 1998 murder of Claudia Benn, Yolanda Francisco has a message.

"We want this to stop. Homicide, murder of Native American people needs to end, and Utah needs to do something about it," said Francisco, executive director of Restoring Ancestral Winds, a nonprofit, Sandy-based group focused on countering the high rate of violence faced by those in Native American communities.

Significantly, while Honie has been the focus of extensive media attention in recent days as his execution has loomed, Francisco also thinks Benn — 49 when Honie broke into her Cedar City home and killed her in front of her three granddaughters — merits recognition. Benn was the mother of Honie's ex-girlfriend and the man cut her throat, beat her and sexually assaulted her with the butcher knife the woman had used to try to protect herself in the July 9, 1998, incident.

"You have the effect of intergenerational trauma that has affected Native people for decades. It's time that we, I believe, lift up and remember those who are victims of violence ... among our Native American population," Francisco told KSL.com, alluding to the disproportionate number of murdered and missing person cases impacting Native Americans nationwide. Benn belonged to the Paiute tribe while Honie, Francisco said, was a member of the Hopi tribe.

Benn, Francisco went on, was a matriarchal figure in her family and highly respected in the Paiute community. She also noted Benn's efforts, ultimately unsuccessful, to fend off Honie when he attacked her. "She is one of many, many Native American family members, Paiute families, who hold their family in high esteem. And she, unfortunately ... is one of many Native American women who have been perpetrated upon by awful, awful people," Francisco said.

Remember (Claudia Benn), and remember all the Native American women who have died in the state of Utah, who have died in the country at the hands of a perpetrator.

–Yolanda Francisco, Restoring Ancestral Winds

The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs says Native American and Alaskan Native communities face high rates of assault, abduction and murder, far exceeding national averages, and dubs the situation the "missing and murdered Indigenous people crisis." The phenomenon has been the focus of federal and state scrutiny, and it's a central concern of Restoring Ancestral Winds and many other Native American advocacy groups.

"Remember (Benn), and remember all the Native American women who have died in the state of Utah, who have died in the country at the hands of a perpetrator," Francisco said. Her aim is to raise awareness about Benn in light of the violent end she faced "and to remember the life and contribution she gave to our society and her tribe."

Though Honie's killing of Benn was an intraracial incident — both were Native Americans — most violence American Indians and Alaska Natives face from outside their race, according to National Institute of Justice stats Francisco provided.

Either way, though Honie was executed, the impact of what he did will reverberate among friends and family of Benn long after his death, Restoring Ancestral Winds said in a statement. Honie was executed via lethal injection shortly after midnight on Thursday at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City.

"The emotional and psychological scars borne by her grandchildren are a painful reminder of the ongoing consequences of this tragic event. We call attention to the high rates of violence against Native American women, which have a profound impact on future generations within Native American families and communities," Restoring Ancestral Winds said.

According to Restoring Ancestral Winds, though Native Americans account for just 2% of the U.S. population, children in the group face a disproportionate rate of victimization in the form of sexual abuse, neglect or physical abuse. According to the U.S. Departments of Justice and Interior, the age-adjusted homicide rate for female American Indians and Alaska Natives was 5.7 per 100,000 from 2018 to 2021 — more than double the national average.

To counter domestic violence and sexual assault in the Native American community, Restoring Ancestral Winds created a helpline geared specifically to Native Americans, though it's open to anybody. The number is 833-NTV-HEAL or 833-688-4325. To address higher rates of violence in the Native American community, Francisco thinks improved cooperation between tribal, city, county, state and federal law enforcement authorities is needed.