Indigenous Mom Whose Daughter Was Murdered Granted Custody of 4-Year-Old Granddaughter for Second Time

Despite being granted custody again, Arlene Ballot was ordered to wait until July 31 to begin a three-week transition of custody

As Arlene Ballot prepares to finally pick up her murdered daughter’s child from the couple who have had her for most of her 4 years of life, she can be forgiven for being cautiously optimistic about actually bringing Chanel home.

The July 17 decision to award Ballot custody is the second time the Selawik Tribal Court in Alaska has ordered Chanel, an indigenous child, to be returned to her grandmother. Nikki Richman, who is not related to Chanel, gained temporary custody through the child’s father, Eric Rustad, who murdered Chanel’s mother Kristen Huntington in January 2020.

"This is three years too long. They shouldn't be allowed to keep dragging it on, abusing the court system to keep this child from her grandmother," Antonia Commack, Huntington’s friend since childhood who is also involved in the legal battle, tells PEOPLE. "I knew in my heart that being quiet was wrong and it was time to speak up."

And a recent Supreme Court decision might add some extra weight going forward.

The week before the latest Selawik Tribal Court ruling, The Supreme Court upheld the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which says the first priority is to put the child in the care of a member of their extended family. If that is not possible, the child should be placed with a member of their tribe. The third option is to look for "other Indian families." Only after those three options have been exhausted will they be eligible to be placed with a non-Native family. 

In their December ruling, the Selawik Tribal Court found tribal elder Ballot able to meet the child’s needs and, in addition, "can better connect her to her Native culture."

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At one point during the custody battle, Commack shared alleged screenshots of social media posts from Richman and partner Joseph Jurco, who are White, which appear to show a lack of sensitivity to race and indigenous peoples' culture. In turn, Richman’s statements in court documents show her concern about taking the child out of the only home she has known since she was just 9 months old, and questions the ability of Ballot to properly provide for Chanel.

Instead of accepting the December 2022 verdict, Richman sought to overturn the decision and keep Chanel with her and Jurco. She filed a lawsuit against Ballot and the Tribal Court and sought the order to be overturned by the Alaska state court and the Supreme Court.

Richman then claimed in a motion filed in Alaska state court that she was not given an opportunity to be heard and that the Selawik Court was not impartial. The claim was upheld, allowing Richman to maintain custody until the Selawik Tribal Court addressed the issues.

Related: UC Berkeley Is Returning Thousands of Ancestral Remains to Indigenous People: 'Restorative Justice'

Commack joined the battle for Chanel after learning that Richman was contesting the first tribal court order granting Ballot custody of her granddaughter. She decided enough was enough and took the fight to social media.

Commack says Ballot tried going through all the right channels at the beginning, quietly trying to work it out.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Commack says. “She went to conferences and spoke at [Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women] conferences about her daughter and her own situation. And at one of those conferences is where she finally found her lawyer.”

Rustad, who was sentenced in February 2023 to 50 years in jail, bludgeoned Chanel's mother her to death and left her body in an empty apartment across the hall, according to police reports.

Before he was arrested, he signed over his daughter to Richman.  Since then, Chanel has been living with Richman and Junco.

While Richman’s attorney Michael Walleri did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment, he told The Messenger, "There’s an order to all parties to not talk about the case. This is a confidential matter under both tribal and state law."

Related: The University of Oregon Will Cover Tuition and Fees for Indigenous Students Living in State

Commack understood that Kristen’s mother didn’t want to take any chances of losing ground in her slow-moving battle. So Commack decided to be her voice.

"[In] our culture, we’re very quiet, kind, humble people, and we try to avoid confrontation, and her being an elder, she’s like that," Commack says. "But I’m a younger generation, and I don’t mind confrontation."

Commack enlisted the help of COMMUNITYx, a mission-driven social media company, to get out the story of Ballot’s efforts to get custody of Chanel. A campaign to bring Chanel home was launched, with nearly 70,000 signatures on a petition in support of Chanel and Ballot.

"Antonia’s the one who reached out to us and asked for help to spread awareness," COMMUNITYx founder Chloё Cheyenne tells PEOPLE. "She's really taken charge to make sure that Chanel can actually go home this time."

When the tribal court granted Ballot custody again last week, her victory has been delayed because she was ordered to wait until July 31 to begin a three-week transition of custody. 

Commack says they were initially happy with the court ruling. But she then began to fear the long wait period might give Richman a chance to once again upend the custody transfer.

"Even though the tribal council gave Arlene custody back in December, Nikki still found a way to go to the state court to get around the order,’’ Commack says. "So everyone at this point is really just waiting to see if she will further kick this can down the road.”

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