Tracker Dakota Black On The Hunt
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What sparked Detective Dakota Black’s personal involvement in Michaela Miyave’s missing‑person case?
At first glance, when you come to this area in Oklahoma, it is very beautiful, it's serene, but we have missing people that are never found. There are homicides that are never solved. There's lots of dark secrets that live here. My name is Dakota Black. I'm a tracker and detective with the Potawatomi County Sheriff's Office. And I was brought into the missing persons case for Michaela Miyave. And as soon as we arrived on scene, we started tracking the area and trying to locate her. We had multiple deputies and detectives in the woods looking for her. We were searching every place that we could potentially think of to try to locate Michaela.
There's something strange. She might be in there. She might be. She may not be alive.
I was not looking. For an individual that was breathing. I was looking for my daughter's body, and I don't know why.
Sometimes it's hard to not take cases personal. They took at your heartstrings and this one was one of those.
What was it about this woman that fueled you this way?
Just who she was.
My sister Michaela is the strongest person I know. Has the biggest heart, is the most caring, wants to take care of everyone and put everyone before herself.
I love you.
I love you
most. I love you more.
Her main goal in life was to be around children to help children, especially ones in need.
Everybody that knew Michaela had nothing but love for her. We had a huge response from our community. Everybody really wanted her family.
We just went out there looking for her, didn't sleep for days, didn't eat for days. It was raining, cold. We were just out there for days.
Was there a part of you that say you know there's a chance we may not find her?
Yes. It seemed day after day the chances were getting more slim of finding her alive.
Yeah.
I just knew that she was gone.
I can't imagine how scared she was. It's just sad. Sad that it ended the way it did. It didn't have to end this way. I was driven and I was not gonna go home. I was not gonna stop until this case was solved.
The guys at the sheriff's office call her a cool dude with long hair because they say she's meaner than any of them. in the gun range and in the field.
That fence that's hanging, I had to go underneath that into the water.
Her name is Lieutenant Dakota Black. She's a trained tracker and detective with the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
I go out to scenes when there's manhunts or trying to locate individuals.
Her specialty is finding the missing, whether alive or dead.
I have found them underneath piles of leaves and trees and abandoned homes, sheds. I've found them pretty much in any area you can think of.
Often by her side, her partner, Deputy Haven, a trained therapy dog. For kids and other family members caught in the crossfire of tragedy, Haven provides comfort and consolation, a consoling presence she herself would rely on in the coming months, as she embarked on one of the most heart-wrenching cases of her career.
This case will stay with me forever, and it will be one that I always remember through my whole life because of how cruel it was.
The last thing we said to each other. Was I love you.
Friday, september fifteenth, twenty twenty three, began like most days for Andrea Mayavi. With a seven am phone call from her best friend and younger sister Миkayла.
I wish I would have known I would have said so much more. I'm grateful for that. At least I said I love you.
The next morning, Saturday the 16th, the phone rang as usual around 7 a.m. Only this time it wasn't Michaela. It was Michaela's husband, Frank Byers.
He's hysterical, crying, screaming, can barely understand what he's saying, and he says Michaela didn't come home last night. He ended up telling me that Michaela went on a date. the Friday night before with a bald man in a white truck. They left and she never came home last night.
How did the early search efforts in the woods unfold and what challenges did the team face?
At the time, Michaela and Frank were headed for divorce, says Andrea. They were still living on the same ten acre property in Macomb, Oklahoma, but in separate homes. So at first, Andrea wasn't worried.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What sparked Detective Dakota Black’s personal involvement in Michaela Miyave’s missing‑person case?
0:11–5:27
2
How did the early search efforts in the woods unfold and what challenges did the team face?
5:27–10:25
3
Why did the investigation become personal for Black and how did family memories shape the case?
10:25–15:42
4
What key evidence linked Frank Byers to Michaela’s disappearance and possible murder?
15:42–20:28
5
How did the forensic analysis of the boot, shell casings, and blood confirm Frank’s guilt?
20:28–25:28
6
What was the timeline of Frank Byers’ arrest and the legal strategy that led to a life‑without‑parole sentence?
25:28–31:06
7
How did the community and Michaela’s family respond after the case was solved?
31:06–36:42
8
What lasting impact did the case have on Detective Black’s career and on domestic‑violence advocacy?
36:42–41:34