Anger over the handling of the death of Yellowstone spinoff actor Cole Brings Plenty bubbled over at his funeral Tuesday with one tribal speaker calling for ‘war’ against officials in Kansas.
Hundreds of mourners gathered Tuesday in Eagle Butte, South Dakota to bid their final farewells, two weeks after Cole’s untimely death in Lawrence, Kansas, at the age of 27. Police say there was no suspicion of foul play.
His uncle Moses Brings Plenty, 54, who stars as Mo in the Kevin Costner series told DailyMail.com: ‘He was already tried and prosecuted by the Lawrence police department.’
He said the sheer number of mourners was ‘an indication of the injustice of how the events took place with the allegations placed against him.
The young actor was found dead on April 5. He had been reported missing on March 31 after an allegation of domestic abuse.
Grieving friends, family, and members of his Cheyenne River Sioux tribe turned up at the Cheyenne Eagle Butte High School gymnasium for a third and final day on Tuesday to honor the actor in a celebration of life ceremony. He was to be laid to rest following the service.
‘Kansas we are coming for you,’ David Bearshied, a speaker described as Native American ambassador told the gathering.
Yellowstone star Moses Brings Plenty, 56, was seen arriving at Cheyenne Eagle Butte High School on Tuesday for his nephew Cole’s funeral service
Yellowstone actress Kelsey Absille, 32, who plays Monica Dutton on the show, was spotted supporting her co-star at the ceremony in Eagle Butte
Absille was snapped arriving at the high school before heading inside, where she sat alongside Moses and his family
Cole’s uncle is Yellowstone star Moses Brings Plenty, 54 (right). It was his uncle who introduced Cole to acting
Hundreds of mourners packed the school gymnasium again for a celebration of life ceremony dedicated to the actor who was found dead on April 5
‘Today we honor this family and we lift them up because they’re going to be at the forefront to a battle that’s going to be very miraculous.
‘It always takes the Lakota people to come and to engage war and for everyone to stand behind them,’ added Bearshied
Mourners then joined him in singing the American Indian Movement song, which became the anthem of the ‘Independent Oglala Nation’ during the takeover of Wounded Knee.
Cole’s father Joseph Brings Plenty gave a rousing tribute to his son Cole, standing before mourners as he declared, ‘This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.’
‘I was hoping it was a hateful, ugly April Fool’s joke, but it wasn’t,’ he said of early reports that his son was missing, and that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
‘My son was gone, he was missing,’ he said, his voice quivering as he fought back tears.
‘I miss my son,’ he said.
‘We were hoping we would find Coco,’ he said, using his son’s nickname and describing the search that ended with the discovery of Cole’s body.
‘I wanted to tell that detective – are you going to help me bury my son because you’re refusing to help me even with a phone ping.’
He said his first obligation was to take care of his son and prepare for the funeral, even as he raged at what transpired.
‘I fought with that all these past days,’ he said.
Cops would quickly rule out foul play.
‘They were malicious with their intents,’ he said of police in Lawrence. ‘They painted a big target on my son. But what did they ever do to him?’
‘I have to let him go because I have to fight, I have to fight for him and his name,’ he said to thunderous approval.
‘He was a good boy. Not a boy because he was a man. But to me he’ll always be my little boy.’
Moses Brings Plenty, was seen arriving at 9:30am local time in a black sports jacket, cowboy hat, blue jeans, and boots, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show.
He embraced mourners as they arrived outside the school before heading in for the ceremony.
Inside, co-star Kelsey Asbille, who plays Monica Dutton on the hit show, sat with Moses and his family. Cole’s co-star on the spinoff 1923, Aminah Nieves, was also in attendance to pay her respects.
Costner, Yellowstone producer Tyler Sheridan and other stars from Yellowstone and its spinoff, 1923, did not attend the ceremony.
Inside, mourners packed the bleachers and gym floor, which was lined with flowers and traditional tribal quilts.
Cole’s casket, which had been open for the two days of wake was closed for the funeral. It was displayed up front and draped in a Lakota star quilt alongside three tribal tipis and poignant photographs of the actor.
As the celebration of life began, all mourners in the gym, filling the floor and bleachers, rose to sing a traditional honor song, chanting over the slow beat of drums.
Cheyenne River Sioux tribe Chairman Ryman LeBeau and Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star then joined Cole’s family up front.
Inside, Cole’s now closed casket was displayed up front and draped in a traditional Lakota star quilt, alongside three tribal tipis and poignant photographs of the actor
Moses was seen greeting and embracing mourners as they arrived Tuesday morning to pay their final respects
Absille was one of the few Yellowstone stars to attend the funeral service
Family and friends arrived at actor Cole Thomas Brings Plenty’s funeral at the Cheyenne High School in Eagle Butte Tuesday morning
Chairman LeBeau, stepping up to podium, addressed the crowd saying: ‘We want to thank the family for sharing Cole with us. He’s everything we want our children to become.
‘We stand with you in this difficult time and we stand with you in finding out what happened. We all demand justice for Cole.’
Cole, who was also affectionately known as Coco, appeared in the Yellowstone spinoff prequel 1923 as shepherd Pete Plenty Clouds. He was found dead in a wooded area in Kansas days after he was reported missing.
Earlier, Kellen Claymore, a Sioux tribe member, performed the Rolling Stones‘ Wild Horses and Fleetwood Mac‘s Landslide on his acoustic guitar.
Claymore, who lost two of his own siblings, one to suicide, stood beside Cole’s casket and sang: ‘Oh, mirror in the sky. What is love? Can the child within my heart rise above?’
About 50 students from Cole’s alma mater, Haskell University in Kansas, attended the service and were called up front to show their support, bowing their heads as a young man played the flute.
In a traditional ceremony ritual, pallbearers lifted Cole’s casket into one of the tipis.
On the eve of the funeral on Monday Moses returned to South Dakota for the second night of his nephew’s wake, embracing Cole’s father Joseph as they bowed their heads over the casket.
They stood with arms around each other, as hundreds of mourners packed into the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School gymnasium in South Dakota.
Everyone then joined together in singing a spirited Lakota memorial song during a ceremony that began in the evening and continued through the morning.
Cole, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, graduated from the school in 2005. His uncle was the one who introduced him to acting.
He became a role model in this Native American community where he grew up, celebrated for the way he respected his roots even while achieving success as an actor.
And when tragedy struck with the discovery of his body in the woods of Kansas on April 5, many were skeptical when police quickly ruled out any foul play. Many also expressed outrage that, days earlier, police announced that they’d issued a warrant for Cole’s arrest for a domestic violence incident.
Moses’s Yellowstone co-star, Cole Hauser, who portrays Rip Wheeler on the series, had shared a missing persons poster on Instagram urging followers to provide any information if they had seen Cole since Easter evening in Kansas City
Cole Brings Plenty starred on two episodes of the Yellowstone spinoff 1923 as Pete Plenty Clouds. Leaders from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe have since demanded a full investigation into his death
Kevin Costner as John Dutton and Kelsey Asbille as Monica Long-Dutton star in the hit Paramount hit show Yellowstone
Officers received reports of a ‘female screaming for help’ at an apartment in Lawrence, local media reported. Cole was seen leaving Lawrence in his car, which was later spotted near where his body was found.
During Monday’s wake, mourners cheered loudly, letting out ear-splitting leles and war whoops when the tribal president, Frank Star Comes Out, announced a proclamation calling on the federal government to investigate.
‘I stand in unity with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and demand the United States Justice Department, Civil Rights Division (criminal section), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Department of Office of Justice Services to conduct a thorough, joint federal investigation of the causes of death of Cole Brings Plenty to ensure that there was no foul play involved in his death, given the circumstances surrounding his death,’ the proclamation reads.
Cole had his tragic homecoming on Sunday when the entire community welcomed him back to Eagle Butte.
His casket, draped in a traditional Lakota star quilt, arrived at the school on a horse-drawn carriage, accompanied by a caravan that included family and friends, and a string of horses. The gym was decked out with tipis and drum circles.
Arriving Monday, Moses, wearing a black cowboy hat, leather vest and boots, stopped to shake hands and exchange hugs as he made his way to the front of the gym where he joined relatives.
As drums pounded inside, a thunderstorm rolled through the region. Some mourners saw it as a divine occurrence, knowing that Cole’s Lakota name was Wakiyan, meaning thunder.
Monday’s ceremony at Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School began in the late afternoon when a horse-drawn carriage arrived with Cole’s casket, which was draped in a traditional Lakota star quilt. Cole, who was a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, was described as a ‘great hope’ to the community
The procession consisted of a caravan of horses ridden by friends and family. They pulled up to the entrance as drums pounded, and incense filled the air
Hundreds of mourners packed a school gymnasium in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, filing past his open casket during a traditional ceremony on Sunday
Afterward, a caravan was due to accompany Cole’s body to the Brings Plenty family cemetery about an hour away in Red Scaffold, South Dakota, where he will be laid to rest.
As the tight-knit community mourned a young man they’d described as their ‘great hope,’ many expressed anger over the tragic circumstances surrounding his death, and the official version of events.
‘There’s a lot of hate in our hearts right now,’ Caitlyn Little Eagle, 34, one of Cole’s uncles told DailyMail.com outside the wake. ‘A lot of us are angry and want to retaliate in some way.’
Austin Sanchez, 34, who like Little Eagle lived with Cole after Cole’s father became their legal guardian, said he was shocked when police issued a press release announcing the warrant when Cole went missing.
‘Whatever the case may be down there in Lawrence, Kansas, they underestimated how much support Cole really has and who his family is and where we come from,’ Sanchez told DailyMail.com.
‘Because I don’t want them to think that this was just another dead Indian.’
Cole’s father was the former Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe police chief and Cole’s brother Joe is active law enforcement, he noted.
Cole also has an entire community of family and friends who will ensure that Cole’s death is fully investigated, he added.
Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Luke Grimes, Kevin Costner, Taylor Sheridan, Kelsey Asbille and Dave Annable attend Yellowstone premiere at Paramount Pictures on June 11, 2018 in Los Angeles
‘What police are describing to us is not the Cole that we grew up with,’ Sanchez said. ‘For them to sit there and issue those press statements, it just breaks our heart.’
Sanchez shared some of his most recent memories of Cole, including a two-day, 180-mile Wounded Knee Survivors Run they ran together last December.
‘A week before his passing, me and Joe (the dad) were just talking about Cole, about how proud we were of him,’ Sanchez told DailyMail.com.
‘He was living the college life, was acting, going out on all these modeling gigs. He’s a traditional, full blood Lakota, raised by all of us, out there representing that and doing good, prospering. ‘
‘This is a loss that we can never come back from,’ he said. ‘I hope we become strong enough, but nothing’s going to be the same again for any of us. The community is coming together for this, but us as brothers, as uncles to this guy, to Cole and his family, it’s just devastating.’
‘A lot of us didn’t have opportunities like him and kind of wanted to live vicariously through him,’ Little Eagle told DailyMail.com.
‘He had such a bright future. To see him off doing good like that made you feel good. And he didn’t even make it to 30. It hurts. It’s hard to be here.’
