Man Faces Up to Five Years in 2021 Disappearance of Navajo Elder

The only person charged in the 2021 disappearance of Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in federal court. Under a plea agreement, Preston Henry Tolth, 26, faces a maximum of five years in federal prison with credit for three years of time served after he pleaded guilty to robbing Begay and driving off in her pickup truck.

If the agreement is approved, the sentencing will effectively close the federal case against Tolth. The case has been affected by a lack of physical evidence and the suppression of a confession from Tolth. Family members said they will urge the court to reject the agreement and reiterated that they do not want Tolth released without him leading investigators to Begay.

Begay was 62 when she vanished from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation in June 2021. A grandmother and weaver of Navajo-style pictorial rugs, her disappearance drew attention as a symbol of the crisis of violence against Native Americans.

Nation police and FBI agents identified Tolth as a suspect within days of the disappearance. Tolth, whose father was dating Begay's sister, initially denied involvement. In a later interrogation, an FBI agent lied to Tolth by telling him that police had found Begay's truck and were processing evidence that would implicate him.

Tolth then waived his right to remain silent and confessed to stealing Begay's pickup truck, beating her and leaving her for dead on the side of the road. It is typically legal for law enforcement to fabricate evidence during interrogations. However, a federal judge ruled that in this instance the agent failed to scrupulously honor Tolth's initial refusal to speak and suppressed the confession.