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.

A panel of appellate judges agreed with the ruling. Federal prosecutors acknowledged in court documents that the suppression significantly weakened their case, which prompted them to negotiate a plea agreement rather than proceed to trial.

In an unusual step, the judge previously rejected an earlier plea agreement that would have allowed Tolth to serve only three years of time served, describing it as overly lenient. Family members had presented testimony and said they preferred the case go to trial.

"Accountability is not time served. It's about truth, and we still don't have the truth," Begay's niece Seraphine Warren told the court during an April hearing. In the years since Begay went missing, her family has organized searches, pushed law enforcement for answers and walked across the country to maintain public attention on the case.

The sentencing occurs during a week of awareness for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples movement, which highlights the disproportionate number of Native Americans who are missing or killed. Advocates have compared Begay's case to that of Gabby Petito, a young white woman whose disappearance the same summer received extensive news coverage and law enforcement attention.

Nation public safety director Michael Henderson said finding Begay remains a priority for tribal law enforcement. One hindrance has been that the federal investigation is still pending. Once it concludes, Navajo Nation police may gain access to information that could aid their search.