Missing Indigenous Plea Rejected

Gerald Begay, whose mother Ella Mae Begay went missing from her home, shows a photo of her on his phone in Denver, Thursday, April 2, 2026.

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Judge rejects plea agreement in case of missing Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay

Judge rejects plea agreement in case of missing Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay

A federal judge in Phoenix has rejected a plea agreement that would have allowed a man who acknowledged beating a Navajo elder and leaving her for dead to avoid more prison time. Preston Henry Tolth now will face trial on charges of carjacking and assault in relation to the 2021 disappearance of Ella Mae Begay. The plea agreement had called for sentencing the 26-year-old Tolth to the three years he's already served in federal custody. The judge said that's too lenient. Begay's case highlighted the broader crisis of Indigenous people who go missing or are killed. Nearly five years after her disappearance, Begay has not been found.