{"id":529973,"date":"2026-05-14T10:15:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=529973"},"modified":"2026-05-14T10:36:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:36:25","slug":"press-release-navajo-elders-family-criticizes-plea-deal-for-admitted-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/05\/14\/press-release-navajo-elders-family-criticizes-plea-deal-for-admitted-suspect\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Release: Navajo elder’s family criticizes plea deal for admitted suspect"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Ella<\/a>
Ella Mae Begay went missing on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation in June 2021. Courtesy photo. [FBI<\/a> | BIA<\/a>]<\/figcaption>\r\n
Federal Plea Deal Grants Immunity to Man Who Confessed to Kidnapping Navajo Elder Ella Mae Begay, Without Requiring Him to Disclose Her Location<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, May 14, 2026<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe following is the text of a May 8, 2026, press release from the National Indigenous Women\u2019s Resource Center<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nPhoenix, Arizona — On May 8, 2026, U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes accepted a plea deal between the United States and Preston Tolth, an individual who confessed to kidnapping, beating, and leaving Ella Mae Begay — a Navajo elder — for dead by the side of a road on the Navajo Reservation, although her body was never found. The plea deal stipulates that Tolth pleads guilty to theft (for stealing Ella Mae\u2019s truck), and in exchange, the United States agreed it would never be able to come back and charge Tolth with any other crime associated with Ella Mae\u2019s disappearance or murder. Tolth will serve a limited additional sentence before his release.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nMeanwhile, Ella Mae has been missing for nearly five years, and her family is still looking for her. Ella Mae Begay is a mother, auntie, sister, daughter, friend, and matriarch of the Navajo Nation. Like far too many Native women, she was brutally assaulted, kidnapped, and taken from her own home on the Navajo reservation. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nElla Mae\u2019s son and niece both testified before the Court, most recently on May 8, 2026, asking the Court to reject the plea deal because it granted Tolth immunity without requiring him to disclose Ella Mae\u2019s location. As Ella Mae\u2019s niece, Seraphine Warren-Begay, stated to the Court:\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

\r\n“Don’t let this be the end of Ella Mae. Please don\u2019t give up on her. We haven\u2019t. We have already lost so much time and money because of Preston\u2019s actions. No amount of restitution could ever repay that back. He took her truck. He took from her. He took her from us, and that is why we\u2019re not asking for money. We don\u2019t want his money. If he negotiated his freedom, can we negotiate something too? Forget the money. Just tell us where she is. \r\n

<\/P>\r\nI don\u2019t think her family needs to know what happened to her. What we need is to bring her home and give her a resting place. Everyone who loves her needs her home. If he tells us where she is, it gives people hope that people can change, that people have good hearts. That is what we\u2019re asking for. How can this decision bring us peace when somebody who could do this walks free?”\r\n<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nIn response, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office (USAO) urged the Court to accept the plea deal, arguing that it could not win at trial. The office cited the Court’s prior ruling excluding Tolth’s confession as inadmissible, arguing that without it, insufficient evidence remained to prosecute. According to the USAO, the Court\u2019s prior ruling determining Tolth\u2019s confession to be inadmissible as evidence meant there was nothing left in the case file to prosecute him. \r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThis is far too often the case when a Native woman goes missing or is murdered. When it comes to prosecuting the perpetrator, the USAO determines that the FBI did not create a case file with sufficient evidence, and then the perpetrator is allowed to walk free,\u201d states Mary Kathryn Nagle, counsel to Ella Mae\u2019s family. \r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cIt is not an excuse to say the Court\u2019s decision to exclude the admission means the plea deal is inevitable. Admissions are routinely thrown out of Court on Fourth Amendment grounds. That is a known contingency, and the problem here is that law enforcement did not adequately investigate the case. I have sat with countless families who have been told by the FBI and the USAO that there is not enough evidence to prosecute the homicide committed against their loved one, when everyone in the Tribal community knows who did it. These are not unsolved cases. They are not unsolvable cases. They are cases to which the FBI has failed to dedicate sufficient resources because the lives of our Native women and relatives are not sufficiently prioritized or valued.\u201d \r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cAt a time when homicide rates on our reservations are ten times the national average, we should be seeing far more federal resources allocated to searching for missing Native women and relatives,\u201d states Lucy Simpson, Chief Executive Officer of the National Indigenous Women\u2019s Resource Center. \u201cElla Mae\u2019s case is heartbreaking, and our hearts go out to the family as they continue to search for their mother, auntie, sister, and grandmother.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nNIWRC will continue to advocate that all law enforcement agencies collaborate and dedicate sufficient resources to bring Ella Mae home.\r\n

<\/P>

\r\nAbout the National Indigenous Women\u2019s Resource Center:
\r\nThe National Indigenous Women\u2019s Resource Center is a Native-led nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting safety for Native women and communities. NIWRC provides national leadership in Tribal communities by uplifting the collective voices of grassroots advocates and offering culturally grounded resources, technical assistance and training, and policy development to strengthen Tribal sovereignty. To learn more, visit niwrc.org<\/a>.\r\n<\/em>
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