Begay was 62 when she vanished from Sweetwater, a small community on the northern part of the Navajo Nation where she was raised and later brought up her three children. Her disappearance drew national media attention and underscored what advocates say is a broader crisis in which Indigenous people go missing or are killed at disproportionate rates.

The case returned to federal court in Phoenix as a judge rejected the plea agreement involving Preston Henry Tolth, 26. Under the proposed deal, Tolth would have avoided additional prison time by serving three years of time served after acknowledging his role and pleading guilty to a single robbery count, but the judge found the agreement would not stand.

Tolth is accused of carjacking and assault tied to Begay’s 2021 disappearance. The reporting described him as having stolen Begay’s truck with her in it, punching her repeatedly, and leaving her on the side of the road, after he confessed during a later interrogation in the matter.

During the hearing, Begay’s family members urged the judge not to accept a deal they said offered them no answers. Seraphine Warren described Begay as a warm and sweet person and asked the judge not to “give up on her,” saying the plea agreement provided no justice to the grieving family. Warren also told the judge, “Accountability is not time served,” adding, “It’s about truth, and we still don’t have the truth.”

Gerald Begay, Ella Mae Begay’s son, said in court that he felt the justice system has failed him. Warren told the judge they wanted the matter to go to trial, saying, “If we lose, at least we fought,” according to the account of the Thursday hearing.

Tolth did not speak at the hearing. His attorney asked the judge to consider what the defense described as Tolth’s unstable childhood and history of homelessness and substance abuse, and argued that three years in federal custody was a reasonable sentence.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, said the ruling earlier in the case excluding Tolth’s confession weakened the government’s case. A federal prosecutor argued that a plea agreement would provide Begay’s family with more certainty and finality than a trial with sparse evidence, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona and Tolth’s public defenders declined to comment after the judge rejected the deal.