Preston Henry Tolth, 26, pleaded guilty to federal robbery charges Thursday in Phoenix in the case of Ella Mae Begay, a 62-year-old Navajo grandmother who disappeared from the Navajo Nation in 2021 and has never been found. Under a proposed agreement, Tolth faces a maximum of five years in federal prison with credit for three years already served. U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes is scheduled to review the agreement in May.
Begay’s case has drawn national attention and become a focal point in efforts to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, highlighting the high rate of homicides and disappearances in Indian Country and calls for greater law enforcement resources and cooperation between tribal and federal investigators.
Family opposes the agreement
Members of Begay’s family said prosecutors negotiated the deal against their wishes and without their input. Begay’s son, Gerald Begay, said he took a break from his construction job in Denver to listen to Thursday’s hearing by phone and plans to attend the next court hearing to ask the judge to reject the agreement.
“The prosecutors aren’t thinking about our rights or what we need as a family,” he said.
In an emailed statement, Lennea Montandon, a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, said the office has complied with federal victims’ rights law while prosecuting Tolth and will continue to do so. Tolth’s public defender declined to comment.
What Tolth acknowledged
Under the terms of the agreement, Tolth acknowledged using force to take Begay’s pickup truck, striking her in the face multiple times, and leaving her on the side of the road before driving away and eventually selling the truck for money and methamphetamine. The agreement also protects Tolth from future murder or manslaughter charges in connection with Begay’s case.
Navajo Nation police identified Tolth — whose father was dating Begay’s sister — as a suspect within days of Begay’s disappearance.
A case built on weakened evidence
The prosecution’s path has been complicated by a major evidentiary setback. In a 2021 FBI interrogation, Tolth confessed to attacking Begay in a fit of anger and leaving her for dead, but Rayes later ruled that confession inadmissible, finding that the FBI agent had unlawfully coerced Tolth into waiving his right to remain silent. In court filings, prosecutors acknowledged the ruling significantly weakened their case.
Earlier this month, Rayes took the rare step of rejecting a prior agreement that would have released Tolth on a sentence of three years of time served. The rejection came after Begay’s family members testified that Tolth should not walk free without leading investigators to her remains.
“Accountability is not time served,” Begay’s niece Seraphine Warren told the judge. “It’s about truth, and we still don’t have the truth.”
Five years of national attention
Begay vanished in 2021 from Sweetwater, Arizona, a community in the northern part of the Navajo Nation where she spent her days visiting with relatives and weaving rugs that she sold to nearby trading posts. Her remains have not been found.
In 2022, Warren walked from the Navajo Nation to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about her aunt’s disappearance and the high rate of missing persons cases and homicides in Indian Country. The case has since drawn sustained national media attention and provided a rallying point for tribal leaders and victim advocates pushing for additional law enforcement resources and greater cooperation between tribal and federal investigators.