A federal judge sentenced the only charged suspect in the 2021 disappearance of Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay to five years in prison for robbing her, ending a case that has been defined by sparse physical evidence and a confession that was suppressed in prior court proceedings.
U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes in Phoenix accepted an agreement under which Preston Henry Tolth pleaded guilty to robbing Begay, according to the plea terms presented at Friday’s sentencing hearing. Under the deal, Tolth was credited with three years’ time served, and prosecutors dropped an assault charge and agreed not to prosecute him in the future if Begay’s case develops.
Tolth’s sentencing comes as Begay’s family and tribal officials have continued to search for answers about where she is. Begay was 62 when she vanished from her home in Sweetwater on the Navajo Nation in June 2021.
During Friday’s hearing, Begay’s family urged Rayes to reject the agreement. Seraphine Warren, Begay’s niece, said, “A 62-year-woman is still nowhere to be found. No amount of time is enough if he won’t tell us where she is,” and left the courtroom after it became clear the judge was moving forward.
Rayes’ decision effectively closes a yearslong case that has been troubled by a lack of physical evidence and by the suppression of a confession from Tolth. The government had sought a plea resolution after earlier litigation limited the prosecution’s use of the confession.
In court, U.S. Attorney Tracy Van Buskirk told the judge that the plea agreement was the government’s “best attempt” at securing a reasonable sentence given the posture of the case. Van Buskirk said Tolth was not familiar with the Sweetwater area and that he had been drinking alcohol on the night he robbed Begay.
The case’s procedural history included a ruling that the confession could not be used. The AP reported that, after a later interrogation, Tolth confessed to stealing Begay’s pickup truck, beating her, and leaving her for dead on the side of the road, after he waived his right to remain silent. Rayes ruled that an FBI agent did not “scrupulously honor” Tolth’s initial refusal to speak and threw the confession out, and a panel of appellate judges agreed.
Begay’s son, Gerald Begay, called the agreement a “failure.” Jane McClellan, a lawyer for Tolth, said her client acknowledged robbing Begay, showed officers where he thought he might have left her on the night of the crime, and did not have further information. McClellan also said, “He is remorseful for his actions,” and “He has taken responsibility for his actions.”
The sentencing hearing also followed a prior setback. Rayes had rejected an earlier plea agreement that would have allowed Tolth to be released after three years of time served, finding it overly lenient—an outcome the family had opposed during testimony, with many saying they would prefer the case go to trial.
Navajo Nation public safety director Michael Henderson said finding Begay remained a priority for tribal law enforcement. Henderson said one “hindrances is that the federal investigation is still pending,” adding that once federal law enforcement officially closes the case, Navajo Nation police may be able to gain access to information that could aid their search.
As the sentencing concluded, Begay’s disappearance continued to resonate beyond the local case, drawing renewed attention from the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples movement during a week focused on the crisis that advocates say disproportionately affects Native Americans.