A New Mexico man is scheduled to be arraigned on attack and carjacking fees in reference to the 2021 disappearance of a Native American woman
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A New Mexico man is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on attack and carjacking fees in reference to the 2021 disappearance of a Native American woman, whose case has garnered nationwide consideration as tribal leaders and legislation enforcement cope with a plague of missing consumer circumstances and unsolved slayings in Indian Country.
Preston Henry Tolth, 23, has been accused of assaulting Ella Mae Begay and taking her pickup truck. It shall be as much as a federal Justice of the Peace to make a decision whether or not Tolth will stay in custody pending trial.
Federal prosecutors stated the indictment naming Tolth marked the most important step in figuring out the reality about what took place to Begay, a Navajo woman who was once 62 when she disappeared. Her truck was once noticed at the morning of June 15, 2021, leaving her house in the far flung group of Sweetwater in the Navajo Nation, now not some distance from the assembly level of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.
The investigation is ongoing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona stated.
Navajo Nation authorities prior to now known Tolth as an individual of hobby in Begay’s case. Tolth has a legal historical past together with fees of annoyed battery, resisting arrest, residential housebreaking and drug ownership courting again to 2019, in keeping with New Mexico courtroom information.
Tolth was once already in custody pending the end result of a 2022 case in which he was once accused of stealing a man’s pockets whilst armed with some sort of sharp weapon, courtroom information display.
Begay’s circle of relatives has remained dedicated to discovering her and bringing her house. A 12 months after Begay disappeared, her niece started strolling from the Navajo Nation to Washington, D.C., to carry consideration to a decades-long epidemic of violence disproportionately affecting Indigenous other folks.
The investigation into Begay’s disappearance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s efforts to deal with circumstances involving missing and slain Native Americans.
Begay’s members of the family even have met with U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who lately joined Justice Department officers in website hosting the primary in-person consultation of the Not Invisible Act Commission in Washington. The fee is growing suggestions for combating and responding to violence affecting tribal communities.
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