July 31, 2026:
PHOENIX (AP) — The last person known to have seen Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay alive has been accused of burglary in an unrelated incident, raising questions about whether he will be sent back to federal prison in Begay’s disappearance.
Preston Tolth is the only person ever charged and convicted in connection with the 2021 disappearance of Begay, a weaver and grandmother of nine from a remote community on the Navajo Nation who has never been found. He acknowledged stealing her truck, beating her and leaving her on the side of the road.
Her case has become emblematic of the heartache felt across Indian Country when loved ones go missing or are killed. Begay’s photo appears at marches. Her name is regularly invoked at rallies calling attention to the crisis.
Phoenix police arrested Tolth, 27, on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) after getting a call about a home break-in. Officers found him about a block away, wearing clothing that matched the description of the suspect and carrying a pocket knife, according to court records.
Tolth was released from federal prison in June, five years to the day Begay vanished and two years earlier than his sentence was scheduled to end. The Bureau of Prisons cited a federal statue that counts time served after the commission of a crime but before sentencing, including on unrelated charges, in releasing him early.
Tolth was sent to a transitional housing facility in Phoenix. Under the terms of his plea agreement in federal court, he was not to commit any additional crimes while on supervised release. He also was barred from possessing dangerous weapons.
He faces a single charge of burglary in Maricopa County. Court records did not have an attorney listed for him, and his public defender in the federal case did not respond to an emailed request for comment Thursday.
Esther Winne, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, said the office is aware of his arrest.
“There is a process for handling violations,” Winne said in an email Tuesday, declining further comment.
Gerald Foxworth, an employee at Phoenix Oasis where Tolth was staying, said Tolth returned to the facility drunk on July 4 in violation of program rules. Tolth left on his own after refusing to be transported to a medical center, Foxworth said, and the facility informed Tolth’s probation officer.
The U.S. Marshals Service had an active warrant out for Tolth’s arrest when he was picked up by Phoenix police.
The Associated Press left phone and email messages with Tolth’s probation officer Thursday requesting comment.
Begay’s family said they were unaware Tolth left transitional housing. His arrest is the latest frustration in a case they say has offered little in the way of justice or closure. The eldest of Begay’s three children, Gerald Begay, said he is relieved no one was harmed in the break-in.
“(Federal officials) made the decision to release this person. Now he’s out here hurting people,” Begay said. “This could have ended far worse.”
May 8, 2026:
EDGEWOOD, N.M. (AP) — The only person ever charged in the unsolved 2021 disappearance of Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay, whose case became emblematic of a crisis fueled by disproportionately high rates of violence faced by Native Americans, has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes in Phoenix on Friday (May 8, 2026) accepted an agreement in which Preston Henry Tolth pleaded guilty to robbing Begay. Under the agreement, 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.
The sentencing effectively closes a yearslong case that has been troubled by a lack of physical evidence and the suppression of a confession from Tolth, who also is Navajo.
Family members had urged Rayes to reject the agreement and reiterated they didn’t want Tolth released without him leading investigators to Begay.
A beloved grandmother and talented weaver of Navajo-style pictorial rugs, Begay was 62 when she vanished from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation in June 2021. Tolth’s sentencing comes amid a week of awareness for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples movement, which highlights the disproportionate number of Native Americans who are missing or have been killed.
In the years since Begay went missing, her family members have organized searches, pushed law enforcement for answers and even walked across the country to keep a public spotlight on her case. Advocates have compared Begay’s case to that of Gabby Petito, a young white woman whose disappearance the same summer drew a frenzy of news coverage, social media attention and law enforcement action that ultimately led to the discovery of her remains in Wyoming.
Navajo Nation police and FBI agents identified Tolth as a suspect within days of her disappearance. Tolth, whose father was dating Begay’s sister, initially denied any involvement. In a later interrogation, an FBI agent lied to Tolth, telling him police found Begay’s truck and were processing evidence that would implicate him. In response, Tolth waived his right to remain silent and confessed to stealing Begay’s pickup truck, beating her and leaving her for dead on the side of the road.
It is typically legal for U.S. law enforcement to fabricate evidence during interrogations. But Rayes ruled that in this instance, the FBI agent failed to “scrupulously honor” Tolth’s initial refusal to speak and threw the confession out. A panel of appellate court judges agreed.
In court documents, federal prosecutors acknowledged that this weakened their case against Tolth significantly, prompting them to negotiate a plea agreement rather than take the case to trial.
In an unusual move, Rayes rejected a previous plea agreement that called for Tolth to serve three years of time served, saying it was overly lenient. Begay’s family members had presented anguished testimony and said they would prefer to the case went to trial.
“Accountability is not time served,” Begay’s niece Seraphine Warren told Rayes tearfully during an April hearing. “It’s about truth, and we still don’t have the truth.”
Navajo Nation public safety director Michael Henderson said finding Begay is still a priority for tribal law enforcement.
“One of the hindrances is that the federal investigation is still pending,” Henderson said.
Once it wraps, Henderson said Navajo Nation police may gain access to information that will aid their search.
Comments