Navajo Elder Ella Mae Begay Still Missing After Suspect's Plea Deal

Preston Henry Tolth’s prison sentence closed one legal chapter in Ella Mae Begay’s case, but it did not answer the question that has followed her family since 2021: where is she?

A federal judge in Phoenix accepted Tolth’s plea agreement and sentenced him to five years in prison for robbery, with credit for three years already served. For Begay’s loved ones, that ruling brought punishment without the recovery of the woman at the center of the case, a Navajo elder whose disappearance from near Sweetwater, Arizona, became one of the most painful reminders of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis.

Begay was reported missing on June 15, 2021, from her home on the Navajo Nation. Navajo Nation police list her as 62 years old, 5 feet tall and 125 pounds. Her Ford F-150 was seen leaving the residence early that morning, and the truck’s movement became one of the key early details in a case that never stopped feeling unfinished. Begay was also known in her community as a beloved grandmother of nine and a talented weaver, details that gave the disappearance a deeper human weight as her family organized searches and public awareness efforts.

The case first moved through federal court in Phoenix on March 14, 2023, when a grand jury indicted Tolth on assault resulting in serious bodily injury and carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury. Prosecutors said the FBI and the Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigations handled the investigation, and the original charges carried maximum penalties of 10 years and 25 years, respectively. Tolth was arrested on April 3, 2023, and ordered detained four days later as a flight risk and danger.

The evidence picture later narrowed. In August 2025, a federal appeals court ruled that Tolth’s confession could not be used because investigators did not honor his decision to stop speaking during questioning and later obtained a waiver of his right to remain silent. That ruling weakened the prosecution’s case and helped explain how the case reached sentencing on a lesser charge instead of trial on the original allegations.

Gerald Begay said the plea deal was a “slap on the wrist,” and he renewed his demand that authorities find his mother’s remains. The Navajo Nation has continued to elevate Missing and Murdered Diné Relatives efforts, including a commitment of $5 million to search, victim services and public safety. For Ella Mae Begay’s family, though, the central fact has not changed: a man has been sentenced, and she is still missing.