Police issue alert for missing 8-year-old in Lukachukai, possible Gallup route
Police issued a Missing and Endangered Person Advisory for 8-year-old Alissandra Begay after she was last seen in Lukachukai, with Gallup named as a possible destination.
The Navajo Police Department issued a Missing and Endangered Person Advisory for 8-year-old Alissandra Begay after she was last seen around 2 p.m. Friday in Lukachukai, a chapter in Apache County and part of the Navajo Nation’s District #11. Police said the child may have been picked up by an unknown young female described as short with shoulder-length hair, and investigators said she may be traveling toward Gallup, New Mexico.
That possible route matters because it stretches the search beyond one community and into a wider travel corridor used by families, workers and drivers moving between Apache County and the Gallup area. Lukachukai sits in a rural part of the Navajo Nation, while Gallup serves as a regional hub just across the state line, making roads, stores, fuel stops and parking lots along that path especially important places for anyone to keep in view.
The advisory was released Thursday, June 12, 2026, and by then the case had already moved into a cross-jurisdiction search effort that depends on fast public recognition. Apache County had a 2020 Census population of 66,021, and Gallup’s 2020 Census population was 21,899, figures that underscore how quickly a missing-child case can spread across a large, sparsely populated area and into a nearby city.
Residents in Lukachukai, Chinle Agency communities, Apache County and Gallup were being asked to look for anyone matching the description of the young female, to check driveways, convenience stores and other common stop points, and to review dashcam or security footage from Friday afternoon and evening. Even small details about a vehicle, direction of travel or a stop along the route could help investigators narrow where Alissandra Begay went after she was last seen.
The Navajo Nation Police Department Missing Persons Unit listed 928-357-6677 as the contact number for tips. The broader urgency is part of a longer-running crisis across the Navajo Nation, where a March 2026 missing-person poster update listed 73 unresolved missing individuals across the Nation’s seven districts. The FBI says it works with tribal, Justice Department and Interior partners on missing or murdered Indigenous persons cases, a reminder that the search for one child in Lukachukai sits inside a much larger public-safety emergency for Native communities.
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