Judge rejects plea agreement in case of missing Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay

PHOENIX, Ariz. — A federal judge in Phoenix has rejected a plea deal that would have allowed a man who admitted to beating a Navajo elder and leaving her for dead to avoid additional prison time.

Preston Henry Tolth, 26, will now stand trial on carjacking and assault charges in connection with the disappearance of Ella Mae Begay in 2021. No trial date has been set.

Under the deal, Tolth would have been sentenced to three years in prison in exchange for admitting his role in the crime and pleading guilty to a single count of theft.

Begay’s case garnered national media attention and helped highlight the broader crisis of missing and killed indigenous people. Nearly five years after her disappearance, Begay has not been found.

The rare decision to reject a plea deal followed anguished testimony from Begay’s son and niece, who told the court that Tolth should not go free without revealing Begay’s location.

Ella Mae Begay’s daughter reported her mother missing in June 2021 from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona, a small community in the northern part of the Navajo Nation.

Tolth, whose father was dating Begay’s sister, initially denied any involvement in her disappearance. During later interrogation, he confessed to stealing Begay’s truck with her, hitting her several times and leaving her on the side of the road.

Tolth sold the truck for cash and drugs, according to the agreement.

Tolth was scheduled to stand trial in 2024, but a federal judge dealt a blow to prosecutors by ruling his confession inadmissible, saying Tolth was illegally coerced by an FBI agent who lied about the evidence law enforcement had against him after Tolth invoked his right to remain silent.

In a sentencing memo, federal prosecutors said suppressing Tolth’s confession weakened the government’s case and that the plea deal would provide Begay’s family with more “certainty and finality” than a trial with little evidence.