“The New Mexico State Police have a criteria in which they have to obtain information by protocol from an agency source before they issue an Amber Alert”.
Advertisement
Council Delegate Amber Crotty (Beclabito/ Cove/ Gadi’i’áhi/To’Koi, Red Valley/ Tooh Haltsooi/ Toadlena/Two Grey Hills/ Tsé ałnáoz’t’I’í) along with Council Delegate Nathaniel Brown (Kayenta/ Chilchinbeto/ Dennehotso) were the only Navajo Nation leaders that attended the vigil and said they will assist the community in any way they can as well as advocating for stiffer laws.
This photo provided by San Juan County, N.M. Detention Center shows Tom Begaye of Waterflow, N.M. Begaye was arrested in connection with 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike’s disappearance and death.
“The threat of child abduction is real”, said Shawn Mike.
The abduction sparked a frantic air and ground search.
Tips for the investigation flooded in from across the reservation that spans parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah as well as the close-knit tribal community where Ashlynne lived. “This led to the arrest of an individual who is believed to have caused a horrendous crime on one of our Navajo children”.
Begaye told investigators he removed the girl’s clothes, preparing to sexually assault her, and that he struck her twice in the head with the crowbar because she was crying and pleading with him to take her home, the AP reported, citing the affidavit.
An angry crowd waited for Begaye outside a federal courthouse in Albuquerque, where he was charged with one count of murder and two counts of kidnapping.
“How can a man of that nature who did what he did go into a sweat lodge after?” “I also ask our parents and staff to tell their children how much they love them”, Superintendent Dr. Colleen Bowman said. She described the girl as kind and obedient.
According to the complaint, Begaye lured Ashlynne into a van Monday afternoon by offering to take her to a movie. Her younger brother joined her; he was later freed, the Associated Press reported.
It was an emotional day for people here in the community and all the search groups that were out looking for Ashlynne Tuesday morning.
Begaye doesn’t yet have an attorney.
When 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike and her 9-year-old brother stepped into a stranger’s van after being dropped off by a school bus Monday, they likely believed they were heading to see a movie. He remained quiet as the victim’s relatives and other community members watched the reading of the murder and kidnapping charges.
As he was taken away from the Municipal Courthouse in an SUV, people outside yelled profanity.
Authorities say a man driving a maroon van kidnapped the girl and her brother Monday afternoon. “This morning when we heard the Amber Alert we were just praying and hoping we would find her. But we never thought we would find her dead somewhere”.
Residents also gathered for a vigil in nearby Shiprock, the largest town on the Navajo Nation.
Scared and in the dark, he had run more than 2 miles to the highway from a desolate spot where the kidnapper had taken the children. Authorities are poring over parts of the Navajo Nation in search of the man who snatched the children and killed Ashlynne.
Tom Begaye, 27, said he saw 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike playing with her younger brother Monday in the Lower Fruitland area and offered them a ride, according to a criminal complaint.
Advertisement
Authorities said they would not give more information until Begaye appears in court Wednesday in Farmington.
