Tom Begaye, Jr, 27, was arrested on Tuesday, hours after the body of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike was found about 6 miles (9 km) south of Shiprock pinnacle – a rock formation that is a landmark of the Navajo Nation. The initial investigation reveals that Ashlynne Mike was playing with her 9-year-old brother in their front yard after school when they were both abducted.
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The FBI has announced an arrest in the abduction and murder of an 11-year-old Navajo girl.
This item has been corrected to show Ashlynne Mike’s name was misspelled Ashlynn.
Wade acknowledged that some parents are anxious about the safety of their children as they go to and from school. Police said the boy was found Monday night walking on Navajo Route 13 near the Shiprock pinnacle.
As the sun faded, the stranger returned alone with a crowbar tucked in his jacket; the girl was nowhere to be seen. ‘We found her, but it didn’t turn out well’. The man approached them and a third boy, asking them if they wanted to see a movie.
She had been lured into a van by a stranger with a promise of watching a movie, and her brother had jumped into the vehicle in an attempt to protect her, the according to the news agency. Questions emerged in the wake of Ashlynne’s abduction and death about why the alert was not issued earlier Tuesday when the girl had been abducted Monday afternoon.
More than 500 people gathered for a candlelight vigil Tuesday to mourn Ashlynne Mike, an 11-year-old Navajo girl whose abduction and murder in Shiprock, New Mexico shook the Navajo Nation on Monday. The FBI said Mike, was abducted after school on Monday, May 2, 2016 and her body was found the next day. The boy said he saw Ashlynne inside the van smiling as she waved goodbye.
Heartbroken, the community paused Tuesday night for a moment of silence.
He said she was still moving when he left her on the ground, where her body was later found, according to the court papers.
The killing of Ashlynne mike is still fresh in their minds.
San Juan County sheriff’s Lt. Kyle Lincoln told The Associated Press that Begaye let deputies search his van but didn’t find anything suspicious. He will remain in federal custody.
Begaye said little as he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Briones in Farmington Wednesday, only answering “yes” and “no” when asked about the charges, according to KOB.
Ashlynne’s cause of death hasn’t been determined.
Tips 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.
Authorities described the man as a light-skinned Native American with a teardrop tattoo under his left eye.
Authorities say she was last seen on Navajo Route 36 and that her kidnapper was driving a maroon van. Ashlynne was fifth-grader at Ojo Amarillo elementary school in Fruitland. She described the girl as kind and obedient. She sometimes visited Foster-Joe at her home in nearby Hogback to play games with her cousins.
Authorities issued an Amber Alert for Ashlynne around 2 a.m. Tuesday. An FBI agent in an affidavit filed along with the criminal complaint provided new details on the abduction and her slaying.
Memorials were set up in town for her. People stopping by are bringing candles, balloons and stuffed animals or they’re stopping by to say a little prayer.
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New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez called the killing a “horrible, frightful tradgedy”, CNN affiliate KOAT reports.
