A federal grand jury has indicted a man in the killing of an 11-year-old girl on the Navajo reservation earlier this month.
Tom Begaye Jr. is charged with six counts, including kidnapping, murder and sexual assault. Prosecutors say the 27-year-old lured Ashlynn Mike and her little brother into his van May 2 in a small community outside of Shiprock, New Mexico.
The boy was eventually freed, but Ashlynn’s body was found the next day. There was substantial criticism over the hours it took authorities to issue an Amber Alert after Ashlynn’s abduction.
Like most reservations, the Navajo Nation does not have the ability to issue its own child abduction alerts, and instead relies on a national system.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
