A federal jury as returned a six-count indictment charging Tom Begaye Jr., 27, with murder, kidnapping, and aggravated sexual abuse offenses in connection with the May 2 abduction and murder of 11-year-old Ashlynn Mike of the Navajo Nation.
U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Special Agent in Charge Terry Wade of the FBI’s Albuquerque Division, and Director Jesse Delmar of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety announced the filing of the indictment this afternoon.
Begaye, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation from Waterflow, N.M., was arrested May 4 for Mike’s kidnapping and murder, and has been in federal custody since that time. He is officially charged with first-degree murder; felony murder; kidnapping resulting in death; two counts of aggravated sexual abuse resulting in death; and kidnapping of a minor.
The indictment alleges Begaye abducted Mike and her younger brother, who was later found wandering along a roadway, May 2 on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County, sexually assaulted her, and killed her by striking her with a tire iron.
Begaye is scheduled to be arraigned at 9:30 a.m. June 7.
The statutory penalty for a conviction on each of the first five counts of the indictment is a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The statutory penalty for the sixth count, the kidnapping of a minor charge, is a mandatory minimum or 20 years and a maximum of life in prison.
