Affidavit reveals details of Navajo girl’s death

Associated Press

SHIPROCK, N.M.

A stranger who lured 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike into his van with promises of watching a movie instead walked her into the hills of a remote area of the Navajo Nation, a place known for its breathtaking views and a monolithic rock outcropping that stands as a beacon for miles.

As the sun faded, the man returned alone, with a crowbar tucked in his jacket. The girl was nowhere to be seen.

The girl’s 9-year-old brother, who had jumped into the van hoping to protect her – was now distraught and scared. The man drove him toward a highway, and then told him to get out.

Alone in the desert, the boy started to run, and kept running, toward the lights of a distant car, until a passer-by scooped him up and took him to police.

His sister’s body wasn’t found until the next day, her head bloodied and bashed with a crowbar, according to a federal affidavit released Wednesday as Tom Begaye, a 27-year-old Navajo man from Waterflow, N.M., appeared in court on charges of kidnapping and murder.

The case has raised questions about the capacity of authorities to respond to abductions in remote areas of the Navajo Nation. Word of the girl’s disappearance sparked a frantic air and ground search, but the immediate hunt was focused on the opposite side of a highway from where authorities needed to be looking, and the 9-year-old struggled to describe just where he last saw his sister.

“He was so tired and just crying and crying for his sister. It was really hard for the FBI to get any information from him,” said the children’s aunt, Darrell Foster-Joe, as she recounted what the boy eventually told authorities.

The siblings were abducted after being dropped off at a bus stop after school, about a quarter-mile from their home Monday afternoon. The brother and another boy – their cousin – said no to the movie offer, but Ashlynne was somehow lured into the van.

Not wanting his sister to go alone, her brother jumped in, too.

Tips flooded in from across the reservation that spans parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Authorities said the kidnapper was driving a maroon van with a luggage rack but no hubcaps. About 100 people from the community turned out to help look for her.

Begaye made his first court appearance Wednesday at the Municipal Courthouse in Farmington, N.M., shuffling into the courtroom with shackles on. He remained quiet as the victim’s relatives and other community members watched the reading of the murder and kidnapping charges.

According to the affidavit, Begaye told investigators he removed the girl’s clothing, preparing to sexually assault her, and that he hit her twice in the head with a crowbar because she was crying and begging to be taken home.

He also said that the girl was still moving when he left her for dead in the desert, the affidavit says.