{"id":106010,"date":"2026-06-19T08:50:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106010"},"modified":"2026-06-19T08:50:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:50:48","slug":"five-years-after-a-navajo-elder-vanished-the-man-who-robbed-her-was-released-from-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/five-years-after-a-navajo-elder-vanished-the-man-who-robbed-her-was-released-from-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Five years after a Navajo elder vanished, the man who robbed her was released from prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Savannah Peters EDGEWOOD, N.M. (AP) \u2014 Five years to the day that Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay disappeared from her home in a remote corner of Arizona, the man who acknowledged beating her, stealing her truck and leaving her on the roadside is free from prison. Preston Tolth pleaded guilty to robbing Begay and was sentenced on May 8 to five years in prison with credit for three years already served. He was released Monday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Begay\u2019s relatives, who expected Tolth to remain in custody until at least 2028, said they were shocked when they heard Monday. The eldest of her three children, Gerald Begay, learned of Tolth\u2019s release while wrapping up his workday on a construction site and reflecting on the somber… <\/p>\n

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By Savannah Peters EDGEWOOD, N.M. (AP) \u2014 Five years to the day that Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay disappeared from her home in a remote corner of Arizona, the man who acknowledged beating her, stealing her truck and leaving her on the roadside is free from prison. Preston Tolth pleaded guilty to robbing Begay and was sentenced on May 8 to five years in prison with credit for three years already served. He was released Monday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Begay\u2019s relatives, who expected Tolth to remain in custody until at least 2028, said they were shocked when they heard Monday. The eldest of her three children, Gerald Begay, learned of Tolth\u2019s release while wrapping up his workday on a construction site and reflecting on the somber... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","category-uncategorized","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nFive years after a Navajo elder vanished, the man who robbed her was released from prison - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/five-years-after-a-navajo-elder-vanished-the-man-who-robbed-her-was-released-from-prison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five years after a Navajo elder vanished, the man who robbed her was released from prison - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Savannah Peters EDGEWOOD, N.M. (AP) \u2014 Five years to the day that Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay disappeared from her home in a remote corner of Arizona, the man who acknowledged beating her, stealing her truck and leaving her on the roadside is free from prison. Preston Tolth pleaded guilty to robbing Begay and was sentenced on May 8 to five years in prison with credit for three years already served. He was released Monday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Begay\u2019s relatives, who expected Tolth to remain in custody until at least 2028, said they were shocked when they heard Monday. 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