FARMINGTON, New Mexico — Thousands of people from across the Navajo Nation came together Friday to share their grief at the funeral of an 11-year-old girl who was lured to her death by a beckoning stranger.
Ashlynne Mike was killed after the man allegedly persuaded her and her 9-year-old brother, who had been playing near their bus stop after school, to climb into his van. The boy said the man took them deep into the desert, and then walked off with his sister to an even more remote spot, before coming back to the van alone.
An FBI agent’s affidavit says Tom Begaye Jr., a 27-year-old Navajo from a community just down the highway from the children’s home, told investigators he assaulted the girl and struck her twice in the head with a crowbar.
The Farmington civic center was packed with more than 1,600 people, and just as many stood outside. Entire families came to mourn her, hugging each other and their children. Many wore yellow T-shirts — one of her favorite colors.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez recalled Ashlynne as a budding musician who wanted to share her talents in playing the xylophone and piano with others. She called on the crowd to carry on the kindness Ashlynne showed the world.
“I cannot imagine the pain Ashlynne’s loved ones feel right now,” the governor said. “But even as we mourn her, we should celebrate her life and remember what a beautiful little girl she was, inside and out.”
More than 200 miles away in Albuquerque, Begaye appeared in U.S. District Court, waiving his right to a preliminary hearing on murder and kidnapping charges. The federal judge ordered that he remain in custody.
The slaying has raised tough questions for both the community and law enforcers on the country’s largest American Indian reservation, which stretches for 27,000 square miles into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.
Begaye told investigators that the girl was still moving when he left her, according to the affidavit. But eight hours passed between the family’s initial missing persons report and the Amber Alert, which went out at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Her body wasn’t found until later that morning, south of the Shiprock Pinnacle, just inside the border of the Navajo Nation in the northwest corner of New Mexico.
The alert set off cellphone alarms that jolted New Mexico residents awake and provided the first warning beyond the Navajo Nation to keep watch for Ashlynne and the suspect.
Some believe more could have been done to find the girl alive; others say issuing the alert would have made little difference. All seem to agree that precious time was wasted while authorities evaluated and belatedly shared what information they had.
“My phone buzzed and I realized that this has gotten really serious. Why did it take so long for the Navajo Nation to issue an Amber Alert?” said Rick Nez, president of the tribe’s San Juan Chapter, where Ashlynne lived.
The Navajo Nation does not have a system to issue its own child abduction alerts. Across the U.S., only a fraction of the 566 federally recognized tribes do. In most cases, state authorities coordinate with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to spread the word about abducted children in danger of serious injury or death.