FARMINGTON, N.M. – The Latest on the abduction and killing of an 11-year-old Navajo girl in northwest New Mexico (all times local):
4:10 p.m.
Several hours after a stranger abducted an 11-year-old Navajo girl as she played near her home, few outside the reservation knew she was missing.
Cellphone alarms jolted New Mexico residents at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, giving the first warning beyond the Navajo Nation to keep watch for Ashlynne Mike. A man took the girl and her brother Monday afternoon.
The delay in sending out the Amber Alert and notifying local law enforcement of the kidnapping has led to sharp criticism from those who believe Ashlynne could have been found alive. Others say an earlier alert would have made little difference because her brother, who escaped, said the kidnapper drove off without her.
The Navajo Nation relies on outside agencies to get the word out about child abductions.
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1:10 p.m.
The funeral for an 11-year-old Navajo girl who was kidnapped and killed on the edge of nation’s largest American Indian reservation is set for Friday.
Federal authorities say Ashlynne Mike was abducted along a dirt road near her home Monday after a bus dropped her off from school. Searchers found her body Tuesday morning, about 30 miles away and south of a monolithic rock that gives the community of Shiprock, New Mexico, its name.
Tom Begaye, a 27-year-old from the area, has been charged in her death and is scheduled for a hearing Friday in federal court in Albuquerque.
Shawn Mike, a family spokesman and Ashlynne’s cousin, says her funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at the Civic Center in Farmington, a town at the edge of the Navajo Nation.
