ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty to the murder and sexual assault in the death of an 11-year-old girl on the largest American Indian reservation is set to be sentenced.
Tom Begaye is scheduled Friday to receive life in prison for the May 2016 killing on the Navajo Nation that prompted calls to expand the Amber Alert system and the death penalty to U.S. tribal communities.
Authorities say Begaye lured Ashlynne Mike and her brother into his van in May 2016 before killing the girl and allowing the boy to escape. Ashlynne was reported missing, but an Amber Alert didn't go out until the next day.
Her body was later found in an area near the Arizona-New Mexico border.
The Navajo Nation, like many Native American tribes, outlaws the death penalty.
Begaye pleaded guilty in August.