Woman who walked across country to cast light on aunt’s disappearance now charged in separate kidnapping

Seraphine Warren-Begay (left) once walked the country to get attention for her missing aunt, Ella Mae Begay. Now she

Seraphine Warren-Begay (left) once walked the country to get attention for her missing aunt, Ella Mae Begay. Now she’s charged in a kidnapping. (Screenshot of a tearful Warren-Begay in a September 2021 interview with KSTU; image of Ella Mae Begay: FBI)

In October 2022, Seraphine Warren-Begay finished her almost 2,400-mile prayer walk from Sweetwater, Arizona, to Washington D.C., in order to bring awareness to her missing aunt, Ella Mae Begay, and other missing or murdered Indigenous people. Now, a year later, she and three relatives are charged in an ostensibly unrelated kidnapping.

The federal indictment, made on Oct. 4 and unsealed Tuesday, said she played a key role in abducting a man identified in documents only as John Doe.

She allegedly used Facebook to research him. From there, she and her husband, Orlando Begay, 36, traveled to Arizona to find him, documents said. Her sister, Josephine Bekay, 46, and the sister’s husband, Nelton Alex Bekay, 48, arrived there with handcuffs, pepper spray, a metal baton, and a Glock handgun, according to authorities.

They all allegedly made it to the man’s home and entered, but it is unclear if they forced their way inside or if the victim let them in.

Once inside, Warren-Begay struck John Doe on the top of his head with a blunt force object, officials said. Then she, her husband, and her sister shot him with paintball guns, according to documents. The four defendants then allegedly handcuffed Doe, and put him in the back of a vehicle, driving him away to Shiprock, New Mexico. Then they released him that same day in the city of Farmington, investigators said.

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