Eight-year-old girl found dead after desperate search | US | News
An eight-year-old girl who went missing on tribal lands in northern Arizona has been found dead.
Officials with the Navajo Nation said Maleeka Boone was last seen Thursday evening in the Coal Mine Canyon area, located 240 miles north of Phoenix in the United States.
An FBI spokesman, who worked with tribal police on the investigation, declined to release details about her death. The Associated Press contacted a tribal police spokesman for comment.
Navajo Nation Chairman Buu Nygren called Maleeka’s death devastating in a video posted on social media. “This tragedy weighs heavy on my heart,” Nygren said.
Her disappearance led to the issuance of the Turquoise Alert, a reporting system for missing Native Americans.
In Arizona, the law establishing the alert was named “Emily’s Law” in honor of Emily Pike, whose remains were found more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) from the group home she left in Mesa, Arizona, on February 14.
Pike’s death sparked renewed activism that sought to highlight the disproportionate number of disappearances and violent deaths that have affected Native American communities for decades and encouraged lawmakers to amend the bill in Pike’s memory.
