Pictured: The man, 27, arrested for the kidnap and murder of Navajo girl, 11

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Ashlynne Mike, a Navajo fifth-grader is understood to have been abducted by a stranger in a maroon van after getting off on the way home from school

Federal agents have arrested a man in connection with the kidnapping and murder of an 11-year-old Navajo girl.

Tom Begaye, 27, was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Paul Briones in Farmington on Wednesday. 

The victim, fifth-grader Ashlynne Mike, was found dead less than 24 hours after she was reported missing Monday.  

The girl's body was found on Tuesday morning in Shiprock, near a rock formation that the town is named after, said Jesse Delmar, the tribe's public safety division director. Police did not say how the little girl died. 

Ashlynne and her brother Ian Mike, 9, were taken Monday afternoon after getting off the bus in Lower Fruitland as they returned home from school, according to a Facebook post from her family.

The man reportedly told the children he would take them to go see a movie. 

The Associated Press reports Ian got into the van with his sister because he didn't want her to go alone. 

According to a news release from the Navajo Nation, Ian told Shiprock police Begaye took him and his sister toward the Shiprock Monument, but they came to a dead end, where Begaye let him out and told him to go home. 

He is said to have watched Begaye and his sister go into the hills, but Begaye came back alone. He then ran two miles to the highway where he was picked up, according to the report.

Tom Begaye, 27, was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Paul Briones in Farmington on Wednesday

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Suspect Tom Begaye, 27, is led handcuffed (in shorts) by a police officer following his arrest

Family and friends gather near Shiprock, New Mexico Tuesday just a few miles from where the girl's body was discovered

Governed by the Navajo Nation,  Shiprock is in the Four Corners region and plays a significant role in Navajo religion, myth, and tradition 

An access road to the Shiprock pinnacle (seen in the distance) is taped off Tuesday along Navajo Route 13, just a few miles from where Ashlynne Mike's body was discovered

Albuquerque FBI Public Affairs Specialist Frank Fisher, left, with local law enforcement agent hold a news conference regarding the death of the 11-year-old girl Tuesday

Around 7:15 p.m. Monday, Ian was found by a random driver along Navajo Road 13 just south of the Shiprock Monument. He was alone and unhurt and was taken to the Shiprock Police Department. 

FBI Special Agent in Charge Terry Wade.Wade added that Begaye was likely alone during the abduction and that agents were unsure if he was related to Ashlynne during the press conference.

Begaye was cited in Farmington in mid-April for marijuana and paraphernalia possession. 

'We were very hopeful that we would find her in good shape,' Jesse Delmar, the tribe's public safety division director said. 'We found her, but it didn't turn out well.'

'Tears are falling,' The girl's mother Pamela Foster, wrote in a social media post. 'Mommy loves and misses you my sweet little angel,' according to the Albuquerque Journal.

The girl's sister, Anna Celeste Begay, wrote: 'I'm so devastated... No one will know the way I feel right now.. I love you Ashlynne .. You never deserved anything like this.. Rip'.  

Tribal police faced criticism for the delay in issuing the Amber Alert which came some hours after the incident was reported. 

After the girl’s body was found, San Juan Chapter President Rick Nez said: 'The Navajo Nation, they are always slow to respond,' he told The Daily Times. 'As soon as the child was abducted, they should have put out the Amber Alert.'

Ashlynne's cousin Shawn Mike, 43, told The Daily Times today that his own son, nine,  was also approached by a driver of a maroon van along Navajo Route 36 at approximately the same time that Ashlynne and Ian went missing.

He said the driver asked his son whether he wanted to see a movie, but that his son declined. He added that his son saw both Ashlynne and Ian inside the vehicle at the time. 

'As they drove away, Ashlynne was waving at him,' he said. 

The search for the girl included federal, tribal, state and county officers on the ground as well as a New Mexico State Police helicopter, Fisher said. 

The FBI asked anyone with information to call the FBI’s Albuquerque office at 505-889-1300.

Before Ashlynne's body was found, a woman claing to be her distraught mother posted the above Facebook post to raise a search party in the hope of finding her alive

Sad: Once police broke the bad news, Pamela Foster posted the above Facebook tribute to her daughter

Whereabouts: The girl's body was found on Tuesday morning in Shiprock, six to eight miles away from a rock formation that the town is named after