Federal and local authorities are investigating the death of an 8-year-old girl who was reported missing on tribal lands in northern Arizona.
Maleeka "Mollie" Boone was last seen alive at around 6 p.m. local time on Jan. 15 in the area of the Coalmine Navajo Housing Authority near Tuba City, according to the Navajo Police Department. The Coalmine Canyon area is located in the Navajo Nation and is about 240 miles north of Phoenix.
Navajo police reported that Maleeka's family was concerned for their daughter "since it is out of character for her to be gone for an extended period of time." A Turquoise Alert was issued early on Jan. 16 after police determined that Maleeka went missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
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The alert, which was issued for missing or endangered Indigenous people, was later canceled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after Maleeka's body was found in the Coalmine area that same day, according to the FBI's Phoenix Field Office and Navajo police.
