The man charged in the death of an 11-year-old girl told investigators he brought a tire iron with him when he sexually touched her, according to a criminal complaint.

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The man charged in the death of an 11-year-old girl told investigators he brought a tire iron with him when he sexually touched her, according to a criminal complaint.Ashlynne Mike, 11, her brother, her sister and a friend were walking home after getting off the bus Monday, when she and her brother went to play in an irrigation canal. The brother told authorities that a man drove up in a red van and asked them if they needed a ride, and that the two got in because his sister had hurt her foot.The brother told authorities the man was the only person in the car, and drove toward the Shiprock pinnacle after picking them up.He told investigators the man brought his sister and a “curved piece of metal” to a hill near a remote dirt road.The boy stayed in the car, and told investigators that about an hour later the man returned without the girl. The boy said he was told to get out of the vehicle, and was later picked up by motorists along Navajo Route 13 and taken to police.He told authorities the two didn’t know the man previously.The older sister with them earlier in the day Monday told authorities she was also approached by a man in a red van, but he drove off when she refused to get in.Tomas Begaye, 27, was located at a sweat lodge near Shiprock on Tuesday. Investigators said he fit the description provided by the 11-year-old’s brother and sister.According to authorities, Begaye told them he picked the girl up because he wanted to have sex with her. He told them he inappropriately touched her near the hill referenced by the boy, and hit her more than once with a tire iron when she began to cry, they said.When investigators found her body late Tuesday morning, they said it appeared she’d suffered blunt force trauma.Begaye appeared before a judge on Wednesday. He has been charged with murder and kidnapping and faces life in prison if he is convicted. The judge considers Begaye a danger to the community and a flight risk and ordered him held in the custody of U.S. marshals. The case, along with Begaye, will be transferred to Albuquerque. The next hearing will be there on Friday.