Phoenix detectives arrested a 52-year-old man on Oct. 8 in connection with a 2001 sexual assault case.

According to the release, in May of 2001, Phoenix police responded to a report of a teenage female who was sexually assaulted behind a business in the area of 67th Avenue and Indian School Road.  During the investigation, detectives obtained physical evidence. The physical evidence from the sex assault case was outsourced to another lab to help Phoenix address their backlog of cases through grant funding.

52-year-old Leylynn Begay was arrested in February of 2025 for an unrelated felony crime where a DNA sample was collected and entered into the State Database.  Cold Case detectives located the 2001 case and began to conduct follow up. 

In June of 2025, the laboratory services bureau reported that there was an alleged match from the 2001 case, with the recently entered profile of Begay who was on probation in another county, the release said. 

Detectives, along with probation officers from that county, arranged for Begay to come in for a meeting, where he was placed under arrest. 

Begay was charged with multiple felonies related to the Phoenix case.  Begay received a $150,000 cash bond with electronic monitoring if he is released.