Aaron Mark Bradley, a 67-year-old American Indian/Alaska Native man and enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was last seen on September 6, 2025, at the Shonto Market in Shonto, Arizona. Arizona Department of Public Safety records identify the location as the Shonto Market at U.S. Route 160, while the missing-person case maintained by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System places the disappearance in Shonto, Coconino County, on the Navajo Nation. Bradley was described as approximately 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing approximately 190 to 200 pounds in the NamUs record; the Arizona Department of Public Safety's SAFE Alert described him as 5 feet 7 inches and 140 pounds. He had gray or partially gray hair and brown eyes according to NamUs, while the Arizona SAFE Alert described his eyes as black. He normally wore prescription eyeglasses, although it was not known whether he had them with him when he disappeared. At the time of his disappearance, Bradley was wearing a black shirt, blue Wrangler jeans and white tennis shoes.
The circumstances surrounding Bradley's disappearance have remained deeply concerning to his family and members of his community. According to a March 2026 account published by the Navajo Times and written by his daughter, Kayla Benally, the Shonto Marketplace was only a few miles from Bradley's home in Cow Springs, Arizona, and was a place he routinely visited. His daughter explained that he would regularly go there for familiar items, including a soda and a strawberry cake parfait, and would spend time talking with people he knew about his planting, wood-carving projects, and his children and grandchildren. The people who encountered him at the marketplace on September 6 did not know that they were apparently among the last members of the community to see him before his disappearance. By March 2026, his family described him as having been missing for approximately six months and continued to seek information about what had happened to him.
After Bradley could no longer be located, attention also turned to his residence and to circumstances that his family considered unusual. Benally reported that Bradley's front door had been left open and unlocked, a window had been broken, and important personal items, including medication and a hearing aid, remained at the home. She said that searches conducted in the Shonto, Cow Springs and Red Mesa areas involved the Kayenta Police Department, Dzil Yi Jinn Rescue, 4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue, volunteers from the Tonalea Full Gospel Church, relatives, friends and other community members. According to her account, some of Bradley's personal effects were recovered during the searches and were subsequently tagged and placed into police evidence. Public reporting does not establish from these circumstances what occurred at Bradley's residence or explain why the items were left behind, and the available accounts do not provide a confirmed explanation for his disappearance.
The search continued through the fall and winter. Buffalo's Fire reported in December 2025 that volunteers were being sought for a search along U.S. Highway 160, with participants asked to meet at the Sinclair Gas Station in Red Mesa. The report stated that Bradley was known to hitchhike in the area and in Bluff, Utah, adding another geographic consideration for those attempting to reconstruct where he might have traveled after he was last seen. A candlelight vigil was also planned at the Shonto Chapter House. His family maintained a public effort to keep his disappearance in the public eye and sought assistance from people throughout the region who might have encountered him or remembered seeing him after September 6.
Bradley's family also sought additional institutional support as the search continued. In her March 2026 letter to the Navajo Times, Benally described repeated efforts to obtain an Arizona SAFE Alert and said that the alert was eventually issued after months of advocacy. Arizona Department of Public Safety records show that a SAFE Alert for Bradley was released in January 2026 and remains listed as active. Arizona DPS explains that SAFE Alerts are intended to help locate vulnerable missing people when statutory criteria are met, including circumstances in which a person aged 65 or older has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances and authorities believe the person may be in danger. The alert distributed Bradley's photograph and identifying information and directed people with information to the Navajo Police Department.
Bradley has several distinctive identifying features that investigators and his family have emphasized in their efforts to locate him. NamUs records describe a scar on his left arm and a metal rod in his right shoulder. His left forearm bears an arrow-and-feather tattoo containing the names Kim, Kayla and Karen, while his chest bears an angel tattoo with the name Kelly. These features, together with his clothing, physical description and eyeglasses, have been included in public missing-person information to help people recognize him. His case is formally listed by NamUs as Missing Person / NamUs #MP158554, with the Navajo Nation Police Department's Kayenta District identified as the investigating agency. The Kayenta District's case number is 06-25-026283, and the Chinle District is also listed as a participating agency.
As months passed without a confirmed resolution, Bradley's daughter continued bringing his disappearance before organizations working with missing and murdered Indigenous people. New Mexico Public Radio reported that Benally attended a meeting of the New Mexico Department of Justice's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Task Force in March 2026 to discuss her father's case and raise awareness. She said that connections with the Navajo Nation's task force and a Diné coalition eventually provided the family with counseling, search-and-rescue resources, advocates and other forms of assistance. Her account described the emotional strain of continuing the search while also trying to navigate a large geographic area and limited law-enforcement resources. The family's efforts have therefore extended beyond simply distributing a missing-person photograph; they have involved organized searches, community outreach, advocacy and attempts to connect with specialized resources for Indigenous families facing unresolved disappearances.
Publicly available official information does not provide a confirmed account of where Bradley went after he was seen at the Shonto Market, nor does it establish what happened to him afterward. Arizona Department of Public Safety's current SAFE Alert listings continue to identify Aaron Mark Bradley as an active missing person, and no official resolution is reported in the available records. The precise circumstances of his disappearance remain unclear, and the exact date on which he was last seen is known as September 6, 2025, but there is no publicly established account describing his movements after that encounter. His family, law enforcement and community members have continued seeking information that could clarify his whereabouts. Overall, Aaron Mark Bradley's case remains an unresolved disappearance of a Navajo man who was last seen at a familiar community marketplace in Shonto on September 6, 2025, followed by a prolonged search involving family members, law enforcement, search-and-rescue teams and community volunteers, with his family continuing to seek answers and his whereabouts remaining the central unanswered question.
Last Seen: Sep 06, 2025
