(Courtesy photo)
Nelson Tsosie
He was 23.
Brenda Charley, Tsosie's older sister, said her brother slipped or fell from a mesa, falling about 100 feet to his death Saturday night. She said she wasn't sure if alcohol was involved.
As of Monday afternoon the incident was still under investigation by the FBI. Phone calls to the FBI and Navajo Nation Police were not returned.
Charley said Tsosie went into Farmington Friday morning to run errands but never returned home, and was said to have visited a friend in Sanostee on Saturday.
Charley said the family was shocked that Tsosie, the second oldest child, had suffered such a death at a young age.
"The family, we're holding up. My mom is taking it hard and my dad ... we're all hurting but we're just trying not to show it," Charley said. "We just still can't believe it. He was just so young, his birthday was coming up on Saturday, the 17th, he was going to be 24. He will be missed; we'll always love him and we'll always remember him."
Nelson was best known for being the first Native American and Navajo in the Professional Bull Riding's Toughest Cowboy televised tour, where 12 bronc and bull riders compete to be named the Toughest Cowboy Champion. Tsosie competed for three years.
In 2005, at the age of 19, he won his first world title as the International Indian Finals Rodeo bareback champion. In 2007 he won the Toughest Cowboy title and also his first bareback championship in the Indian National Finals Rodeo.
In 2008, he won the INFR title for the second year in a row.
Nelson grew up in Burnham, N.M., but attended Newcomb Middle School and Farmington High School where he graduated in 2005.
He started training horses when he was about 13 and continued until his death.
A funeral date has not been set pending the return of Tsosie's body from an Albuquerque medical examiner. The family will continue to have open family meetings every day at 4 p.m. at the home of his grandmother, Eleanor Benally, in Burnham until the arrangements are made.
Besides his older sister and grandmother, survivors include his wife, Charmayne Jo Wilson-Tsosie; daughters, Anarie Rose, Shaundean Brenda and Lakeesha Morningstar; mother, Rose Tsosie; father, Guy Tsosie; sister, Colleen Tsosie; and brother, Guytin Tsosie.
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