The tragic case of a 14-year-old girl, Emily Pike, whose dismembered body was found on the side of a road in Arizona, has brought to light her previous pleas to law enforcement about her disdain for the group home from which she had disappeared. Emily had been reported missing three times in 2023 from the Mesa group home, operated by Sacred Journey Inc., before her murder in January.
Body camera footage from September 20, 2023, reveals a distressed Emily walking along a canal, pleading with an officer not to return her to the group home. Tearfully, she expressed her desire to see her mother and live with her grandmother, insisting that the group home was not her home. The footage, obtained by ABC 15, also shows Emily expressing her frustration, stating that no one understands her or is willing to help her.
Emily’s family resides on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Each time she went missing in 2023, she was either returned to the group home or taken to a behavioral health center within hours. On the day of her disappearance in January, a group home employee informed the police that Emily was missing, a pattern she had exhibited before.
The employee, who had been with the company for 11 years, told the police that she had searched the premises and found the gate open and a window screen kicked out. Emily’s remains were later discovered on the side of a dirt road off US 60. It took weeks for authorities to confirm the identity of the remains, which showed visible signs of face and head trauma.
The Gila County Sheriff’s Office reported that Emily’s head and torso were found in large bags, her legs in separate bags, but her arms and hands were not recovered. In March, police identified three suspects in the brutal murder, but no arrests have been made.
A task force comprising the Mesa Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Indian Affairs has been formed to investigate Emily’s murder. Emily’s mother, Steff Dosela, expressed her grief, referring to her daughter as an innocent child.
The Department of Child Safety informed lawmakers at a legislative hearing on group home protocol that Emily was under the care of Tribal Social Services and had been placed in the Sacred Journey Inc. group home by the tribe. The San Carlos Apache Attorney General, Alex Richie, stated that the group home had alerted police and Tribal Social Services about Emily’s disappearance. However, Child Protective Services was not convinced she was missing due to her past behaviors.