As previously stated, Emily grew up on the San Carlos Apache reservation. She lived on the reservation with her mother, brother, cousins, and grandmother. The reservation is located in Arizona and is quite large, spanning approximately 1.8 million acres.
Reports note that there are only 22 tribal police officers employed for the entire reservation. This is potentially why the tribe's fish and game department responded to the 911 call about Emily being sexually assaulted back in 2023. When later asked, the San Carlos Apache Police Chief stated that he was "unsure" why fish and game was sent to the scene instead of a police officer; though he believes that the officers were occupied at that time.
After two reports were made about Emily being sexually assaulted, tribal social services opted to remove her from her family's home and send her to a group home. There is reportedly one small group home on the reservation, but it was at capacity when Emily was removed by social services. As such, she was sent to Sacred Journey Inc. in Mesa - over 100 miles from the only home Emily had ever known.
Sacred Journey is licensed by Arizona's Department of Children's Services; however, Emily was not considered to be in the custody of DCS while being housed at the group home. The group home has contracts with the San Carlos tribe, which means children from the tribe who are placed there are still considered under tribal custody rather than DCS.
Emily's time at Sacred Journey in 2023.
It appears that Emily was unhappy at Sacred Journey from the start. She was hospitalized for self-harm shortly after arriving at the group home. Then, on September 11th, 2023, Emily and another teenage girl were reported missing from Sacred Journey. The two girls were later found at a local park in Mesa. Both told police officers that they did not want to return to the group home because they would be "forced to clean — scrubbing walls, baseboards, windowsills, and even getting on their hands and knees to scrub grout from the tile."
Later that month, Emily ran away from the group home again. She was found by a police officer, and she yet again told the officer that she did not want to return the group home. Body cam footage shows Emily saying, “I just want to see my mom, the group home is not my home." It's worth noting that, at this time, Emily's mother was barred from having contact with her.
In that same footage, Emily is also heard saying “I’m not going to go to that f****** group home, I hate it there.” The group home subsequently requested that Emily get checked out a mental health facility. She was brought to the facility shortly thereafter but was eventually returned back to Sacred Journey.
Emily ran away from the home two additional times between September and November of 2023. Then, on November 8th, 2023, Emily attempted to take her own life. She was subsequently sent to a hospital where she spent the next few weeks.
Late November 2023 - December 2024.
After being released from the hospital, Emily was permitted to be picked up by her aunt and uncle so she could spend the Thanksgiving holiday with relatives. They took a road trip through Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. During this time, relatives raised concerns about Emily's behavior.
The day after Thanksgiving, Emily reportedly had a disagreement with family members. The argument prompted her to run away. When Emily was later located by a police officer, she refused to return to her relatives. She also expressed that she was feeling suicidal. This incident led to Emily being hospitalized again. Afterwards, she was put on a flight back to Arizona, where she was taken to another mental health facility.
Emily spent the next year in the mental health facility. When she was released in December 2024, she was taken back to Sacred Journey Inc.
January 27th, 2025: Emily runs away for the final time.
On January 27th, 2025, Emily ran away from Sacred Journey again. Reports state that she left the home around 7:00 PM. After staff at the group home searched for her themselves to no avail, they called police to report her missing around 8:20 PM.
Once the missing persons' report was made, it was determined that Emily had been spotted on foot around 7:45 PM - approximately 45 minutes after leaving the group home - on Mesa Drive and McKellips Road. This is the last known sighting of Emily alive.
Both police and the group home employees spent the next few days checking areas around Mesa that were familiar to Emily. Unfortunately, they were unable to locate her. Police also spoke to Emily's roommate at the group home. She told them that Emily planned to meet up with a boy that she met while taking guitar lessons. However, police were unable to find any evidence that this had taken place.
By January 29th, a statewide missing person bulletin was issued for Emily Pike. Information about her disappearance began to circulate on the local news and on social media.
February 2nd - February 11th, 2025: social media rumors and a voicemail.
On February 2nd, 2025, an unknown caller left a voicemail at the group home, stating that Emily had returned to the San Carlos Apache reservation and was with her mother. Interestingly enough, the group home did not notice such a voicemail had been left until February 7th - five days after the original call.
However, on February 6th, 2025 - a day before staff noticed the voicemail - an anonymous Facebook post also claimed that Emily was on the reservation with her mother. Her mother denied this and stated that she had not seen or heard from Emily.
The following day, the group home staff finally accessed the voicemail. The police reviewed the message on February 11th. Emily's mother continuously denied knowing of her daughter's whereabouts, and after police investigated these claims, they too determined that the voicemail was false.
February 14th, 2025: human remains found.
On February 14th, 2025, police in Gila County were called after suspicious looking garbage bags were spotted on Highway 60 near Globe, Arizona. The bags were found on a trail near mile marker 277. Detectives on the scene made a gruesome discovery inside the bags: a head and torso inside one, and severed legs inside the other.
The human remains were found over 100 miles away from where Emily was last seen in Mesa. They were found, however, close to the San Carlos Apache reservation. On February 19th, 2025, the Bureau of Indian Affairs contacted police, suspecting that the remains belonged to Emily Pike.
February 27th, 2025: Emily is identified.
On February 27th, 2025, authorities confirmed that the human remains were formally identified as that of Emily Pike. It was then announced that she had been murdered and dismembered. A public appeal was made for individuals with information about her case to come forward.
Questions about the group home and jurisdictions.
The day after Emily's remains were identified, the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) opened a licensing inquiry into Sacred Journey Inc. It was determined that group home staff followed the protocols that were in place when Emily ran away. Still, there has been scrutiny about the safety measures at the home itself.
Emily is one of 30 children who have been able to leave the group home without notice. It appears that there is not any footage of Emily escaping from the group home, though it has been determined that she was able to leave through the window. Many have questioned if the building was secure enough to house children who were at risk of running away.
Additionally, as previously noted, Emily was still in custody of the San Carlos Apache tribe when she was at Sacred Journey Inc. A 2025 report on Emily's case explains this a little further, explaining that, "because Emily was in the custody of the tribe — a sovereign nation — certain reporting requirements outlined in Arizona law when a child in DCS custody goes missing didn’t apply to her."
It was also noted that, due to this, the department did not have access to information that would have allowed them to contact her family and friends. The discrepancies between the tribal law and state law caused a breakdown in communication about Emily's case - which is why her family members were not immediately informed about her disappearance.
Emily's case has prompted lawmakers to push for new legislation surrounding both group home protocols and tribal laws. Many are advocating for children to be listed as missing - rather than a runaway - if they go missing while being housed in group homes. There are also advocates pushing for new protocols surrounding communication between DCS and tribes.
Who killed Emily?
At this time, no arrests have been made for Emily's murder. No persons of interest or suspects have been publicly announced. Although Emily vanished from Mesa, her remains were found over 100 miles away in Globe - which has led to several questions such as: how did she end up there? Was she killed in Mesa and left in Globe? Or was she brought to the area before being killed?
In early June 2025, it was reported that search warrants were served, and a person of interest was interviewed. Still, Emily's killer remains unknown. The FBI has joined the murder investigation, and a monetary reward in exchange for information that could lead to an arrest/conviction has been posted.
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