June 17, 2025 • 18 mins
Emily Pike's life had taken an unexpected turn that she was not happy with, and she was fighting fiercely to escape it, but someone would take away all her chances and her future.
If you have any information that could help bring justice to Emily and her family, please contact one of the following agencies. The Gila County Sheriff’s Office at 928-200-2352, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Agent at 505-917-7830 or the San Carlos Apache Tribal Police at 928-475-1755.
Thank you People.com, University of Alabama, NBCNews.com, NativeHope.org, WSAZ.com, Koat.com, AZMirror.com, CrimeTimelines.com, AZFamily.com, AZCentral.com, Dannelle Hallan’s Emily Pike: Runaway Turned Murder on Youtube and Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
Do you have any insights, or even a case you’d like to suggest? Feel free to send it to me, you’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
This episode was written by Christy Arnhart, edited by John Lordan and is produced by LordanArts.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation or potential charges associated to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Please do not contact people you are suspicious of or attempt to harass, threaten or intimidate them in any way. Do not release information that can be used to do the same, or join in attacks being conducted by others. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
If you have any information that could help bring justice to Emily and her family, please contact one of the following agencies. The Gila County Sheriff’s Office at 928-200-2352, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Agent at 505-917-7830 or the San Carlos Apache Tribal Police at 928-475-1755.
Thank you People.com, University of Alabama, NBCNews.com, NativeHope.org, WSAZ.com, Koat.com, AZMirror.com, CrimeTimelines.com, AZFamily.com, AZCentral.com, Dannelle Hallan’s Emily Pike: Runaway Turned Murder on Youtube and Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
Do you have any insights, or even a case you’d like to suggest? Feel free to send it to me, you’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
This episode was written by Christy Arnhart, edited by John Lordan and is produced by LordanArts.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation or potential charges associated to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Please do not contact people you are suspicious of or attempt to harass, threaten or intimidate them in any way. Do not release information that can be used to do the same, or join in attacks being conducted by others. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
How much did you learn back in school about our
native tribes? When I think back to my nineteen eighties
based public education, they were little more than the people
with feathers in their hair that brought the corn to Thanksgiving.
They were cardboard cartoons that would be put up on
the classroom walls once a year, along with faces that
looked like mine. But they were wearing big black hats
(00:43):
with giant belt buckles on them. It was such a
sad understatement of a people that are connected to the
earth in ways that many of us are still struggling
to find ourselves, people that stay connected to this rich
heritage despite the attempts of many to destroy and hide
it altogether. And I don't think that I'm alone. For many,
(01:04):
your perception might also be limited to historical footnotes or
tragic stories, and yes, we are certainly looking into a
tragic story here today. But I don't want to lose
focus of these vibrant, resilient cultures and everything that they've
brought to all of us, from numerous agricultural innovations to
innovative approaches to medicine and governance. What truly sets these
(01:27):
communities apart is their profound commitment to communal living and interdependence.
Traditional Indigenous life was and often still is centered around
the collective, the well being of the entire tribe, resources, knowledge,
even child rearing. These are all shared responsibilities, and there's
(01:48):
another benefit to a community based focus on existence. When
one person's hurting, the entire community feels it. When a
single member goes missing, it's not just a private tragedy.
And because of that profound bond, these communities have a
history of rallying, of mobilizing with an intensity that can
be breathtaking. They draw upon traditional ways of gathering, on
(02:11):
the strength of their collective spirit, to search, to advocate,
to demand answers for their loved ones. How many missing
people rallies happen where you see large groups of dancers
wearing traditional clothes, or masses of people formed into passionate
drum or chanting circles. It's a fierce demonstration that in
these cultures, no one is truly alone and no one
(02:34):
is forgotten. And yet, despite this incredible legacy and ongoing presence,
Indigenous communities face disproportionate challenges and their stories are often marginalized.
Today's case, while focused on one individual, is a stark
reminder of these issues, but also highlights another blind spot
that Western civilization has when dealing with indigenous cultures. When
(02:58):
an Indigenous person is forcefully removed from their community, even
with the best of intentions, it can inflict profound and
lasting mental health trauma. This separation severs vital connections to family, language, land,
and spiritual practices, leading to a deep sense of loss, displacement,
and an erosion of their very identity. This experience can
(03:21):
manifest across generations as higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse,
and even suicide, but it doesn't have to take generations.
It can also happen to one person directly. Emily Pike
was loved. She was born and lived her whole life
in Arizona as one of the San Carlos Apache tribe.
(03:43):
This reservation covers one point eight million acres across the
counties of Hila, Graham, and Panal in eastern Arizona. The
population on the reservation is approximately eleven thousand people straw
Emily lived with several family members, including her mother, brother, aunts,
and grandmother. Reservation life can be tough, to say the least.
(04:06):
In some cases, poverty seems to hang over the tribes
like a curse. Emily's father, Jensen Pike, seemed to always
be either coming home from or heading off to prison.
In twenty twenty three, he was in jail on arson
related charges. According to azcentral dot Com, Emily's mother, Stephanie Ducella,
(04:26):
had struggled with drug abuse her daughter's entire life. This
left her unable to care for Emily at times, but
with the support of the community, Emily continued to thrive
through her childhood years. At fourteen years old, this young
woman was a bright, shining light to her family and friends.
She loved anything that sparkled, whether it was glitter or
the stars at night. Butterflies were especially important to her.
(04:50):
Makeup a new discovery. She always made the products glitter
and shine more than they were manufactured to. She was
bubbly and had a smile for everyone, but all that
was about to change forever. That summer, nine one one
received a call from the San Carlos Reservation. The person
on the telephone, which we aren't certain was Emily, but
(05:11):
her relatives believe it was, had very troubling information. They
reported that Emily had been sexually assaulted. If that wasn't
terrible enough, The response to the call was somewhat shocking.
Instead of the caller filing a report with a police officer,
the tribe's fish and Game department arrived. When San Carlos
Apache Police Chief Eliot Sneeze was asked why they responded
(05:34):
instead of an officer trained to deal with a sexual
assault situation, he couldn't give anyone a good answer. He
said only that officers were busy that day. Emily was
found near by, sitting on a hill with no shirt.
She named the relative that had violated her two investigators
and that person was arrested. Sadly, as in a lot
(05:56):
of cases we see to day, the charges against that
person would be dropped because of what was called insufficient evidence.
The offender was allowed to go free, but not Emily,
and she would never be free again. Emily was taken
into custody by the San Carlos Apache Social Services. This
would keep her away from her attacker, but it also
(06:17):
took her away from everything and everyone she had ever known.
She left her hometown and was sent to Mesa, Arizona,
to stay at the Sacred Journey Group Home for girls.
Sacred Journey, Inc. Is designed for girls age seven to eighteen.
Children can be placed there by various social service agencies,
including tribal social services departments. Emily Pike was taken there
(06:40):
in early September of twenty twenty three. Contact with her
family was tightly controlled and she was allowed to have
absolutely no contact with her mother. After only a month there,
Emily tried to take her own life. Thankfully, the attempt
was not successful, and after she was cleared by the hospital,
Emily was taken back to Sacred Journey. On September eleventh,
(07:02):
twenty twenty three, she and another child, possibly her roommate,
were reported to the police as missing from the group home.
They had escaped through their bedroom window. Fortunately, this is
not an uncommon occurrence at Sacred Journey. The Mesa Police
Department has reported that around thirty children have been reported
missing from the group home over the past three years.
(07:24):
The group home's operator points out that in most cases
these children are eventually located. In most cases, there was
(07:45):
no surveillance footage to refer to in order to see
which way the girls had taken off after their escape. Luckily,
they were later found nearby Inclinement Park. When officers found Emily,
she told them that she would not go back to
the group home. I hateid it there. She said she
was homesick and wanted to taste her of Bueila's acorn
soup and tortillas. They told officers that they were treated
(08:08):
unfairly at the group home and were made to scrub floors, baseboards, walls,
and windowsills, sometimes working on their hands and knees. Despite
their complaints, both were returned to Sacred Journey. Only nine
days later, on the twentieth, Emily was reported missing again.
When she was found, she again complained about the facility
(08:29):
and said that the staff would argue with the patients
and that made her feel very uncomfortable. She stated again
that she did not want to return there. This time,
she was sent for a mental health evaluation at MIND
twenty four to seven, essentially a walk in mental care
clinic that is always open. After the evaluation, she was
once again returned to Sacred Journey. On October thirty first,
(08:53):
Emily left the facility again and it was reported to police,
but this situation played out differently. Three hours later, officers
were informed that Sacred Journey had called and Emily had
returned to them unharmed. Residents told staff that Emily wasn't
acting right and she had told them that she had
been laced while she was out of the facility. Despite
(09:14):
the claims, Emily was not sent for medical attention, but
she was watched overnight. On November eighth, Emily tried to
take her life yet again, but was found and saved
before that could happen. When she was released from the hospital,
she left with her family and was even allowed to
have Thanksgiving dinner with them. Unfortunately, there was some kind
(09:35):
of disagreement during this holiday and Emily ran away. When
officers found her, she refused to talk to her relatives.
She was breaking down emotionally talking about dying and was
heard to say that she would meet her relatives in Hell.
This led to a year long stay at a mental
health facility before she was again returned to the one
(09:56):
place that seemed to do or no good, Sacred Journey
in December of twenty four. She had only been there
for two months before she ran away again, this being
the final time she would do so. At seven pm
on January twenty seventh, twenty twenty five, Emily was reported
missing to the police. Witnesses saw her an hour later,
at the intersection near Masa Drive and mckellips Road, but
(10:19):
officers couldn't locate her. When her roommate was questioned, she
told investigators that Emily had snuck out to meet with
a boy that she had met while taking guitar lessons.
When the staff was questioned, they offered little helpful information.
Quote she's got a pink and gray striped long sleeved shirt.
That's what one of the girls here at the group
home said she had. Sadly, Emily was not found that night,
(10:43):
and she didn't come back on her own like previously. Meanwhile,
life on the reservation went on as normal, with no
one even knowing that Emily had disappeared. No one had
bothered to call her family. There was a lot of
misinformation flying around in the first days of her disappearance.
Someone stated that Emily was on the reservation staying with
her mother. Those reports were found to be false. On
(11:07):
the twenty ninth, a statewide missing person bulletin was issued
and the group home was told that if officers came
into contact with Emily, they would let Sacred Journey know.
The police asked the public for help in finding her
and asked that anyone with a ring cam to please
review their footage looking for anyone that matched Emily's description.
During this time, anonymous calls came in and they were
(11:30):
checked out. Facebook posts claiming to have helpful information were
all investigated, but none found any trace of Emily. On
Valentine's Day, February fourteenth, twenty twenty five, in the brush
and cactus along Highway sixty near Forest Road three point
fifty five, two people walking a trail saw two contractors
trash bags. These are heavy duty, large black trash bags.
(11:54):
They called authorities to report these suspicious bags, who came
out to check them and found that they were filled
with human remains. They had found Emily Pike, but they
didn't know that yet. She had last been seen over
one hundred miles away from this location. The bags were
found only fifty miles from her home on the reservation.
(12:15):
From the moment investigators arrived, they quickly determined that this
was not the place that this unknown person had been killed.
This was the dumping spot. The actual murder scene was
clearly someplace else. Secrets are rarely kept for long these days.
Soon an inner office memo from the police department hit
the very public pages of Facebook. This memo was very
(12:37):
graphic and should never have been seen by the public,
let alone Emily's mother, Stephanie, Even though the identity had
not been positively confirmed at this point, as soon as
she saw it, she knew that it was her daughter.
Stephanie called the police station to confirm the news with them,
instead of it happening the other way around like it
usually does. A mother should not find out on social
(12:59):
media about her daughter's dismembered body, Stephanie later wrote in
a statement to Arizona State legislators. On February twenty seventh,
the Healey County Sheriff's Office officially released a statement confirming
that the remains were indeed Emily Pike. Emily's remains had
been dismembered. It was so bad that an autopsy couldn't
determine the cause of death, but they did find that
(13:21):
she had suffered face and head trauma before her dismemberment.
While most of her remains were in the bags, her
hands and arms have never been found. Very little has
been released in regards to this investigation. We don't know
if there's a suspect, whether there were prints or DNA
found on the trash bags or what approaches were being
used to try to close this case. Tribe Chairman Rambler
(13:45):
stated in a letter regarding Emily's death, this crime must
not go unsolved. Emily was murdered in a cruel, depraved,
and heinous act and the perpetrator or perpetrators must be
held accountable. But the investigation to Emily's murder would start
another investigation. An official inquiry was opened in regards to
(14:06):
the Sacred Journey group home. While officials found that Sacred
Journey held no responsibility in her death, these facilities are
now being called on to titan and refine their procedures.
In these cases, Emily would easily escape the facility time
and time again, simply using her bedroom window and with
no surveillance cameras. The staff never knew what direction she
(14:27):
had gone off in. Since the discovery of Emily's remains,
the San Carlos Apache Tribe has raised serious questions about
Sacred Journey safety, security, monitoring, licensing, and operational standards. Of course,
that isn't going to be enough to find justice for
Emily Pike. The San Carlos Apache Tribal Council is offering
(14:48):
a seventy five thousand dollars reward. The FBI has also
offered another reward of seventy five thousand dollars for any
person providing independently verifiable information identifying the ends individual or
individuals responsible for Emily's disappearance and murder. And Silent Witness,
a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with the community, media,
(15:10):
and law enforcement to solve and prevent crime, has offered
an additional twenty five thousand dollars reward. In March of
twenty twenty five, the San Carlos Apache Tribes sent a
letter to the Arizona State Legislature. They were asking them
to pass a bill that had been introduced before Emily's death.
Named House Bill two two eight one. It institutes a
(15:31):
system similar to the Amber Alert, but would be activated
when an Indigenous person is reported missing. In May of
twenty twenty five, it was passed and has since been
renamed Emily's Law. Will now look to help other young
Indigenous women be located much more quickly thanks to the
Turquoise Alert System, a rapid response system for missing persons
(15:53):
under the age of sixty five who are members of
federally recognized Indian tribes as anyone can amaud j. Emily's
death has been very difficult for her family to accept. Still,
they trudge through everyday life hoping that someday soon her
killer or killers will be brought to justice. They're asking
for the public's help, but they're also asking for something else.
(16:16):
They want her to be remembered not by her gruesome death,
but by the things that made Emily so unique. She
loved her family, She loved to draw, She wanted to
go to college. Even though things may have been difficult
at times, she had goals. She had a full life
ahead of her, and that life was cut short. Her
mother stated, You'll never be forgotten. I love you until
(16:40):
we meet again. Rest in peace. Emily would have been
fifteen years old in May of twenty twenty five at
the time of her murder. Emily Pike was an Indigenous
female who stood four feet ten inches tall and weighed
one hundred and fifteen pounds. Her hair and eyes were brown.
She was lassi in wearing a pink and gray shirt.
If you have any information that can help bring justice
(17:03):
to Emily and her family, please contact one of the
following agencies. The HeLa County Sheriff's Office at nine two
eight two zero zero two three two five, the Bureau
of Indian Affairs Special Agent at five zero five nine
one seven seven eight three zero, or the San Carlos
Apache Tribal Police at nine two eight four seven five
(17:23):
one seven five five. Her family wants us all to
say her name never forget Emilypike. Do you have any
insights or even a case you'd like to suggest, feel
free to send it to me. You'll find a comment
form and case submission link at Lordenarts dot com. Thank
You People dot com, University of Alabama, Nbcnews dot com,
(17:47):
Nativehope dot org, WSAZ dot com, Koat dot com, az
Mirror dot com, Crime Timelines dot com, Azfamily dot com,
Azycentral dot com. Danielle Hallin's Emilypike Runaway Turn Murder video
on YouTube and Wikipedia for information contributing to today's story.
This episode was written by Christy Arnhardt, edited by John Lordon,
(18:09):
and produced by Lorden Arts. A big thank you to
the supporters of Seriously Mysterious over the past several years.
I appreciate each and every one of you, but most importantly,
I appreciate you for listening. I'm John Lordon, please join
us again next week for another case I know you'll
find seriously mysterious
How much did you learn back in school about our
native tribes? When I think back to my nineteen eighties
based public education, they were little more than the people
with feathers in their hair that brought the corn to Thanksgiving.
They were cardboard cartoons that would be put up on
the classroom walls once a year, along with faces that
looked like mine. But they were wearing big black hats
(00:43):
with giant belt buckles on them. It was such a
sad understatement of a people that are connected to the
earth in ways that many of us are still struggling
to find ourselves, people that stay connected to this rich
heritage despite the attempts of many to destroy and hide
it altogether. And I don't think that I'm alone. For many,
(01:04):
your perception might also be limited to historical footnotes or
tragic stories, and yes, we are certainly looking into a
tragic story here today. But I don't want to lose
focus of these vibrant, resilient cultures and everything that they've
brought to all of us, from numerous agricultural innovations to
innovative approaches to medicine and governance. What truly sets these
(01:27):
communities apart is their profound commitment to communal living and interdependence.
Traditional Indigenous life was and often still is centered around
the collective, the well being of the entire tribe, resources, knowledge,
even child rearing. These are all shared responsibilities, and there's
(01:48):
another benefit to a community based focus on existence. When
one person's hurting, the entire community feels it. When a
single member goes missing, it's not just a private tragedy.
And because of that profound bond, these communities have a
history of rallying, of mobilizing with an intensity that can
be breathtaking. They draw upon traditional ways of gathering, on
(02:11):
the strength of their collective spirit, to search, to advocate,
to demand answers for their loved ones. How many missing
people rallies happen where you see large groups of dancers
wearing traditional clothes, or masses of people formed into passionate
drum or chanting circles. It's a fierce demonstration that in
these cultures, no one is truly alone and no one
(02:34):
is forgotten. And yet, despite this incredible legacy and ongoing presence,
Indigenous communities face disproportionate challenges and their stories are often marginalized.
Today's case, while focused on one individual, is a stark
reminder of these issues, but also highlights another blind spot
that Western civilization has when dealing with indigenous cultures. When
(02:58):
an Indigenous person is forcefully removed from their community, even
with the best of intentions, it can inflict profound and
lasting mental health trauma. This separation severs vital connections to family, language, land,
and spiritual practices, leading to a deep sense of loss, displacement,
and an erosion of their very identity. This experience can
(03:21):
manifest across generations as higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse,
and even suicide, but it doesn't have to take generations.
It can also happen to one person directly. Emily Pike
was loved. She was born and lived her whole life
in Arizona as one of the San Carlos Apache tribe.
(03:43):
This reservation covers one point eight million acres across the
counties of Hila, Graham, and Panal in eastern Arizona. The
population on the reservation is approximately eleven thousand people straw
Emily lived with several family members, including her mother, brother, aunts,
and grandmother. Reservation life can be tough, to say the least.
(04:06):
In some cases, poverty seems to hang over the tribes
like a curse. Emily's father, Jensen Pike, seemed to always
be either coming home from or heading off to prison.
In twenty twenty three, he was in jail on arson
related charges. According to azcentral dot Com, Emily's mother, Stephanie Ducella,
(04:26):
had struggled with drug abuse her daughter's entire life. This
left her unable to care for Emily at times, but
with the support of the community, Emily continued to thrive
through her childhood years. At fourteen years old, this young
woman was a bright, shining light to her family and friends.
She loved anything that sparkled, whether it was glitter or
the stars at night. Butterflies were especially important to her.
(04:50):
Makeup a new discovery. She always made the products glitter
and shine more than they were manufactured to. She was
bubbly and had a smile for everyone, but all that
was about to change forever. That summer, nine one one
received a call from the San Carlos Reservation. The person
on the telephone, which we aren't certain was Emily, but
(05:11):
her relatives believe it was, had very troubling information. They
reported that Emily had been sexually assaulted. If that wasn't
terrible enough, The response to the call was somewhat shocking.
Instead of the caller filing a report with a police officer,
the tribe's fish and Game department arrived. When San Carlos
Apache Police Chief Eliot Sneeze was asked why they responded
(05:34):
instead of an officer trained to deal with a sexual
assault situation, he couldn't give anyone a good answer. He
said only that officers were busy that day. Emily was
found near by, sitting on a hill with no shirt.
She named the relative that had violated her two investigators
and that person was arrested. Sadly, as in a lot
(05:56):
of cases we see to day, the charges against that
person would be dropped because of what was called insufficient evidence.
The offender was allowed to go free, but not Emily,
and she would never be free again. Emily was taken
into custody by the San Carlos Apache Social Services. This
would keep her away from her attacker, but it also
(06:17):
took her away from everything and everyone she had ever known.
She left her hometown and was sent to Mesa, Arizona,
to stay at the Sacred Journey Group Home for girls.
Sacred Journey, Inc. Is designed for girls age seven to eighteen.
Children can be placed there by various social service agencies,
including tribal social services departments. Emily Pike was taken there
(06:40):
in early September of twenty twenty three. Contact with her
family was tightly controlled and she was allowed to have
absolutely no contact with her mother. After only a month there,
Emily tried to take her own life. Thankfully, the attempt
was not successful, and after she was cleared by the hospital,
Emily was taken back to Sacred Journey. On September eleventh,
(07:02):
twenty twenty three, she and another child, possibly her roommate,
were reported to the police as missing from the group home.
They had escaped through their bedroom window. Fortunately, this is
not an uncommon occurrence at Sacred Journey. The Mesa Police
Department has reported that around thirty children have been reported
missing from the group home over the past three years.
(07:24):
The group home's operator points out that in most cases
these children are eventually located. In most cases, there was
(07:45):
no surveillance footage to refer to in order to see
which way the girls had taken off after their escape. Luckily,
they were later found nearby Inclinement Park. When officers found Emily,
she told them that she would not go back to
the group home. I hateid it there. She said she
was homesick and wanted to taste her of Bueila's acorn
soup and tortillas. They told officers that they were treated
(08:08):
unfairly at the group home and were made to scrub floors, baseboards, walls,
and windowsills, sometimes working on their hands and knees. Despite
their complaints, both were returned to Sacred Journey. Only nine
days later, on the twentieth, Emily was reported missing again.
When she was found, she again complained about the facility
(08:29):
and said that the staff would argue with the patients
and that made her feel very uncomfortable. She stated again
that she did not want to return there. This time,
she was sent for a mental health evaluation at MIND
twenty four to seven, essentially a walk in mental care
clinic that is always open. After the evaluation, she was
once again returned to Sacred Journey. On October thirty first,
(08:53):
Emily left the facility again and it was reported to police,
but this situation played out differently. Three hours later, officers
were informed that Sacred Journey had called and Emily had
returned to them unharmed. Residents told staff that Emily wasn't
acting right and she had told them that she had
been laced while she was out of the facility. Despite
(09:14):
the claims, Emily was not sent for medical attention, but
she was watched overnight. On November eighth, Emily tried to
take her life yet again, but was found and saved
before that could happen. When she was released from the hospital,
she left with her family and was even allowed to
have Thanksgiving dinner with them. Unfortunately, there was some kind
(09:35):
of disagreement during this holiday and Emily ran away. When
officers found her, she refused to talk to her relatives.
She was breaking down emotionally talking about dying and was
heard to say that she would meet her relatives in Hell.
This led to a year long stay at a mental
health facility before she was again returned to the one
(09:56):
place that seemed to do or no good, Sacred Journey
in December of twenty four. She had only been there
for two months before she ran away again, this being
the final time she would do so. At seven pm
on January twenty seventh, twenty twenty five, Emily was reported
missing to the police. Witnesses saw her an hour later,
at the intersection near Masa Drive and mckellips Road, but
(10:19):
officers couldn't locate her. When her roommate was questioned, she
told investigators that Emily had snuck out to meet with
a boy that she had met while taking guitar lessons.
When the staff was questioned, they offered little helpful information.
Quote she's got a pink and gray striped long sleeved shirt.
That's what one of the girls here at the group
home said she had. Sadly, Emily was not found that night,
(10:43):
and she didn't come back on her own like previously. Meanwhile,
life on the reservation went on as normal, with no
one even knowing that Emily had disappeared. No one had
bothered to call her family. There was a lot of
misinformation flying around in the first days of her disappearance.
Someone stated that Emily was on the reservation staying with
her mother. Those reports were found to be false. On
(11:07):
the twenty ninth, a statewide missing person bulletin was issued
and the group home was told that if officers came
into contact with Emily, they would let Sacred Journey know.
The police asked the public for help in finding her
and asked that anyone with a ring cam to please
review their footage looking for anyone that matched Emily's description.
During this time, anonymous calls came in and they were
(11:30):
checked out. Facebook posts claiming to have helpful information were
all investigated, but none found any trace of Emily. On
Valentine's Day, February fourteenth, twenty twenty five, in the brush
and cactus along Highway sixty near Forest Road three point
fifty five, two people walking a trail saw two contractors
trash bags. These are heavy duty, large black trash bags.
(11:54):
They called authorities to report these suspicious bags, who came
out to check them and found that they were filled
with human remains. They had found Emily Pike, but they
didn't know that yet. She had last been seen over
one hundred miles away from this location. The bags were
found only fifty miles from her home on the reservation.
(12:15):
From the moment investigators arrived, they quickly determined that this
was not the place that this unknown person had been killed.
This was the dumping spot. The actual murder scene was
clearly someplace else. Secrets are rarely kept for long these days.
Soon an inner office memo from the police department hit
the very public pages of Facebook. This memo was very
(12:37):
graphic and should never have been seen by the public,
let alone Emily's mother, Stephanie, Even though the identity had
not been positively confirmed at this point, as soon as
she saw it, she knew that it was her daughter.
Stephanie called the police station to confirm the news with them,
instead of it happening the other way around like it
usually does. A mother should not find out on social
(12:59):
media about her daughter's dismembered body, Stephanie later wrote in
a statement to Arizona State legislators. On February twenty seventh,
the Healey County Sheriff's Office officially released a statement confirming
that the remains were indeed Emily Pike. Emily's remains had
been dismembered. It was so bad that an autopsy couldn't
determine the cause of death, but they did find that
(13:21):
she had suffered face and head trauma before her dismemberment.
While most of her remains were in the bags, her
hands and arms have never been found. Very little has
been released in regards to this investigation. We don't know
if there's a suspect, whether there were prints or DNA
found on the trash bags or what approaches were being
used to try to close this case. Tribe Chairman Rambler
(13:45):
stated in a letter regarding Emily's death, this crime must
not go unsolved. Emily was murdered in a cruel, depraved,
and heinous act and the perpetrator or perpetrators must be
held accountable. But the investigation to Emily's murder would start
another investigation. An official inquiry was opened in regards to
(14:06):
the Sacred Journey group home. While officials found that Sacred
Journey held no responsibility in her death, these facilities are
now being called on to titan and refine their procedures.
In these cases, Emily would easily escape the facility time
and time again, simply using her bedroom window and with
no surveillance cameras. The staff never knew what direction she
(14:27):
had gone off in. Since the discovery of Emily's remains,
the San Carlos Apache Tribe has raised serious questions about
Sacred Journey safety, security, monitoring, licensing, and operational standards. Of course,
that isn't going to be enough to find justice for
Emily Pike. The San Carlos Apache Tribal Council is offering
(14:48):
a seventy five thousand dollars reward. The FBI has also
offered another reward of seventy five thousand dollars for any
person providing independently verifiable information identifying the ends individual or
individuals responsible for Emily's disappearance and murder. And Silent Witness,
a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with the community, media,
(15:10):
and law enforcement to solve and prevent crime, has offered
an additional twenty five thousand dollars reward. In March of
twenty twenty five, the San Carlos Apache Tribes sent a
letter to the Arizona State Legislature. They were asking them
to pass a bill that had been introduced before Emily's death.
Named House Bill two two eight one. It institutes a
(15:31):
system similar to the Amber Alert, but would be activated
when an Indigenous person is reported missing. In May of
twenty twenty five, it was passed and has since been
renamed Emily's Law. Will now look to help other young
Indigenous women be located much more quickly thanks to the
Turquoise Alert System, a rapid response system for missing persons
(15:53):
under the age of sixty five who are members of
federally recognized Indian tribes as anyone can amaud j. Emily's
death has been very difficult for her family to accept. Still,
they trudge through everyday life hoping that someday soon her
killer or killers will be brought to justice. They're asking
for the public's help, but they're also asking for something else.
(16:16):
They want her to be remembered not by her gruesome death,
but by the things that made Emily so unique. She
loved her family, She loved to draw, She wanted to
go to college. Even though things may have been difficult
at times, she had goals. She had a full life
ahead of her, and that life was cut short. Her
mother stated, You'll never be forgotten. I love you until
(16:40):
we meet again. Rest in peace. Emily would have been
fifteen years old in May of twenty twenty five at
the time of her murder. Emily Pike was an Indigenous
female who stood four feet ten inches tall and weighed
one hundred and fifteen pounds. Her hair and eyes were brown.
She was lassi in wearing a pink and gray shirt.
If you have any information that can help bring justice
(17:03):
to Emily and her family, please contact one of the
following agencies. The HeLa County Sheriff's Office at nine two
eight two zero zero two three two five, the Bureau
of Indian Affairs Special Agent at five zero five nine
one seven seven eight three zero, or the San Carlos
Apache Tribal Police at nine two eight four seven five
(17:23):
one seven five five. Her family wants us all to
say her name never forget Emilypike. Do you have any
insights or even a case you'd like to suggest, feel
free to send it to me. You'll find a comment
form and case submission link at Lordenarts dot com. Thank
You People dot com, University of Alabama, Nbcnews dot com,
(17:47):
Nativehope dot org, WSAZ dot com, Koat dot com, az
Mirror dot com, Crime Timelines dot com, Azfamily dot com,
Azycentral dot com. Danielle Hallin's Emilypike Runaway Turn Murder video
on YouTube and Wikipedia for information contributing to today's story.
This episode was written by Christy Arnhardt, edited by John Lordon,
(18:09):
and produced by Lorden Arts. A big thank you to
the supporters of Seriously Mysterious over the past several years.
I appreciate each and every one of you, but most importantly,
I appreciate you for listening. I'm John Lordon, please join
us again next week for another case I know you'll
find seriously mysterious
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