Hundreds attend vigil in honor of 14-year-old Emily Pike in Mesa

MESA, AZ (AZFamily/AP) — Hundreds of people gathered at an intersection in Mesa, near the group home of 14-year-old Emily Pike, on Thursday evening to honor her life and to press for changes that might help curb the violence that impacts Native American communities.

Emily’s family and close loved ones went inside Encounter AZ Church near McKellips Road and Mesa Drive, while others paid their respects outside and viewed the vigil’s program on a large inflatable projector. Clad in red, they embraced, shielded candle flames on the windy night and held posters that read “No more stolen sisters” and “Justice for Emily Pike.”

“These tears that are shed are a part of a healing process,” said Mary Kim Titla, a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. Titla was wearing pink — Pike’s favorite color. She said Pike had dreamed of becoming a veterinarian.

It was a beautiful tribute but heartbreaking at the same time. Pain could be felt in the area for the terrible loss of Emily and for the thousands of other indigenous women who have been murdered and missing. Many different tribes came together to remember Emily and call for her killer to be caught.

In January, police said Pike had run away from a Mesa group home. Detectives then found her dismembered remains off a rural road northeast of Globe on Valentine’s Day.

Pike was from the San Carlos Apache reservation, and her former roommate told Arizona’s Family she came to Mesa due to her struggle with mental health and because there were better resources to help in the Valley.

“It’s tragic. There aren’t really words to express the loss and the depth of the tragedy of it, but just the outrage also. This poor girl. I can’t imagine what she went through in her last moments of life and she’s one of many stories,” said Shiloh Ashley, who attended the vigil.

She said she was kidnapped when she was younger and many of her family members have been, too. That’s why she had a red handprint across her mouth that represents the silence of the wider issues of murdered and missing Indegenous women.

These types of vigils and events can be hugely helpful to investigators, according to longtime investigator Roger Geisler. He now works with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in the cold case unit but previously spent 28 years with the Glendale Police Department.

While Geisler isn’t associated with Pike’s investigation, he says tips from the public are huge.

“In 2011 with the Jhessye Shockley case, we had over 700 tips from all around the country,” he said. “Sometimes, tips don’t give you the evidence you need, but they will definitely lead you into a direction.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Gila County Sheriff’s Office detective at 928-200-2352, the Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent at 505-917-7830 or the San Carlos Apache Tribal Police detective at 928-475-1755.

Advocates say the crisis stems from colonization and forced removal, which marginalized Indigenous people by erasing their culture and identity. Limited funding, understaffed police departments and a jurisdictional checkerboard that prevents authorities from working together have only exacerbated the issue.

‘Everyone’s daughter’

Pike’s case has drawn the attention of hundreds of thousands of people through social media. Some have shared photos of themselves, their mouths covered with a red handprint that has become emblematic of the movement to end the violence. Posts included the hashtags #NoMoreStolenSisters, #SayHerName and #JusticeforEmily.

The girl’s basketball team at Miami High School in Arizona wore jerseys with “MMIW” and a red handprint on the back.

“We’re all mourning this terrible loss of a precious young girl. Emily really has become everyone’s daughter, granddaughter and niece,” Titla said.

Titla herself has three female relatives who went missing and were killed. She said the community has come together to honor Pike and to demand justice. This shared solidarity comes from a desire for healing from historical and generational trauma, she said.

“It affects so many people,” Titla said, “and I think the reason is because we all know someone — it could be a relative, it could be a friend, it could be in our own tribal community.”

What happened to Emily?

Pike’s remains were found northeast of Globe, the Gila County Sheriff’s Office said.

Like many others, her case involves multiple agencies. Gila County is working with Mesa police, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Mesa police typically don’t investigate runaway reports, but the agency did list Pike as missing on its Facebook page two days after the group home reported she was gone.

The Arizona Department of Child Safety requires notification of a child’s missing status to occur within a day of receiving the information. However, that requirement doesn’t extend to tribal social services, according to Anika Robinson, president of the nonprofit foster care advocacy group ASA Now. Pike was in the custody of San Carlos Apache Tribe Social Services, which could not be reached for comment, at the time she went missing from the group home in Mesa.

Mesa police reported Pike as missing to the National Crime Information Center the evening of Jan. 27. Police have said it would have been up to the group home to contact her case manager who then would have contacted Pike’s family or tribe.

The girl’s mother, Steff Dosela, has said in interviews that she didn’t hear about her daughter’s disappearance until a week later.

Robinson questioned why it took so long. “Imagine what probably had already transpired by that week,” she said.

Addressing the crisis

Gov. Katie Hobbs created a task force in 2023 to identify policies for addressing the high rates of disappearances and killings among the Native American population. A final report is due in 2026.

Washington, New Mexico, Michigan, Wisconsin and Wyoming also have created task forces dedicated to the crisis.

President Donald Trump, during his first term, created the nation’s first task force to begin looking at the problem, dubbing it Operation Lady Liberty. The Biden administration followed with a special unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. attorneys’ offices in key areas began taking a closer look at unsolved cases, and top officials held listening sessions across the nation. Just last month, the federal government launched an initiative to help solve missing and unidentified person cases.

Tiffany Jiron, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, said more comprehensive law enforcement training that address jurisdictional challenges, increased funding for tribal programs that provide shelter, mental health resources and legal aid to impacted families and survivors and strengthened alert systems are among the policy solutions that advocates should continue to fight for to address the systemic crisis.

“As an Indigenous people, we are not invisible,” she said. “We deserve just as much attention from law enforcement. Our cases are involving real people, real families, real children.”

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