Former roommate describes what happened before Emily Pike’s Mesa disappearance

MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — New details shed light on what happened inside a Mesa group home from which 14-year-old Emily Pike ran from before her dismembered remains were discovered on a rural forest road 100 miles away.

Pike was last seen alive on Jan. 27 near Mesa Drive and McKellips Road. The Gila County Sheriff’s Office said her body parts were found in trash bags on Feb. 14 off U.S. 60 northeast of Globe.

Pike’s former roommate in the group home shared what happened before the teen’s disappearance and why she may have left in the first place. This fills in several missing pieces about what Pike’s life was like in the group home, a place where she was not the first, or only, teen to have run away from.

“My relationship with Emily was trying to steer her in the right direction because it’s hard being in the group home,” said her former roommate, who we’re referring to as Chelsea to protect her identity.

Chelsea said she lived at the group home near Mesa Drive and McKellips for four years and that Emily lived there two different times.

Pike was from the San Carlos Apache reservation, and Chelsea said she came to Mesa due to her struggle with mental health and because there were better resources to help in the Valley.

While Chelsea recently moved out, she is in contact with many girls who still live there. She said Pike left the home in late January because she wanted to visit a boy she met while taking guitar lessons. Chelsea said that at the time Pike left, a church group was conducting activities at the group home.

“What it looked like was that the church was there, and that served as a distraction of when Emily left,” Chelsea said. “She left because she wanted to go out and see the boy she liked, and she wanted to talk to him. She either used the back door or used the window and left as everyone was distracted.”

Police tell Arizona’s Family that the group home manager reported Pike missing. And Chelsea said Emily had run away before.

“My time being there, I’ve seen many, many kids run away from this group home,” Chelsea explained.

According to the Mesa Police Department, officers took 31 missing person reports from the group home over the past three years involving two adults and 18 juveniles. Police say some of the juveniles ran away multiple times, so a new report was filed for each instance.

Stuart Somershoe, a retired Phoenix Police missing persons detective, said this is common but that these cases quickly become high-risk.

“A lot of our human trafficking and sex trafficking originate from group home kids because they are the most vulnerable victims out there,” Somershoe said.

Based on where Emily’s remains were found off U.S. 60 heading northeast, Chelsea believes she was just trying to go home.

“I feel like she just ran away, and she was trying to hitchhike back to her reservation to see her parents, and she just got picked up by the wrong person,” Chelsea said.

The Gila County Sheriff’s Office is the lead on this investigation. Arizona’s Family asked for an update on the case Tuesday, but they did not respond.

A vigil in Pike’s honor is planned for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, where she was last seen alive.

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