Latest news with #EmilyPike
Fox News
07-06-2025
- Fox News
Third teen death in national forest raises alarm as two high schoolers found shot during camping trip
High school students Pandora Kjolsrud and Evan Clark were found dead in a remote area of Arizona on May 27, marking the second and third teenagers found dead in Tonto National Forest since February. Kjolsrud, 18, and Clark, 17, were both found shot to death on May 27 near Mount Ord in the Tonto National Forest, north of Mesa, Arizona. A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office told Fox News Digital that the deaths are being investigated as homicides. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said it's "actively" investigating the deaths, but didn't release additional details. According to Fox 10, the Arcadia High School students were on a camping trip when they were found shot to death. The remains of Emily Pike, 14, were found on Feb. 14 in Tonto National Park, 19 miles north of Globe, Arizona. She went missing from a group home in January, according to Fox 10, which reported her death was treated as a homicide. Her body was found dismembered more than 70 miles away from the group home she was reported missing from. No arrests have been made in connection with Pike's death. The FBI and several local law enforcement agencies are investigating her death. There has not been any connection made between the two cases, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. A GoFundme for Kjolsrud's family says the 18-year-old "had a vivacious personality with an infectious smile that brought joy to so many." "She was a beautiful human being and a bright light in this world who loved every single person she met and had a unique ability to make every person feel special," the GoFundme stated. In a message attached to a fundraiser, Sandra Malibu Sweeney, Clark's mother, said that he "wasn't a typical teenager." "He was funny, bright, kind and entrepreneurial. He was an old soul who was sensitive and loving. Evan wrote me letters, the last of which he gave me on Mother's Day that was so touching it made me both laugh and cry. He was special. He deserved a long life." A community member who spoke with Fox 10 said she wants answers about Kjolsrud and Clark's deaths. "It's really scary that it's just so close to home and then their family. That's the next thing you think about. It's like, what are they going through? What happened to them? Are they going to get answers?" one community member said.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Yahoo
Native American group leader traveling to AZ to spread awareness on missing indigenous people
The Brief Keely Birdtail, a Cherokee Comanche native, is traveling to Arizona from Indiana. She is spreading awareness on the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) PHOENIX - An Indiana woman rode all the way out to eastern Arizona to spread awareness about Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. "I left Indiana four weeks ago on a mission to start spreading awareness for MMIW/MMIC/MMIP," said Keely Birdtail. The backstory Birdtail is a Cherokee Comanche native who is originally from Oklahoma. She started a group called Missing One Society, which is a motorcycle group dedicated to helping Indigenous people with missing relatives. Her destination was the San Carlos Apache Reservation, where she met with the family of Emily Pike to discuss her unsolved murder. Birdtail says Emily's murder has reopened the conversation that could help Native tribes across the country. What Birdtail Said "We need to spread the word, and let her be the catalyst of us uniting together as one tribe instead of all these little tribes," said Birdtail. Birdtail says her background as a mentor at Native American juvenile detention centers gave her insight into what teens like Emily are faced with. "I really got to the full aspect of what their lives were like and how they could've quickly went into something like this," Birdtail said. What's next Birdtail says she hopes to start up grief counseling and life coaching for Indigenous youth across the nation, but hopes the bigger message is that solving Emily's murder and other unsolved Indigenous murders will take more than just her. "I'm just a drop in the ocean, like I said before," said Birdtail. "With all of us, we become the ocean. We can do this, we can cause, we can get some justice, we can get some answers, maybe we can get some things done as a group." What you can do The reward in Emily Pike's case has increased to $175,000. If you have any information, you're asked to call the FBI's tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
New York Post
05-06-2025
- New York Post
New bodycam video shows teen wanted out of group home before she was found dead, dismembered: ‘I hate it there'
A 14-year-old girl who was found dismembered on the side of a road in Arizona had previously told police that she hated the group home she had vanished from when she had run away years earlier, new body camera footage shows. Emily Pike was murdered after she disappeared on Jan. 27 from the Mesa group home, run by Sacred Journey Inc. — where she was reported missing three different times before in 2023, according to ABC 15. New bodycam footage of one of the previous incidents, dated Sept. 20, 2023, shows Emily walking along a canal when an officer calls her name repeatedly as he approaches her and asks her to stop. 'I don't want to go back,' she tells the officer, breaking down into tears and pleading to see her mom. Emily Pike's remains were found on the side of a dirt road in February. ABC15 The teen, whose family lives on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, insists that the facility is not her home, telling the cop she'd rather live with her grandmother instead, the video obtained by ABC 15 shows. At one point in the clip, she tells the officers no one understands her or is going to help her. 'I'm not going to go to that f–cking group home,' Emily says. 'I hate it there.' In each of the times Emily went missing in 2023, she was either returned to the home or taken to a behavioral health center within a matter of hours, the outlet reported. In another bodycam recording taken the day she went missing more than a year later, an officer receives a phone call from a group home employee claiming Emily was gone, which she relayed was something she'd done before. 'I looked under the bed and the closet,' the female staffer, who said she'd worked with the company for 11 years, told police. 'I looked outside. The gate was open. The screen door, the screen window was kicked out.' Emily's body was later found on the side of a dirt road off of US 60. It took authorities weeks to confirm the remains belonged to Emily. Her autopsy results showed she suffered visible face and head trauma. A head and torso were discovered in large bags with her legs in separate bags, but the girl's arms and hands were not found, the Gila County Sheriff's Office said after she was identified. The teen told police in 2023 that she hated living at the group home. ABC15 Police said in March they had identified three suspects in the savage slaying — however, no arrests have been made, according to ABC 15. The Mesa Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Indian Affairs have organized a task force to track down Emily's killer. 'She was just an innocent … she was a baby,' the girl's devastated mother, Steff Dosela, said after her death was confirmed. The Department of Child Safety told lawmakers at a legislative hearing on group home protocol last month that Emily was in the care of Tribal Social Services and was placed in the care of Sacred Journey Inc. by the tribe, according to ABC 15. San Carlos Apache Attorney General Alex Richie said the group home alerted police and Tribal Social Services, however, CPS was not convinced she was actually missing 'because of the child's past behaviors.'
Daily Mail
04-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Chilling video of girl, 14, who went missing from her group home... then was found dumped by the side of the road
Chilling police bodycam footage showed the moment an Arizona teen was found by the side of a road on one of the times she fled her group home before she was brutally murdered earlier this year. Emily Pike, 14, was seen in the newly-released video running away in September 2023, one of at least four instances she went AWOL as she 'hated' her foster home. The clip showed her being approached by a cop as she walked along the street, and she initially denied being the missing girl before telling the cop: 'I just want to see my mom.' The then-13-year-old cried as she told the officer her group home is 'not her home', and repeatedly said she wanted to speak to her family. 'I'm not going to go to that f***ing group home,' she said in the footage from ABC15. 'I hate it there.' The teenager eventually got into the car with the officer, and authorities said on each of the times she left her home officers either took her back to the group home or to a behavioral health center. Emily ran away for the final time on January 27, 2025, when she broke a door to her group home and walked out on foot, before her dismembered body was found almost three weeks later. No arrests have been made and no suspects named in her case, with authorities releasing the new bodycam footage as Arizona lawmakers opened an investigation into her murder and alleged issues in the foster group home. Although Emily lived at the group home due to mental health issues, her family lived nearby on the San Carlos Apache reservation. She had run away from the home on at least four occasions, with the final time coming in January when she was brutally murdered by an at-large killer. Authorities are offering a reward of $175,000 for information leading to her killer, with the FBI and the San Carlos Apache Tribe contributing to the fund. What exactly happened to Emily when she left for the final time remains a mystery, with her dismembered body found three weeks later almost 100 miles from the group home. Her remains were hidden in a forest off US 60 near Globe, Arizona, and investigators said her body parts were stuffed in several contractor garbage bags. Her head and torso were in one bag and her legs in another, with the teenager's arms and hands still missing. Alongside the release of the footage from September 2023, authorities also revealed footage from when she was reported missing for the final time. The bodycam footage showed an officer asking a staffer at her group home, operated by Sacred Journey Inc., if Emily had run away before. 'Yeah, she had a while back,' the staffer said. 'She's got a pink and gray striped long-sleeved shirt,' they continued. 'That's what one of the girls here at the group home said she had. 'I looked outside. The gate was open. The screen door, the screen window was kicked out.' The bodycams were shown as a legislative hearing last month opened an investigation into Emily's murder and protocols at Sacred Journey Inc. The group home does not have a contract with the state, but the Department of Child Safety told lawmakers Emily was in the care of Tribal Social Services as her native tribe placed her in the care of the home. The teen's family say they are told investigators are looking at three potential suspects, as her mother Steff Dosela described her as a 'very happy and kind person' San Carlos Apache Attorney General Alex Richie defended the home as he said Emily's repeat attempts to run away from the home led them to not be 'convinced based on what they were saying that the child was actually missing.' The teen's family say they are told investigators are looking at three potential suspects, but no names have been released and Emily's murder remains a mystery. 'She was just an innocent… she was a baby,' her mother Steff Dosela told WCJB. 'She was a very happy and kind person.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Annual sale: 5 reasons to subscribe to azcentral
[Subscribe now. Sign up here.] You can play a vital role in supporting local journalism that you and your community can trust. With an subscription, you can help our journalists hold those in power accountable. With a subscription, you can also be one of the first to learn about breaking news with news alerts, flip through a digital replica of the print paper, get exclusive newsletters and more. Already a subscriber? Whether you get home delivery of the print edition or have a digital-only subscription, these benefits are included. Check out our activation guide for help on getting started. Here are 5 digital benefits of a subscription to azcentral and The Arizona Republic: Brass knuckles, beatings, fear: Random attacks on teens loom over Preston Lord murder case. Gilbert police still face scrutiny over the teen attacks. Crime-free lease addendums: An Arizona woman's landlord accused her of a crime. It cost her family their home. Sexual assault, suicide attempts: Fourteen-year-old Emily Pike's painful past still lingers after her body was found dismembered off U.S. 60 north of Globe on Valentine's Day. 'Kind of like Uber': Arizona Christian football players were caught in a migrant smuggling scheme, yet those arrested were not prosecuted. Football fever: Arizona State star Cam Skattebo ran a 40-yard dash time in the 4.6-range. That doesn't mean he can't succeed in the NFL. Essential restaurants: Check out our guide to metro Phoenix restaurants, which includes 100 essential spots, new and iconic, for Mexican food, Italian, pho, pizza and burgers. Here's the full list. End of an era: After 75 years, Durant's, an iconic restaurant known for its celebrity clientele, red booths, martinis and steak, is closing a chapter on its storied past. Read about the passing of the torch. Mesa Gateway Airport: Passengers will have more flight options at Mesa Gateway Airport, including new routes from Allegiant Air, plus other improvements this year. To keep our subscribers informed, we email the most important articles to their inbox each day in the form of a daily AZ Briefing newsletter. Subscribers also get exclusive access to our Your Week newsletter. Each week, you'll get a note directly from our team with background on a big story from the week, a behind-the-scenes look at our reporting and links to some of our top subscriber-exclusive work. ► Sign up for newsletters: Browse our entire portfolio of newsletter offerings to pick more topics that interest you specifically. Great stories don't stop with great writing. With your subscription, you'll have unlimited access to bonus content not found in the paper, such as drone videos of dust storms. You will be able to stream our acclaimed documentaries and listen to our popular podcasts. You will see galleries filled with amazing pictures from award-winning photographers. You will be active participants in the news process. Miss out on recent news? Get the latest effortlessly with our Catch Up feature. The app also provides you with access to daily horoscopes and over 100 games. Want to follow the news from another city? You can add up to five of our sister publications across the country to get more news right in the app. ► Download the app: Get the latest news, sports and more Through the azcentral app, you can personalize notifications so you can know the news right when it happens. You can select alerts for breaking news, sports, entertainment, weather, traffic, and business. Quiet times for your alerts can be set within the app. Want alerts when we publish something new on a topic you're interested in? Sign up to follow specific topics of interest with the "Add Topic" button at the top of articles. Personalize your feed further in the For You front. Special offer: You can access the print edition daily on your computer, mobile device, or tablet by accessing the eNewspaper, a digital replica of the print edition of The Arizona Republic. The eNewspaper can be accessed through our app, available exclusively to subscribers. As an added benefit, subscribers can access the eNewspaper from any of our more than 200 sister papers across the United States, plus each edition of USA TODAY. ► Special offer: Save on a new subscription today. Right now, we have a special introductory offer. Visit our subscription page to take advantage of this limited-time offer. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why subscribe to azcentral: Unlimited access, personalized app
