EMILY PIKE: Previously missing 14-year-old found dismembered on side of highway in Arizona

Takeitfromme said:

This sounds like psycho serial killer stuff..... is this Mesa Arizona??? I just need an extra set of eyes to confirm this for me please.... dizzy spells got me today

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Takeitfromme said:

This sounds like psycho serial killer stuff..... is this Mesa Arizona??? I just need an extra set of eyes to confirm this for me please.... dizzy spells got me today

Click to expand...

Sexual assault, suicide attempts: Emily Pike's painful past lingers after death​

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:

ALL the trigger warnings for this story.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2025/04/15/emily-pike-san-carlos-apache-tribe-homicide-investigation/83016994007/

Sexual assault, suicide attempts: Emily Pike's painful past lingers after death​

Fourteen-year-old Emily Pike was a victim long before her dismembered body was found off Highway 60 north of Globe on Valentine's Day.

She was sexually assaulted on the San Carlos Apache Reservation when she was 13. Tribal officials arrested a relative but released the alleged attacker without prosecution.

She was taken from her mom's custody for safety. She attempted suicide at a group home by hanging herself with a shoelace from a doorknob and cutting her wrists.

She was a frequent runaway. She once reached for the gun of a police officer who stopped her and said she no longer wanted to be in the world: "I am going to go to hell and you guys are all going to be there."

Emily ran away for the last time on Jan. 27.

The sexual assault and its aftermath help to explain Emily's dramatic behavioral shift from a soft-spoken and smiling artist to a withdrawn, self-destructive teen who was prescribed antidepressants.

But there's no explanation for how the case was handled — why the tribal Game and Fish Department and not police led the investigation, and why prosecutors dropped it.

Tribal leaders declined interview requests. San Carlos Apache Chairman Terry Rambler and Vice Chair Tao Etpison would not answer questions about the sexual assault.

On April 14, in response to inquiries by The Arizona Republic, the tribe announced it would launch an independent investigation.

"The tribe is now addressing serious concerns about the handling of sexual assault charges Emily Pike made in 2023," the tribe said in a statement. "Questions have arisen regarding why the alleged assailant was not prosecuted and why the tribe's police and specialized law enforcement officers were excluded from the investigation."

The sexual assault case raises questions that loom over the ongoing homicide investigation. Authorities said they have not ruled anyone out as a potential suspect, including the person arrested in 2023.

Family and friends, many of whom didn't learn of the assault until after Emily's death, said the circumstances highlight systemic failures in the tribal social safety net. They want to know why so many agencies — police, Game and Fish, prosecutors, social services — were unable to protect her.


"Everyone let that girl down," Emily's uncle, Allred Pike Jr., said. "The system failed her in all aspects, not one, not two, all of it. ... She's just a 14-year-old that maybe wanted to see some friends, wanted to come home."

The Republic pieced together the last 18 months of Emily's troubled life through police records and interviews.

Emily's mother, uncle, aunt and grandmother talked about who Emily was and what they've learned since Emily's body was found. Friends described the girl she used to be.

The Gila County Sheriff's Office, Mesa Police Department and San Carlos Apache Police Department confirmed aspects of the homicide investigation, the sexual assault and Emily's suicide and runaway attempts. The owner of a group home discussed the psychological damage Emily had to live with and why she was so determined to return home.

Like the tribe's top leaders, tribal officials directly involved in Emily's sexual assault case also were silent.

Tribal Social Services case workers who removed Emily from her home referred questions to tribal lawyers. They ignored interview requests. The tribal prosecutor who decided not to charge Emily's alleged assailant did not return phone messages.

A spokesperson for the San Carlos Apache Police Department said the agency did not investigate Emily's 2023 assault, and any questions about it should go to the Game and Fish Department.

Why Game and Fish? That department's director didn't respond.


MUCH MORE at the link. Very long article with lots of details.

Click to expand...

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:

ALL the trigger warnings for this story.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2025/04/15/emily-pike-san-carlos-apache-tribe-homicide-investigation/83016994007/

Sexual assault, suicide attempts: Emily Pike's painful past lingers after death​

Fourteen-year-old Emily Pike was a victim long before her dismembered body was found off Highway 60 north of Globe on Valentine's Day.

She was sexually assaulted on the San Carlos Apache Reservation when she was 13. Tribal officials arrested a relative but released the alleged attacker without prosecution.

She was taken from her mom's custody for safety. She attempted suicide at a group home by hanging herself with a shoelace from a doorknob and cutting her wrists.

She was a frequent runaway. She once reached for the gun of a police officer who stopped her and said she no longer wanted to be in the world: "I am going to go to hell and you guys are all going to be there."

Emily ran away for the last time on Jan. 27.

The sexual assault and its aftermath help to explain Emily's dramatic behavioral shift from a soft-spoken and smiling artist to a withdrawn, self-destructive teen who was prescribed antidepressants.

But there's no explanation for how the case was handled — why the tribal Game and Fish Department and not police led the investigation, and why prosecutors dropped it.

Tribal leaders declined interview requests. San Carlos Apache Chairman Terry Rambler and Vice Chair Tao Etpison would not answer questions about the sexual assault.

On April 14, in response to inquiries by The Arizona Republic, the tribe announced it would launch an independent investigation.

"The tribe is now addressing serious concerns about the handling of sexual assault charges Emily Pike made in 2023," the tribe said in a statement. "Questions have arisen regarding why the alleged assailant was not prosecuted and why the tribe's police and specialized law enforcement officers were excluded from the investigation."

The sexual assault case raises questions that loom over the ongoing homicide investigation. Authorities said they have not ruled anyone out as a potential suspect, including the person arrested in 2023.

Family and friends, many of whom didn't learn of the assault until after Emily's death, said the circumstances highlight systemic failures in the tribal social safety net. They want to know why so many agencies — police, Game and Fish, prosecutors, social services — were unable to protect her.


"Everyone let that girl down," Emily's uncle, Allred Pike Jr., said. "The system failed her in all aspects, not one, not two, all of it. ... She's just a 14-year-old that maybe wanted to see some friends, wanted to come home."

The Republic pieced together the last 18 months of Emily's troubled life through police records and interviews.

Emily's mother, uncle, aunt and grandmother talked about who Emily was and what they've learned since Emily's body was found. Friends described the girl she used to be.

The Gila County Sheriff's Office, Mesa Police Department and San Carlos Apache Police Department confirmed aspects of the homicide investigation, the sexual assault and Emily's suicide and runaway attempts. The owner of a group home discussed the psychological damage Emily had to live with and why she was so determined to return home.

Like the tribe's top leaders, tribal officials directly involved in Emily's sexual assault case also were silent.

Tribal Social Services case workers who removed Emily from her home referred questions to tribal lawyers. They ignored interview requests. The tribal prosecutor who decided not to charge Emily's alleged assailant did not return phone messages.

A spokesperson for the San Carlos Apache Police Department said the agency did not investigate Emily's 2023 assault, and any questions about it should go to the Game and Fish Department.

Why Game and Fish? That department's director didn't respond.


MUCH MORE at the link. Very long article with lots of details.

Click to expand...