PHOENIX — Court records show 16-year-old Zariah Dodd told her caseworker and roommate she was afraid in the days and months before her murder in the state’s care.
“I think everyone involved could have done more,” Anika Robinson, a long-time foster parent, told ABC15. She has helped pass laws to better protect missing DCS kids.
Dodd, who was 22 weeks pregnant, was found shot and killed at Marivue Park in west Phoenix on July 5th, shortly after going missing from a Surprise group home.
“Why does this need to keep occurring, death after death after death?” Robinson said.
Dodd is one of three high-profile murders of children who were known to the Arizona Department of Child Safety this year.
According to the probable cause statement filed in court, police say Dodd told her DCS caseworker she was scared into having sex with the man police now say had her killed.
“She was carrying a 36-year-old man’s child. At that point, there should have been additional safety parameters put in place,” Robinson said.
The DCS caseworker told officers after Dodd’s murder, “Zariah felt that if she did not have sexual intercourse … he would have done something to her with the handgun.”
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The Department of Child Safety said it reported the incident with the gun to police in April 2025. But the agency wouldn’t disclose to ABC15 which police agency it contacted.
Phoenix and Surprise police would not confirm to ABC15 if they took the call, who investigated, or why a forensic interview wasn’t scheduled until three months later, on July 8th.
The forensic interview never happened because Dodd was killed.
“If law enforcement had immediately investigated and taken steps and done the forensic interview instead of waiting three months to do it, could this again have prevented her death?” Robinson said.
Jurrell Davis, 36, and Jechri James-Gillett, 18, are both charged in Dodd’s murder. Davis was the father of Dodd’s unborn baby, according to police.
Court records also show Dodd texted a roommate at the group home the night she went missing and, “stated she was afraid.”
“It saddens me that even Zariah herself reached out,” said Richilyn Fox, Dodd’s former caregiver.
Fox said too many warning signs were missed.
“It hurts me because all of this could have been prevented,” she said.
ABC15 has asked for a sit-down interview with new DCS director Kathryn Ptak. DCS has so far declined.
Phoenix Police told ABC15 to file a public records request to learn more about the delays in the forensic interview and has not confirmed any further details.
ABC15 has filed a public records request and will continue to follow this story.
Phoenix Police has also said any additional information is part of an ongoing investigation.
