PHOENIX — Under mounting scrutiny, Arizona Department of Child Safety Director Kathryn Ptak answered tough questions about the high-profile deaths of Emily Pike, Zariah Dodd, and Rebekah Baptiste.
“We are taking this very seriously. We are responding,” Ptak said.
In an exclusive interview with ABC15, Ptak said her agency has launched internal reviews to find out what went wrong and potential areas for improvement in two of the cases.
FULL COVERAGE - 'DCS: State of Failure' investigative series
“No one is more motivated to reduce the recurrence of this happening than the department,” she said.
Ptak has questions about agency’s response to Baptiste Case
“The case is very complicated. We have had a 10-year history with the family,” Ptak said.
Ten-year-old Rebekah Baptiste was found not breathing and severely injured in Navajo County in late July. She died at the hospital three days later.
The young girl’s dad, Richard Baptiste, and his girlfriend, Anicia Woods, are now charged with murder and child abuse.
Rebekah and her siblings had attended Empower College Prep. School leaders say they made reports to DCS regarding abuse and neglect at least twelve times.
An official with Empower College Prep sat down with ABC15 to discuss the details surrounding Baptiste's case. Watch on the ABC15 Streaming app, in the player below.
DCS said it investigated the family five times in recent years and had an open case at the time of Rebekah’s death.
“They're reviewing the entire case file. They're listening to every hotline call, and they discover what we call ‘learning points.’ So, I can look at the history in this case. And I can tell you I have some questions, right, about things that have happened,” Ptak said.
Ptak said those questions start with how the agency prioritized calls that came into the hotline.
She said DCS investigates some cases jointly with law enforcement, and in those cases, the calls are marked as potential criminal conduct and could result in felony child abuse charges.
One of the reports in Rebekah’s case from October of 2024 alleged that “Rebekah was observed with marks on her hands and feet, and that the children were disciplined through exercise.”
Ptak said, for the first time, this call and others may not have been marked properly by her agency.
“None of these reports were coded [as potential] criminal conduct. And there are a couple with hindsight bias, looking at them, I think maybe should have been,” she said.
The DCS director also questioned how long some of the cases remained open.
“One of the things I noticed just looking at the cases is some of them were closed kind of quickly,” she said.
According to the preliminary child fatality report, most of the department’s recent cases involving Rebekah were opened and closed in about a month. In some cases, additional reports came in as other allegations were still being investigated.
“I don’t know why the cases were closed quickly. And that’s what our review will show,” she said.
Watch the exclusive interview with DCS Director Ptak on the ABC15 Streaming App and in the player below.
What happened to Zariah Dodd?
Sixteen-year-old Zariah Dodd, who was 22 weeks pregnant, was found shot and killed at Marivue Park in Phoenix on July 5, shortly after going missing from a Surprise group home.
Court records detailed potential missed warning signs and raised questions about why police didn’t conduct a forensic interview sooner.
According to court documents, police said Dodd told her DCS caseworker that the man, who police now say had her killed, used a handgun to scare her into having sex.
The Department of Child Safety said it reported the incident with the gun to Phoenix police in April 2025.
Phoenix and Surprise police would not confirm to ABC15 if they took the call, if either agency investigated, or why a forensic interview wasn’t scheduled until three months later, on July 8.
The forensic interview never happened because Dodd was killed.
“I think if you have concerns about the timeline, that’s a question for law enforcement. I think we have those same questions. We do have a police report number from when we reported it in April,” Ptak said.
Communication gaps in Emily Pike’s case
Emily Pike, 14, was reported missing from her Mesa group home in January. Weeks later, in February, Pike was found dead along US 60 northeast of Globe. Her death earlier this year was the first to raise serious questions about the state’s child welfare system.
The teen’s story and murder showed there were gaps in communication between DCS and the San Carlos Apache tribe. Emily was in a group home licensed by the state, but she was in the custody of the tribe.
“One of the things that we’ve talked about with the tribe is ways we can be more open with them when we license the home, but they have a contract with the home,” Ptak said.
Ptak says change will come out of reviews
Arizona lawmakers have scheduled a stakeholder meeting on September 3 to discuss these three high-profile cases. The meeting is not open to the public or the media.
State Senator Carine Werner (R- District 4) also announced the creation of a task force to review the state’s child safety reporting laws.
Werner has said the task force will be made up of law enforcement, tribal leaders, a former DCS director, and other key stakeholders.
“I believe changes are going to come out of this review,” Ptak said.
Ptak said she believes those changes could require legislation or internal policy improvements.
“I am absolutely, 100% committed to working with Senator Werner, working with the legislature, working with the governor's office to come up with solutions that will reduce the likelihood of recurrence of something like this in the future. That is a top priority of mine,” she said.