Sacred Journey Inc. was asked to take action following a licensing inquiry into the Mesa group home that housed Emily Pike.
The San Carlos Apache teen was reported missing in January and was later found killed near Globe.
In a letter obtained by ABC15, the Arizona Department of Child Safety said its hotline was not called in January when Emily was reported missing to Mesa Police.
This was the fourth time group home staff reported the 14-year-old as missing to police. The other three happened in late 2023.
Watch ABC15's previous coverage in the player above.
In that letter, DCS instructed Sacred Journey Inc. to update its policies and train its staff to alert the DCS hotline regardless of which agency placed the child in the home. Emily was in the care of Tribal Social Services when she was placed in the Mesa group home.
ABC15 has asked DCS if Sacred Journey has complied with these requests. We are waiting for a response.
There have still been no arrests in Emily's murder. This week, our team also reached out to the Gila County Sheriff's Office, the department leading the investigation, but have not heard back on any updates.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
