MESA, AZ — The case of 14-year-old Emily Pike's murder still remains a mystery one year since her disappearance.
The teen was found dead in the Globe area in February 2025.
Dozens of mourners gathered at the intersection of Mesa Drive and McKellips Road Sunday evening to remember the name that has united so many of them.
“It’s very heavy. It was heavy for me to come here today to know that it’s been a year and that this case is still unsolved," said Kristopher Dosela, a relative of Emily Pike.
Pike, a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, went missing from her Mesa group home around this time in January last year. She was found dead on Feb. 14 off US 60 northeast of Globe.
Authorities say "homicidal violence with blunt head trauma" caused her death.
“It’s unfortunate that there’s a lot of cases like Emily that go unnoticed,” said Raquel Moody, a community member.
“It’s really disheartening to know that people are still grieving her, and they haven’t received justice,” said Dosela.
The Gila County Sheriff's Office, who is investigating the case, told ABC15 on Friday that their detectives are still working on this. But they did not have any new information to release.
Since Pike's murder last year, Arizona lawmakers passed House Bill 2281, known as Emily's Law, which established the Turquoise Alert system in the state. Similar to the AMBER Alert, it directly helps missing and endangered persons, including missing indigenous peoples.
“There’s still a lot of Native families who don’t really know how that works. I’ve had Native families reach out to me that have said how do I get a Turquoise Alert for my relative,” said Dosela.
Pike's death and other cases have prompted calls for change, including closer scrutiny at the Arizona Department of Child Safety.
For many here, more needs to be done.
“Nothing has been said, nothing has been done, no arrests have been made. This is all we have right here are the people that are bringing awareness,” said Moody.
