Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Body Found Dismembered Off US 60 ID'd as Missing Girl Emily, 14

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Emily Pike, 14, sneaks away from the group home where she lives. When she does not return, Mesa police are contacted, and she is reported missing. Her mother is not informed until she has been missing for a week. Police say the group home is responsible for notifying her case manager, who would then contact Pike’s family or tribe. Authorities post her picture on social media, print flyers, and alert the media, stating that Emily Pike is missing and may have run away. Nearly a month after Pike disappears, the Gila County Sheriff’s Office reports that searchers found the remains of an unidentified female in a wooded area near U.S. 60, about 20 miles northeast of Globe, Arizona. The remains are difficult to identify but appear to belong to a missing Native American girl. Within 24 hours, authorities confirm the remains are those of 14-year-old Emily Pike. The Gila County Sheriff’s Office reports that detectives found the head and torso in large contractor trash bags, while the legs were in separate bags. Investigators search the area but do not find the arms and hands. This information, meant for law enforcement only, reaches friends and family without warning. A preliminary autopsy report notes visible trauma to Pike’s face and head. Authorities do not find clothing, jewelry, or identification with the remains. The cause of death remains undetermined. Investigators believe someone killed Pike elsewhere before dumping her dismembered remains. Her arms and hands remain missing. The sheriff’s office says investigators recovered surveillance footage from Mesa, where Emily was last seen alive, but have not found footage from the rural area where her remains were discovered. Officials urge anyone with information to come forward. The San Carlos Apache Tribe is offering a $75,000 reward for information leading to Pike’s killer. Joining Nancy Grace today  Allred Pike Jr. - Emily's Uncle  Mary Kim Titla  - Executive Director of UNITY (United National Indian Tribal Youth Inc.), Native American Youth advocate for over 30 years, Former TV News Broadcaster and First Native American TV Journalist in Arizona; Instagram @marykimtitla, X @MKTitla  Chris McDonough  - Director at the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective [trained the first All Native American Homicide Task Force] & Host of YouTube channel, "The Interview Room"  Dr. Thomas Coyne - Chief Medical Examiner, District 2 Medical Examiner's Office, State of Florida; Forensic Pathologist, Neuropathologist, Toxicologist; X: @DrTMCoyne  Lynn Shaw  - Founder and Executive Director of Lynn's Warriors, Host of Lynn's Warriors on YouTube; X: @lynns_warriors YouTube: @LynnsWarriors   Susan Hendricks -  Journalist and Author of “Down the Hill: My Descent into the Double Murder in Delphi;" IG @susan_hendricks, X @SusanHendicks  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A body found dismembered off U.S. 60 ID'd as a missing girl, Emily, just 14 years old. Yes, her dismembered body, a 14-year-old little girl thrown off the side of the highway like she's trash. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. A teen girl last seen walking near an Arizona group home found dismembered over 100 miles away who murdered 14-year-old Emily Pike. What happened to Emily? I know when you see a headline dismembered, you stick on that. But there's so much more. Why did Emily go missing? How did Emily go missing? There's so much to this story. Of course, I want to know who murdered Emily Pike, just 14 years old. Do you remember what you were

doing or what your daughter or son was doing at age 14? Imagine what these parents are going through. Emily Pike found dismembered and thrown on the side of the road. U S 60. Listen to say that I miss you so much. And I really hope I'll try to see if you can come visit me next time. Not recovered any kind of weapon. Cause of death is still under investigation by the ME's office. We're investigating those leads. None of those as of yet have pointed us to a definite suspect or person of interest. We believe that she was killed somewhere else and then that is where she was dropped off. That's from our friends at CBS 5, Arizona Family TV. That's a lot just right there in those few seconds to analyze in the practice of criminal law. Every detail matters. First of all, you saw Emily, little Emily Pike, just 14

years old. How did this girl go missing? Why did she go missing? And why is she dismembered on the side of the road? Also, we know we haven't recovered a weapon. Cause of death still under investigation by the medical examiner's office. Also, we learn that it's believed Emily was murdered elsewhere. So this would be, at the very least, a secondary crime scene. In my opinion, a tertiary or third crime scene. How was she dropped off? In a vehicle? Is there roadside surveillance?

Are there license grabbers? Was it near a toll road? Was it out in the middle of nowhere where there are no surveillance cameras of any type, even at a red light? We have had cases, for instance, let me just bring up, here's an easy one. Alex Murdoch, the trial lawyer out of South Carolina convicted in own murder attempt on himself and there was no surveillance. Well, lo and behold, after we covered it and pointed out that there was a Baptist church a few miles down from the incident at a, an intersection, guess what? There was surveillance. So has that been harvested? Where were the remains found? Were they in a bag? What kind of bag?

That could be very probative. In other words, prove something. Let me refer to the tot mom, Casey Anthony case and the murder of her little girl, Kelly, her body found double bagged in bags taken from the Anthony home, about 10 houses down from the Anthony home in a swampy area. Those bags revealed a treasure trove of evidence. How do I know that this Ellie is doing the right thing? First of all, straight out to Susan Hendricks joining me, investigative reporter, journalist, author of Down the Hill, My Descent into the Double Murder in Delphi. Susan, I'm very curious. Could you just tell me, give me an idea, not just off US 60, that could be anywhere. Where were Emily's remains found?

Nancy, good to see you. 100 miles from where she was last seen. And you mentioned what type of bag. It's a contractor, a garbage bag, dismembered, as you mentioned, just horrific details. Highway 60 near Globe, Arizona. Again, 100 miles from where she was last seen i'm showing a shot of the bag okay yeah there you see it susan hendricks rightfully described it as a contractor's bag there you see it it looks plastic not necessarily the plastic trash bag we're all familiar with, but some combination, including,

including some sort of synthetic fiber. Why is that important? It's extremely important. Whole Susan, Chris McDonough joining me, director of Cold Case Foundation, former homicide detective, over 300 homicide investigations under his belt. He's a star of his own YouTube channel, The Interview Room, where I found him and you can find him at coldcasefoundation.org. Chris McDonough, very, very important. That bag regarding who murdered this 14 year old little girl. Why am I not hearing about her in the headlines? Why are people screaming at the top of their lungs about Emily Pike, murdered and dismembered, age 14? I got some theories on why we haven't heard about Emily Pike, but back to the synthetic nature of this bag.

Why is that so important? Well, that bag can be a huge piece of evidence in relationship to solving this crime because, number one, it tells you that the person who selected that bag was either in the contracting and or construction industry of some sort because it's a larger type of contractor's bag, you can take that bag, put it into what they call a super glue chamber. And that super glue chamber, they essentially will bring up the ridges and the swirls of any potential fingerprints on that bag. So this is, it's a huge piece of evidence to your point, Nancy, but the fact that she is found in that bag also drives it home that she was looked at as a piece of trash. You know, looked at like a piece of trash.

I have a little girl and a little boy. They just turned 17. This girl. Murdered and dismembered, thrown on the side of US 60 like she's trash. Why? Who? Forget about why. Why does it matter to me? Who did this to Emily? To Susan Hendricks, joining me, investigative reporter and author. Susan, also very, very important. And I'm going to go in just one moment to Emily's very beloved uncle joining us. Susan, I want to understand something. Off US 60, what would the weather be there? Well, of course, being in Arizona and thinking about, you know, I used to live there, going

to Arizona State and middle of nowhere, middle of nowhere, desert, of course, even this time of year. And, you know, my heart does go out to her uncle chris mcdonough what susan hendricks just said very important that's a critical piece of this because fingerprints are very simply oil secreted by the human body that's what fingerprints are made up so when you touch something which i love a a trash bag is a perfect conduit for fingerprints. You can get a perfect fingerprint. The weather conditions out in the desert are not going to affect that.

Yeah, absolutely, Nancy. And that's why the process is called superglueing. And it's literally superglue in a like a fish tank. And then you put the bag in that fish tank and the chemicals react to each other in terms of from the skin and the oils on that skin and the super glue. And what ends up happening is you have this, you know, this picture appear in front of you. And it is, you know, magic for lack of a better term. But you can get a very good fingerprint when you go through that process. And you're right, the weather will not bother that at all. Joining me is Lynn Shaw, founder and executive director

of Lynn's Warriors, a nonprofit dedicated to stopping human trafficking, specifically among girls and women and the exploitation of young girls. It's hard for me to imagine what Emily lived through before she was murdered and dismembered. And I want to point out, Lynn Shaw, that this little girl, 14 years old, we still haven't found her arms or hands. I wonder why. Could it be the killer's attempt to evade her being identified by not having her fingerprints available? I don't know. And I don't care. But what this child had went through before she was murdered? Well, let me tell you, Nancy, the hands were most likely cut off. So exactly as you said, it can't be traced back anything

about her. But I have too many questions. This is the way my mind works. Now we've got some body parts in a bag. How come her mother wasn't told about this for one month? What is going on here? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining me now, very special guest. This is a very beloved uncle of Emily's. Allred Pike Jr. is joining us. Allred, thank you for being with us. What was your reaction when you discovered that Emily, 14-year-old Emily, had not only been murdered, but dismembered, her body thrown on the side of US 60. Just hearing you describe it again, it's like we're reliving it. It's just stuff.

It's stuff. Hearing what happened to her and how she was just tossed to the side of the road. I'm sorry, but it's hard. It's hard to hear exactly what happened to her. And I just can't imagine what her mom and her dad are going through. As an extended family, it hurts. It hurts to hear exactly what happened to her. Mr. Pike, I would like to apologize for being so candid and harsh with the facts. But I have faced many a jury and I learned at the very beginning, this is not a time to sugarcoat or airbrush the

truth. This is the time for the truth to be told. There have been many, many times in a break, in a trial, I would go away from the jury or anybody else to another floor in the courthouse, go into the ladies room, go to the furthest stall and cry or be sick from what I had to do and say in the courtroom and prove to a jury. I'm really sorry.

Thank you. Seeing you cry I'm really sorry. Thank you. Seeing you cry makes me want to cry because I think of my girl, my little Lucy, at 14, just 14 years old. What are police telling the family? What are they saying happened? They don't even have a COD cause of death yet. They don't know where she was killed. Do they know when she was killed? Nothing.

Nothing. Mr. Pike, do you believe that Emily's case has been lost in the sauce because she is an American Indian? You said it, and it's hard for me to say it because I wish it wasn't like that. But the news coverage isn't really there. It's just local news, And you're the first national news person to cover this case. And it's sad. If it was someone else, maybe it would have been all over the news. To say that I miss you so much. And I really hope I'll try to see if you can come visit me next time. From our friends, AZ Family TV. How did she go missing? Where did she go missing?

Who took her? What did this 14-year-old girl endure before she was murdered and dismembered? Why did the killer take her arms and hands? They haven't been found. We have an idea how she went missing. Listen. Emily Pike moves to a group home in Mesa to be close to health-related resources she needs. A creative teen, Emily loves to draw, paint, and she's taking guitar lessons where her former roommate says she meets a boy who is also learning to play guitar. Emily wants to see the boy she likes from her guitar class and talk to him, but she isn't allowed to leave the group home on her own. On January 27th, a church group comes to the home, and according to her ex-roommate, Emily sneaks out the back door. When Emily doesn't

return to the home, Mesa police are contacted by the group home, and she's reported missing. Much has been made of the fact that this little girl, just 14, snuck out to see a boy that she met through guitar lessons. But let me remind everyone, she is the innocent here. For instance, has anyone forgotten Jocelyn Nungary, just 12 years old? She snuck out to use her cell phone. There's video of her at a local 7-Eleven, and it is there she meets her perpetrators, the men that killed her, according to police. Let's see a shot of them. Jose Martinez, Franklin Pena, them. They are charged with kidnapping, assaulting, and murdering this little girl, leaving her body under a bridge. And then, of course, there's Nicole Lovell. She was just 13 years old, had already survived so much in her short life, already surviving a liver transplant and so much more. Children at

school making fun of her because she had a scar on her throat from a surgery. The valedictorian engineering student, David Eisenhower, is the one that lured her out of her home. And then his friend, Natalie Keepers, helped destroy her body and leave it on the side of the road. Like Jocelyn Nungary was left under a bridge. One survivor, Alicia Koskevich, 13, when she was lured out, just 13, kidnapped, repeatedly assaulted and the night she was set to be murdered she was saved. Her perp, a perv, Scott Tyree.

So I don't know that a little 14 year old girl who sneaks out to meet her little friend boy that she plays guitar, has guitar lessons with. It's really grounds for attack, but I guarantee you someone will attack her. Lynn Shaw, I was asking Allred Pike Jr. if this case had been ignored. Emily's a murder, uns unsolved because Emily is indigenous. What do you think? We need to talk about the American crisis, which is women and girls in the indigenous community. They are totally ignored. Thank goodness we are talking about it here today.

How come no other media outlet has covered this story of this beautiful little 14-year-old? I want to talk about some stats. We have to. We have to. Until recently, tribal nations had their own kind of law enforcement. Thank goodness they are now working alongside the FBI and local law enforcement. We know that women and girls account for about 2.2% of all women and girls in the United States. And of that, they're about one little over 1% of the population. Can you imagine if we took the entire population of the United States, approximately, I don't know, 340 million and 1%, that'd be over 34 million or thereabouts of murdered and missing people. So why don't we talk about the indigenous community?

We have a lot going on here. They also suffer. One in 10 cases are higher than other ethnicities of missing and murdered. Why aren't we covering this? Jumping off what Lynn Shaw from Lynn's Warriors just said straight out to Mary Kim Titla, a special guest joining us. Mary Kim, the executive director of Unity,

which is United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc. And not only that, first Native American TV journalist in Arizona joining us. Why has Emily's case been ignored, Mary Kim? That's a good question. And as an Indigenous woman, I feel invisible. I think that we need to ask law enforcement. I think we need to ask people who are investigating these cases why there hasn't been more priority. We have seen in our history that we are less of a priority. It's an injustice and it's outrageous. I do have some statistics. Four in five Indigenous women have experienced violence in their lifetime. And the national average for the murder rate of women living on Indian reservations is 10 times the national average. There's not a good number, but we have a fairly good idea based on some numbers back from 2016 that there are 5,700 missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. So, of course, we're missing a few years, and that number is now much higher.

And I can personally relate to this because my own cousin was missing and murdered. My niece was missing and murdered. So this is an injustice, and I do feel invisible. And we, it's a national crisis, and we want it addressed. You know what, Mary Kim Titla, I want to address something you just said, that you feel invisible out of all the cases. And there are well over 10,000 of them, believe it or not. One of the things I have found in crime victims, whether they were child molested, whether they were raped, whether they were ag assaulted, whether they were set on fire, it just is the feeling of helplessness that sticks with them forever, forever. That feeling that

there's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can say to fix it. And nobody is hearing you. I sometimes feel, Mary Kim Titler, that you and Lynn Shaw and Emily's family, Mr. All Red Pike Jr. with us tonight, you're just screaming out the car on 3rd Avenue. Nobody's hearing. I mean, Mary Kim, this little girl, All Red Pike Jr., your niece was likely raped, brutally murdered. We don't even have a COD on her because her body was dismembered. Dismembered. Her arms and hands removed so we couldn't get an ID but we did put in a bag and thrown off the highway I mean for me the world

should stop until this is solved all red but I agree with Mary Kim and Lynn Shaw. It's like nobody's hearing a scream. Mary Kim is correct. If they did pay more attention to my niece's case, I think we would have been somewhere at this point. Like you've been hitting on. There's cameras in the Phoenix area. And they could have at least tried to track down those camera footage to see if any cameras picked her up walking or talking to anybody in the Phoenix area.

My niece, you know, is Native American. And sad to say, we felt kind of like she wasn't being prioritized to kind of make, let me say that there was finally a task force put together this week. That's about three weeks after her body was found or identified. So why did it take so long for a task force to be formed? It should have been done as soon as her body was found. It's just this case has not been covered as much as it should be. Only local news has covered it, and I'm appreciative that you're covering it, and hopefully more people cover it from here on out. Mesa police report Emily Pike as missing to the National Crime Information Center the evening of

January 27th, the same day police got word of her disappearance. Her mother is not even informed of Emily leaving the group home until her 14-year-old daughter has been missing for a full week. Police say it is up to the group home to contact her case manager, who would then have contacted Pike's family or tribe. Just so you know, Emily, for medical reasons, to be closer to medical treatment, was in a home, a state home. And a week passed before they even contacted the mother. I mean, do I have that wrong with me? Investigative reporter and author Susan Hendricks, she catapulted to stardom in her coverage of the Delphi murders of Abby and Libby.

Susan, is that right? They didn't bother to pick up the phone and tell her mother that she's missing for a week? Absolutely. And the head of the group home speaking to a local reporter saying, look, we're a hands off type of a home, meaning I don't really know what that meant is it to say like she walked off and then we didn't follow her but exactly the mom was not notified for a week and think about how much time was lost there it makes you wonder were the authorities notified and to see how her body was found there was trauma to her face severe trauma you look at it you see that smile it's horrifying i don't understand this is there some glitch that i don't understand all red pike junior this is emily's uncle joining us

why wasn't the family informed for a solid week that emily was missing is she that disposable those are answers that i don't have and it just goes to back to what you're saying. She wasn't prioritized. Then that week we could have reached out, had people out there looking for her social media, maybe the news, send people out there to look for her. And that week is a long time. A lot of things could happen. Oh, my stars my stars already. You're so right. I mean, when you're looking for a missing child, an hour, an hour delay is bad enough. Just think if she's in a vehicle, she was found, what, like 100 miles away. Everybody correct me if I've got any facts wrong because they matter. Think of it. 60 mph an hour.

She'd be 60 miles away and a week passes before the family is even told. It's not the first time a child goes missing from a so-called home. The case of Serenity Dennard haunts me to this day. It was 10.45 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Serenity is in the gym at the Black Hills Children's Home. Serenity then ran out of the building. At 11 a.m. at 1226 p.m., a 911 call goes out to the Pennington County Sheriff's Department. There was an 80-minute delay before 911 was called, and that's just inexplicable.

I think it was a matter of, you know, it was Super Bowl Sunday. People there were, well, let's look for her. She had run off in the past. Let's find her on our own first. But an hour and 20 minutes really is, you know, that raises a big question mark about the judgment of those employees. We got our dog teams out searching for Serenity. We got a large crew up in the woods. We got launched on time this morning, and we're just going to work for as long as we can today.

And again, our plan and our number one goal is to bring Serenity home today, and hopefully we can do that. Join me right now, a special guest, Chief Medical Examiner, District 2 of the ME's office in Florida, forensic pathologist, neuropathologist, and toxicologist, Dr. Thomas Coyne. Dr. Coyne, thank you for being with us. I'm sure that you have dealt with dismemberment cases in the past. Why is it, if you could explain in simple terms, why we cannot get a COD cause of death on Emily? Sure, sure. For several reasons, perhaps. One, because obviously this body was found dismembered within bags, probably out in the environment for weeks. And so there was probably a considerable amount of decomposition. It could blur our ability to

see the injuries as they would have existed at the time of death. Also, there may very well be injuries present, but not fatal injuries. So in other words, there was wounds, I believe, described of the face and by themselves. They may simply not be fatal injuries or severe enough for them to say here is the cause of death. Alternatively, there may also be toxicology reports that are pending. I know a lot of times in these cases, we want to have an answer right away, but medical examiner's offices may very well pend the cause of death for other investigations to come forward. Therefore, they can get the answer correct in the end. I know myself in these cases, I'm always in direct communication with law enforcement and family.

I'm letting them know what I'm thinking of, what I think the cause of death is, but we want to make sure in the end we get it correct. Dr. Thomas Coyne joining us, Chief Medical Examiner, District 2 Medical Examiner's Office, State of Florida. They're rare. They're rare. You don't often see dismemberments, but it makes the COD sometimes nearly impossible to find. And I think that dismemberments are rare because the mind of a killer that would then go on to dismember the victim, it is very, very unusual. It's very uncommon. Would you agree with that, Dr. Coyne? Yes, very uncommon. We don't see that often. And it's also harder than you would think to actually dismember a body. Unless you know how to readily disarticulate various joints, it can be very difficult as well.

To Chris McDonough joining us, a veteran homicide detective, and now at Cold Case Foundation and star of The Interview Room on YouTube. Chris, very rare, very rare that you get a dismemberment, typically to hide evidence. But I really think it goes into the mind of the killer. It's not just to hide evidence. That's why we see so many shallow grave cases where the person is buried in a shallow grave. But to go through a dismemberment ordeal is very difficult to do and very rare. So what I'm getting at is the mind of Emily Pike, just 14 year old, the mind of someone

that would dismember a 14 year old girl. Yeah, Nancy, I mean, we're talking about an apex predator here, meaning this individual or individuals, depending on what the investigation reveals, they have thought about this for quite some time. This is a thought fantasy that projects itself onto the victim after typically a sexual assault. So this individual or individuals is at the highest threat level to the community. And unfortunately, Emily, you know, like Mary Kay had, Mary Kim, excuse me, had said earlier, Emily was invisible to this suspect or suspects. And thus, the result that we're seeing here is she was thrown away again, like a piece

of trash. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Lynn Shaw joining me, founder and director of Linz Warriors, a nonprofit committed to ending trafficking and abuse on young girls and women. He's right. The dismemberment aspect of what was done to Emily compounds the fact that she was like nothing. She meant nothing to the killer. I mean, absolutely. We are seeing this in our marginalized communities across the United States, that they are kind of amping everything up. This is so horrible. Monsters dismembering bodies and doing all of that. But I want to go back on something. We have to really get out. Thank goodness we're talking about this today, Nancy. We're putting it out there. We have to continually, as hard as it is, and for the Pike family, all these horrible

things we're talking about, we have to put this out in the public. We have to put the visuals out. We have to keep talking about it. We have to have follow up because that is what will matter. We'll leverage the internet for good and just put it all over the internet. But you know what? You're absolutely correct. You're absolutely correct. Mary Kim Titla joining us, Executive'll just give you an example of cult mom, Lori Vallow, who is responsible for the death of her son and daughter. You should have seen the way the son was basically mummified. He was hermetically sealed. He was treated with great care the way that his body

was disposed. That doesn't negate the fact that he was murdered along with his sister, Tylee. But here, the way Emily is treated, even in death, it's shocking to my system that a little 14-year-old girl would be treated this way. And people are screaming from the rooftops. This child was dismembered. Even in death, she was brutalized. It's shocking and heartbreaking. And it makes me very angry. It makes a lot of people very angry and upset. Indigenous women have long been the targets of hatred and violence. They say the underlying factors are there of poverty and homelessness, but you also have to look at the historical factors of racism, sexism, and the legacy of imperialism and colonization.

So this is not the first time it's happened. Unfortunately, as I've mentioned, my relatives have gone missing and murdered. And I recently learned that an extended relative has been missing since last summer. So it is heartbreaking, heart-wrenching. And our people are not standing by any longer. They're taking action upon themselves. They're holding vigils. They're marching. They're at the state capitol. They're at the offices of our congressional representatives. We're speaking out because something must be done. We don't want to see this happen again.

When the group home manager who filed the report, Emily's roommate tells AZ Family that based on where her remains were found, just off US 60 heading northeast, she thinks Emily was just trying to go home. The roommate believes Emily was trying to hitchhike back to see her parents and she got picked up by the wrong person. Susan Hendricks joining me, an incredible investigative reporter and author. Susan, is that the working theory? And how much do you believe that the high rates of unsolved murders and missings amongst our American Indians, the indigenous, has to do with the fact that they do not, they don't have any help from local law enforcement or from the feds. The feds do not govern U.S. tribal territories. They have no jurisdiction there. It's up to the tribal police to solve all these cases. And it's not happening.

Absolutely. And we heard from Emily's uncle just say, look, a task force is finally formed. So they'll be working together. But how about this, Nancy? Young, the indigenous community, young and old, are not included in Amber Alert in Arizona. So lawmakers are working to fight this. There's a bill right now, 2281. It's passed the House, waiting on Senate. So, yes, they are.

Oh, my stars. They're not part of the Amber Alert system. Is that what you just said? No, not in Arizona. Oh, we're learning more. Listen to what Emily's mom says. The mother of Emily Pike tells a local TV station that authorities told her they have three suspects in the disappearance and murder of her daughter. But that's not what they're saying in public. According to the Gila County Sheriff's Office, no suspects or persons of interest have been identified in her case. At this point, the cause and manner of death are still pending, according to the Pino County Medical Examiner's Office, which investigates deaths in Gila County. All right, Pike Jr., is that true?

We're just hearing there's a suggestion that there are three POIs, persons of interest? That was at the beginning of the, after her body was found. But just recently, we found out that the investigator said they didn't have anybody, no suspects or anything. No leads. What investigator is this? What LA are you talking to? The Gila County. Gila County. Susan Hendricks, aren't the FBI involved now? Absolutely. FBI is involved and

they're part of that task force. But in doing research on this, learning about who Emily was, also learning about all the law enforcement agencies, they're not saying much. And it seems like the communication, obviously there's a lack there. You know, I'm very interested, Mary Kim Titla joining us. Another little girl, a teen girl, Veronica Cruz, is missing from the same home. I haven't heard about her either. It's very sad. And I am very troubled by that news. It's an alarming statistic when you look at the ages of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. We're talking about young girls, and so many of them are missing. Why aren't we hearing more about this? I'm just as outraged as everyone else. It makes me sad. It makes me mad. Murder is the third leading cause of death of Indigenous women. There are people who don't know this. It's so

important to educate everyone and to create awareness. That's why you're seeing these marches. That's why you're seeing people speaking out. You're seeing murals, this beautiful mural that was created on the reservation right by a major highway. So people who drive by can see Emily's photo and see that we care. We care deeply about what's happening in our communities. And we don't want this to happen over and over again. But it is happening. Why are our girls going missing?

Why aren't we doing more about it? It's at all levels of government. And there's layers and layers of underlying factors that we start to peel away. And so we do have to address those layers of poverty and homelessness. But we have to work on this together. So we are asking for everyone's help to, you know, meet with people, to meet with the Indigenous communities to figure out how we can address this better so we don't see another girl go missing. To Lynn Shaw, my longtime friend and colleague who I first met as we investigated the case of another little girl missing from a home, Serenity Denard. Lynn, everything that you,

Mary Kim, Mr. Pike, Chris McDonough, Dr. Coyne, Susan Hedgick have said is all true. But let me ask you, what are we going to do? We're going to do several things. It starts with right here today. We are talking about it. We are raising the awareness. That is the biggest thing we can do with the public, get everybody on board and give them some resources and visuals to share, whether it's in real time, whether it's on their social media platforms. Number two, we have to go back. You know what? I'm not hearing any of this discussion. Did little Emily have a digital footprint? Did she have a phone? Did she have a laptop?

We're not hearing anything about that. How was she going out to meet supposedly her boy, this boy she knew from guitar classes or something like that? I'm hearing nothing about a digital footprint. And number three, the biggest thing I will sit here and scream about, and we have seen these stories, Nancy, over and over again. What does it take? We cannot have children walking away, missing, ending up like Emily, you know, bless her little soul in garbage bags. Everybody should be out screaming in the middle of Times Square about this. We will not accept this and we have to create change. If you know or think you know anything about the disappearance and murder of this little girl, just 14 years old, please dial 928-200-2352. Repeat 928-200-2352 or 505-917-7830. There is a $75,000 reward.

$75,000 reward in the search for this little girl's killer. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.