Bipartisan bill aims to fix communication failures that contributed to Emily Pike’s death
Because Pike was in tribal custody rather than state custody, DCS knew little about her background — a gap that lawmakers say contributed to her death.
A bipartisan group of state legislators hopes that improving communication between the state’s Native American tribes and the Arizona Department of Child Services will help to prevent tragedies like the murder of 14-year-old Emily Pike from happening again.
A member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Pike had run away from a DCS-operated group home in Mesa 18 days before her dismembered body was found on Feb. 14, 2025, near Globe.
More than a year later, there have been no arrests or leads shared publicly in the case.
In a series of hearings last year, Arizona lawmakers heard from law enforcement officials, leaders of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Pike’s family and the Arizona Department of Child Safety about the failures of the individual pieces of the tribal, county and state systems — first in keeping Pike safe, and then in finding her after she went missing.
The hearings also focused on the 2025 slayings of 10-year Rebekah Baptiste, whose school had reported suspicions that she was being abused numerous times, and 16-year-old Zariah Dodd, who was shot to death after running away from a group home. The deaths of the three girls, all known to DCS, within the same year brought ample criticism and calls for changes within the department.
Senate Bill 1125, which passed both chambers of the Arizona Legislature with broad bipartisan support, requires DCS to attempt to enter into a memorandum of understanding with all of the state’s 22 recognized Native American tribes annually.
The piece of legislation is one of several proposals this year from Sen. Carine Werner, R-Scottsdale, aimed at ensuring quicker action when a child is in danger and that warning signs of abuse aren’t ignored.
Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, D-Coal Mine Mesa, a member of the Navajo Nation, called last year for better communication between tribal social services organizations and DCS, even if it infringed on tribal sovereignty.
“I think this is a positive step forward to communicate, to understand and to address this issue,” she said before voting for the bill on Feb. 10.
The legislation will stop DCS and tribal social services from absolving themselves of responsibility because they didn’t have all the information necessary to take appropriate action, Hatathlie said.
Before she was killed, Pike was in the custody of San Carlos Apache Social Services, but was living in a DCS-run group home in Mesa.
Werner, the chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, explained why that situation was problematic during a March 9 hearing on the bill in the House Health and Human Services Committee.
When a child in the custody of their tribe is placed in a DCS group home, “DCS does not have any idea what has happened to the child,” Werner said. “They don’t know anything about the case.”
Pike had been removed from her family home on the San Carlos Apache reservation after she reported being sexually assaulted by a relative. In a statement during a May 2025 legislative hearing, Pike’s family said she experienced culture shock and homesickness after being removed from her rural home near the tiny town of Peridot and being placed in Mesa, a city of more than 500,000 people in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
She ran away from her group home and attempted suicide multiple times.
But DCS knew little about her background because she wasn’t in its custody, something that Werner said was vital for the people caring for Pike to understand her behavior.
The San Carlos Apache Tribe contracts with DCS for group home placements since it has only one tiny group home on the reservation and must place children in other locations when it’s full.
Because Pike was in the custody of the tribe — a sovereign nation — certain reporting requirements outlined in Arizona law when a child in DCS custody goes missing didn’t apply to her.
SB1125 requires DCS to share its best practices, policies and training materials with tribes that enter into agreements with the department regarding investigations, placement of children, case management and coordination of services. Tribes are not required to enter an agreement with DCS, but if Gov. Katie Hobbs signs the proposal, DCS will be required to offer them.
The proposal would also require each tribe that enters an agreement to designate a DCS tribal liaison to coordinate communication with the tribe and to collaborate with the department about matters of child welfare.
Additionally, Werner’s proposal would allow tribes to access information about corrective actions, sanctions and health and safety violations taken against any DCS-licensed group home where a child who is a member of their tribe is placed.
On March 9, Werner said that DCS was already working to sign new agreements with several tribes.
DCS did not provide a list of tribes with which it has signed agreements or had agreements pending by the deadline for this story. The San Carlos Apache Tribe, which did not have an agreement with DCS at the time of Pike’s disappearance, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Officially supporting SB1125 were the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Children’s Action Alliance, the Arizona Council Of Human Service Providers, the Cocopah Indian Tribe and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
“I think that this is something that both the tribes and the state really care about, and that is putting our kids first,” Werner said.
Werner’s other DCS-focused bills were passed by the Senate but await a vote in the House.
They include Senate Bill 1126, which aims to improve coordination between schools and child safety investigators; Senate Bill 1127, which would strengthen mandatory reporting requirements and Senate Bill 1172 which would require a heightened review when repeated reports of abuse or neglect are made about the same child.