PHOENIX, AZ — 911 calls have been released in a high-profile murder case that rocked the Valley. In April 2023, 29-year-old Lauren Heike was killed near a popular North Phoenix hiking trail. The search for her alleged killer lasted just days, with police arresting Zion Teasley. The 23-year-old, still in custody, now facing new charges in a separate 2020 case.
On April 29, 2023, police received a call for reports of a body in the desert.
"I was just going for a walk, and she's there. I didn't touch her. But it looks like she's been there for a while here."
Phoenix Police said Heike was attacked April 28 while hiking and was found the next day stabbed more than a dozen times.
Neighbors remember seeing surveillance video shared by police in the days following as the searched for Lauren’s killer.
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"I just noticed a guy who looks vaguely familiar to the guy on the news," a caller said.
Other 911 calls from the case were released Thursday. Three others were from people believing they saw the person from the video in the North Phoenix area.
"Maybe it’s nothing but my gut is telling me, I gotta tell somebody," a caller said.
But it was DNA from Lauren’s shoe found at the scene that helped lead Phoenix Police to a suspect, 23-year-old Zion Teasley, with a match coming up in a criminal database.
Police arrested Teasley who, over a year, later still in custody facing a first-degree murder charge. At the end of 2023, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office filed a motion to seek the death penalty in his case.
In July, MCAO also charged him in a separate aggravated assault and burglary case from January 2020.
Back in May, police said there is no information to indicate the attack was anything other than random. At the time, Lauren's parents, Jeff and Lana Heike, gave ABC15 a statement. It said in part, "She had so much promise and hope for the future. Wwe will remember lauren for the kind, thoughtful, and loving person that she was."
Teasley has pleaded not guilty. His murder trial is currently set for October 2025.
Police and Maricopa County Attorneys Office Thursday did not have any updates to add.
