The murder of an Indigenous Arizona teen could soon bring change at the state level.
14-year-old Emily Pike was reported missing out of a Mesa group home, she was later found killed near Globe. There have been no arrests in her murder.
Pike's death has inspired a push for a statewide system similar to AMBER Alerts for missing Indigenous people. There is already one in California called the Feather Alert.
"If someone is missing and we had this alert in Indian Country, we can get the information out there, we can work together," said Elisia Manuel, the founder of Three Precious Miracles in the Valley.
California’s Feather Alert has been in place since 2023. The California Highway Patrol handles those types of alerts, including six others, just as the Arizona Department of Public Safety would here should a system be put in place for missing indigenous peoples in the state.
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All the alerts are posted on CHP’s social media sites. Sometimes, if it is time-sensitive and area-specific, they get pushed to your cell phone with that loud ringing tone.
"All of the alerts that we activate are always on behalf of the investigating agency," said Captain Melissa Kittell, who works with CHP’s Emergency Notifications and Tactical Alert Center.
There are specific requirements for CHP to issue a Feather Alert, including that the missing person has to be Indigenous. Also, if law enforcement or the tribe believes the person is in physical danger, in danger of human trafficking, or suffers from a mental or substance abuse disorder.
CHP provided ABC15 with some numbers: In 2023, there was one Feather Alert activation and one person was recovered. The next year, there were 14 activations where 11 were recovered safely, two remain missing and one was found dead. In 2025, there were 10 activations where nine persons were recovered.
CHP says these success rates are by and large thanks to the public’s response.
"It's someone got the WEA on their phone or they follow CHP Alerts and they saw a picture and they were driving by a bus stop and saw a person that looked familiar," said Kittell.
For Manuel, who works with group homes and foster youth in the Valley, it is something she hopes can succeed here.
"There's such a higher rate of our kids that are in the system across the board to be trafficked, murdered," said Manuel.
HB 2281’s main sponsor tells ABC15 that the Arizona bill will likely be discussed in the State Senate later this week, then head to the Senate floor for a vote next week.
One amendment to the bill would name the system in Arizona the Turquoise Alert; another would name the law after 14-year-old Emily Pike, whose case has rocked indigenous communities in Arizona and across the country.
