Emily Pike murder: Tribal police dispel rumors of an arrest in the case

Emily Pike case: Police dispel arrest rumors

It has been almost seven months since 14-year-old Emily Pike was found dead near Globe, and on Sept. 5, police are dispelling rumors circulating on social media regarding an arrest in the case. FOX 10's Taylor Wirtz reports.

NEAR GLOBE, Ariz. - It’s been almost seven months since 14-year-old Emily Pike’s remains were found along U.S. 60 near Globe, and while her case remains unsolved, rumors of an arrest began circulating on social media.

Now, police are responding to the rumors, saying they are not true.

The backstory:

According to one of our previous reports on the matter in late February, a girl's remains were found in an area near milepost 277 along U.S. 60, about 19 miles north of Globe.

"On February 27, 2025, the unidentified female has been identified as a juvenile from the San Carlos Apache Tribe, who was reported as a Missing/Runaway Juvenile out of the Mesa Police Department," read a portion of the statement. "Next of kin has been notified."

In a later statement, GCSO identified the girl as 14-year-old Emily Pike.

"I think about Emily all the time," said Carolyn Bender, Emily's aunt. "It's not fair. She didn't deserve any of this."

What Police Are Saying:

"The news cycle used to be in the morning, in the afternoons, in the evening," said Ricardo Alvarado, a public information officer with the San Carlos Apache Police Department, which is assisting in the investigation. "Now anybody with a phone, anybody with the platform can post whatever they want, and it doesn't even have to be vetted anymore."

The department says a TikTok influencer posted a video claiming a suspect had been arrested in connection to Emily’s murder. Public Information Officer Ricardo Alvarado says the claim is not only untrue, but also dangerous.

"All the information in the video was false. It had not been vetted," Alvarado said. "When you have disinformation, especially something like this, it's volatile. It leads us to have to expand resources to try to obviously quell any of this stuff before it gets out of hand."

Local perspective:

The rumor is also causing Emily’s family further distress.

"It's very dangerous to just throw names out there. Someone can get hurt," said Allred Pike Jr., Emily's uncle. "It gives false hope."

"It’s an emotional thing," said Bender.

What's next:

Though they say every day waiting for news is difficult, their faith that justice will prevail has not been dampened.

"We are each going through our own ways of dealing with it," Bender said. "And just not knowing is very frustrating. This case is not going cold. It's not."