In 2014, Arizona’s child welfare system was revamped, and the Department of Child Safety was created.
Since 2019, it's been a revolving door of directors, with five different leaders at the agency's helm, including the current head of DCS, Kathryn Ptak. The department has not responded to multiple requests for an interview on this report.
Meanwhile, teens in DCS custody run away every day, and some of them are dying. By the end of July 2025, 115 kids in DCS custody were considered missing, abducted or runaways.
Sixty-six of those kids ran away from group homes, and Zariah Dodd was in that category. The 16-year-old was nearly six months pregnant when she was found dead.
She had been in and out of numerous group homes and kinship care, but in the months leading up to her murder, there were clear red flags that she was in danger.
Zariah Dodd
The backstory:
A man walking his dog noticed the body of a pregnant teen in the grass at Marivue Park near 55th and Osborn roads just before 6 a.m. on July 5. A crime scene followed as Phoenix police learned 16-year-old Zariah was killed overnight after a gunshot to the head.
She was almost six months pregnant with a baby girl.
"What I do most days is remember the good times. But to answer your question, I'm pissed. Because the system failed her," said Erik Polk, Zariah's uncle.
Polk, her aunt Canella Bernard, and grandmother Rulzel Spencer reminisced on her childhood at a kitchen table, wondering who she could have been.
Aunt Canella Bernard, grandmother Rulzel Spencer and uncle Erik Polk
"Bubbly. Creative. Always in the mix and always talking. I mean if she loved you, she loved you, and you could see it was genuine all the time," Spencer said.
Her family said the state took custody of her when she was one as her mother battled addiction and her father was incarcerated. Zariah would remain in the child welfare system despite attempts by her relatives to take her into their care.
"They tell us to call them if the kid is in danger. OK, she in danger from her mama, but y'all done put her in worse danger," Spencer said.
2 men accused in Zariah's death
Jurrell Davis, the father of Dodd’s unborn child, and 18-year-old Jechri James-Gillett.
Two men have now been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Zariah and her unborn child. Police said 19-year-old Jechri James-Gillett made a full confession, telling detectives that 37-year-old Jurrell Davis ordered him to shoot Zariah, or he would kill them both.
Davis told detectives he did not order her death.
Court records show a paternity test confirmed Davis was the baby's father. A forensic interview with Zariah for a sexual misconduct investigation was supposed to happen a few days after her murder. But police learned that Zariah confided in her DCS caseworker back in April, claiming Davis intimidated her into having sex with him in December 2024, when she was 15.
DCS said the caseworker notified police.
RELATED: Man accused in Zariah Dodd's murder accused of new charges linked to another minor
Dig deeper:
Court documents reveal she was afraid because Davis was allegedly armed with guns. Her family is confused about a three-month wait for the forensic interview.
"If you have somebody coming to you telling you that they're afraid ... like why you gonna make it that long?" Spencer wondered.
Zariah was staying at a group home in Surprise owned by Sunshine Residential. The company has declined to comment further on Zariah as the case is being prosecuted.
Police said on the night of July 4, the group home staff denied the teen's request to see Jechri James-Gillett but allowed her to go for a walk around 8 p.m. Investigators believe that's when Zariah was picked up by the suspects.
Six and a half hours later, the sound of a gunshot was captured on surveillance video near the park where Zariah was found dead. Davis and James-Gillett have pleaded not guilty and are in Maricopa County Jail awaiting trial.
‘She would still be alive if she was with us’
"She had family that loved her, that could have taken care of her so that she wouldn't still be in the system. I tell you one thing, she would still be alive if she was with us," Bernard said.
Maricopa County court records reveal Davis impregnated a 14-year-old girl in 2007 but pleaded guilty to child abuse, receiving probation when he was 19. Since then, he's been prohibited from having guns.
Last year, Davis violated an order of protection against him involving a 16-year-old girl. He was located with the minor during a traffic stop in Pinal County where a gun was also found in his car.
He pleaded guilty to interfering with judicial proceedings and was given unsupervised probation, not having to report to a probation officer.
Prosecutors in Zariah's case believe Davis was having sex with her since December 2023. It's unknown how Zariah met the man who is more than twice her age.
"Why wouldn't they keep more watch on her? If they know, and she's asking to go, you don't think she gonna go soon as she get a chance? You know?" Bernard said.
Phoenix Police said the Sunshine group home manager told detectives that Zariah made it clear to other girls at the house that she was leaving with her baby's father the night she ran away.
Now her family can't escape guilt and grief.
"In a million years, it wouldn't have come across our mind, that this would be the moment that we would be in, right? So how do you grieve? How do you process this (expletive). It's hard and, yeah, like you carry on with your life, but it's this is hard," Polk said.