Body‑camera footage recently released by the Mesa Police department shows a heart‑wrenching scene a few weeks before the body of 14‑year‑old Emily Pike was found: the San Carlos Apache teen can be heard sobbing, “I just want to go home… I am not going back to that f–ing group home,” officers try to coax her back to Sacred Journey Inc. in Mesa. Last seen wearing a pink‑and‑gray striped shirt, Emily Pike disappeared three times in 2023 and once more on January 27, 2025 – and the newest footage shows how badly she wanted to get out
“I Just Want to Go Home” — Her Emotional Plea
These are the desperate words of Emily Pike, who simply wanted to go home and said she hated it there, echo in Mesa police body-cam audio released on September 20, 2023 . Behind that rough, rebellious voice there hides a world of fear and alienation: she was not only leaving a geographical location, but a place where she did not feel safe and accepted.
It was not the teenage rebellion when she insisted that she would prefer to live with her grandmother or to meet her mother; it was the desperate attempt to find a shelter. These quotes show a girl who is emotionally confused and is seeking connection, security, and understanding – things that she obviously felt she did not find in that group home.
Twice the Footage: 2023 and 2025
On September 20, 2023, police found Emily Pike, who was 13 years old, walking near a canal, after she ran away from Sacred Journey Inc. three times. She was evidently upset, demanding that she simply wants to talk to her mom and exclaiming, I am not going back… I don t like it there,” and with a bad grace she climbed into the patrol car.
Skip to January 27, 2025, and the same thing happens: employees say Emily Pike is missing once again, there was an open gate, a broken screen, and she was wearing a pink-and-gray sweater. Even with the renewed interest and police intervention Emily Pike was unbendable with her lifetime opposition to being sent back a chilling pattern of consistencies: she did not believe she belonged there.
What Group Home Records Reveal
In the year 2023, Emily Pike fled Sacred Journey Inc. an incredible three times- each time, the police were called. During such cases, she was either taken back home or admitted in a behavioral health facility within hours. On September 11 records, she and another teen ran out the window and gate, complaining about chores .
She said she would even prefer to live with a grandparent or go to jail. Then she escaped again on January 27, 2025. She was reported to have pushed out a window screen and walked out through it; she was last seen wearing a distinctive pink-and grey striped long-sleeve shirt. And sadly, that race was her final one.
Behind the Scenes: Officer Reactions
In both interactions, Mesa Police officers maintained a cool and understanding attitude, repeatedly asking Emily Pike to sit and relax and softly identifying her.
In the September 20, 2023 video, the officer is heard patiently indicating such things as “Emily Pike, calm down” and “Just calm down…” before she eventually responds. When Emily Pike struggled and declared that she did not belong, they simply assured her, “No one is trying to hurt you” and asked her to simply talk . When another officer arrived, they trained her, I just need you to relax, and threatened that otherwise she would be handcuffed.
Even at that point, they spoke in a calm voice, trying not to accelerate the situation. The officers were sergeant-like in their restraint, and their focus was on de-escalation, attempting to console Emily Pike and alleviate her distress instead of coercing an otherwise unwilling subject into submission.
A Girl’s Desperate Wish to Be Heard
The fact that Emily Pike keeps begging to remain with her grandmother, and not Sacred Journey Inc. again, indicates that this is a young girl who is really disturbed by the living arrangement. It is seen in the body-cam footage when she states,
“I wish to remain with my grandma instead”, citing that, “it makes her uncomfortable when the staff quarrels with other juveniles in the home”, and emphasizing her position by stating, “No one understands me or is going to help me”.
This is not mere opposition, this is an evident manifestation of emotional discomfort: the desire to be in the comfort of the family, rather than in the walls of the institution, and the feeling that no one listens.
Her suspicion was not just a mood, but a manifestation of a more profound need in the security and emotional belonging she thought she could get only with her grandmother.
The shocking video dated January 27, 2025 became a breaking point – Emily Pike ran away never to be seen again in the same Mesa group home in one last desperate attempt. Her body, dismembered and stuffed in garbage bags, was found just weeks later on February 14, off the U.S. Highway 60, about 100 miles away from where she was last seen.
The case that seemed to be another routine missing-person case, turned into a homicide investigation that sent shivers due to the fact that the autopsy showed that the head had injuries and trauma.
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