'It will save lives': Missing Indigenous people Amber Alert bill advances at Arizona Senate
A proposed bill would create an alert system for missing Indigenous people, something lawmakers believe will bring awareness to an ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
The bill, created by Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis and sponsored by state Rep. Teresa Martinez, R-Casa Grande, aims to coordinate tribal, local and federal efforts to alert the public of a missing Indigenous or endangered person.
The alert system would be modeled after the Amber and Silver alerts, which notify the public of a missing child, senior or person with disabilities.
"These alerts are fantastic, but we leave off a segment of population who go missing, and the state of Arizona doesn't even know to look for them," Martinez said.
House Bill 2281 was introduced in January 2025, but lawmakers and advocates have felt a renewed push to pass the legislation after the devastating discovery of 14-year-old Emily Pike, who was a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.
"I testified in early February that this legislation is critical, and it will save lives," Lewis said. "Little did I know at that time, Emily Pike, a 14-year-old member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, had been missing for weeks. She was found brutally murdered nine days after that testimony."
'The system failed Emily': Indigenous community rallies around slain San Carlos Apache teen Emily Pike
The bill requires the Arizona Department of Public Safety to establish an alert system for missing Indigenous or endangered people between 18 and 55, the range between Amber and Silver alerts. The alert would be used if the investigating agency has exhausted all resources; determined the person went missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances; and believed that the person is in danger, in the company of a potentially dangerous person or other factors indicating their life may be in danger.
In a Senate Public Safety Committee meeting on Wednesday, Lewis emphasized that the aim of the bill wasn't to favor Native Americans over others but noted that Indigenous people are victims of violent crimes at a higher rate than others.
The bill has garnered much public support, including from the Office of the Navajo Nation President and Vice President, DPS, Tohono O'odham Nation and the Gila River Indian Community.
The bill passed the House unanimously on Feb. 24, three days before the Gila County Sheriff's Office announced that Emily's body had been found. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate Public Safety Committee on Wednesday and will be voted on by the full Senate.
"I can't help but think, what if this law was in place early, would Emily be alive today?" Lewis said.
The sponsors of the bill don't anticipate any monetary impact.
According to Mesa police, Pike had run away from her group home near Mesa Drive and McKellips Road in late January. Her body was found brutalized and in trash bags in Gila County, northeast of Globe, 17 days later, said Jim Lahti of the Gila County Sheriff's Office.
What happened between when she was last seen and when her body was found is under investigation by the Gila County Sheriff's Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, FBI and other local agencies.
An Amber Alert was not issued for Pike because her case didn't meet the requirements of an alert, the Mesa Police Department said. The department said it had no indication she was abducted.
"The reality is that this little girl was missing ... and they found her dismembered," Martinez said.
The Gila County Sheriff's Office said there were no updates as of March 7. The investigators were "vigorously" working on the case, Lahti said.
According to data analyzed by the Urban Indian Health Institute in 2018, Arizona ranked third in states with the highest number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. In a survey of cities that provided data, Tucson ranked in the top 10.
"Everybody is going to know (Emily's name), and we are not going to stop, we are going to be loud for everybody, not just Emily," said Alyssa Dosela, Emily's aunt, at a vigil for Pike on March 6.
During the Senate committee meeting, legislators floated the idea of amending the bill to name the alert after Pike. The Amber Alert, while standing for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, also refers to the brutal kidnapping and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman of Texas in 1996.
Additional help: Federal agencies join Arizona investigation into disappearance of 14-year-old Emily Pike
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Indigenous Amber Alert bill for AZ advances after Emily Pike's death
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