Father of Emily Pike exploring potential civil lawsuit against group home

The Gila County Sheriff’s Office says they still do not have a primary suspect in the murder of 14-year-old Emily Pike.

ABC15 has learned Pike’s father is working with attorneys on a potential civil lawsuit against Sacred Journey Inc., the teen’s former group home in Mesa.

It has been almost three months since Pike’s disappearance from her Mesa group home. Weeks later, the teen was found killed nearly 100 miles away.

There have still been no arrests, but Pike’s dad could soon take legal action.

“We want justice, we want to find out exactly what happened to Emily and if it could have been prevented by the group home that was in charge for caring for her,” said Olivia Lemorrocco, a spokesperson for Phillips Law Group.

The law firm tells ABC15 they connected with Pike’s dad, Jensen, who is currently behind bars, about a possible lawsuit against Sacred Journey Inc.

While nothing has been officially filed yet, the law group says they have submitted records requests and are in the beginning stages.

“If the group home is found negligent, if they did not do the standard of care that they promised to for Emily, then we can file a lawsuit against their insurance,” said Lemorrocco.

ABC15 reached out to Sacred Journey leadership on Saturday, but we have yet to hear back. ABC15 spoke with the CEO a few weeks ago, she says they go “above and beyond” to take care of their children.

The Arizona Department of Child Safety has said: “At this time, the department does not believe any action taken, or not taken, by the group home caused the terrible outcome in this case.”

A licensing inquiry was still opened, which is a standard process.

“We want to know what went wrong, what went right and make sure that this doesn’t happen to another child, another young person that is in a group home,” said Lemorrocco.

As for the investigation into the teen’s death, GCSO says they are pursuing leads as they come in. The investigation has not stopped. They are also still investigating what caused Pike’s death.

Meanwhile, loved ones have helped put up more billboards on Emily Pike’s case, hoping to garner more tips.

Lemorrocco says the lawsuit is still in the works.

“We don’t have an exact timeline of when this will happen, but we know it’s imminent in the near future,” she said.