A permanent tribute has been just unveiled inside a Mesa park for slain San Carlos Apache teen Emily Pike, who was murdered last year after disappearing from a nearby group home. That new memorial is meant to replace a roadside shrine sitting on private property.
Spring training is in full swing at Fitch Park — home of the Oakland Athletics.
Near the baseball diamonds and a playground, the city has planted a Red Push Pistache tree. Next to the sapling is a granite plaque with an image of Emily and an inscription that reads, in part, “No more stolen sisters.”
Beside that area is a metal bench, engraved with a bloody handprint — a symbol of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP).
It’s a few miles south of Mesa Drive and McKellips Road — the intersection where Emily was last seen alive — and where the makeshift shrine was erected. That temporary tribute will be dismantled within the next two weeks.
Her family is now asking everyone to leave that old spot alone.
