At 5:23 A.M. on Sunday, November 2nd, Valley residents were woken by the sounds of their phones alerting to a missing indigenous teen, marking the third time officials have used the Turquoise Alert. The missing teen, Yolyn Hermios, was found safe Tuesday night by Mesa Police, but many residents still have questions about the program that disrupted their Sunday morning this past weekend.
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The Turquoise Alert, also known as “Emily’s Law,” was codified in May by Governor Katie Hobbs with bipartisan agreement. Named in honor of Emily Pike, a San Carlos Apache Tribe teen who was murdered after disappearing from Sacred Journey Inc. group home in Mesa in January 2025, the program’s goal is to reduce the number of cases like Pike’s.
According to court documents, the victim’s father, Jensen Pike, has turned to Phillips Law to officially file a lawsuit against Sacred Journey, alleging the facility’s negligence contributed to her death.
As Phillips Law continues to work on the Pike’s case, Olivia Lemorocco, vice president of operations at Phillips Law Group, shares important information about “Emily’s Law” and the Turquoise Alert program to help resident’s better understand it’s importance and timing.
Why was there such a strong need for the Turquoise Alert program?
Lemorocco: There’s such a need for this in our community. As you know, we have the Silver Alert and the Amber Alert, but there was nothing in between. This alert was originally meant for Indigenous people, but as we’re seeing now, it’s helping other underserved communities as well.
How does the Turquoise Alert system actually work?
Lemorocco: When police are at a standstill and have exhausted all other resources, we now have this GPS-enabled alert that notifies everyone in the area where the person may be. It helps spread awareness quickly and widens the search network to bring them home sooner.
The law is named after Emily Pike. Do you think a Turquoise Alert could have changed the outcome of her case?
Lemorocco: With the Emily Pike case, when we look back, we have to ask: if something like this had been in place, could we have found Emily sooner? Could we have prevented her death? It’s our belief that the Turquoise Alert will help many families find their loved ones much quicker.
Many people said they hadn’t heard of the Turquoise Alert before this weekend. How would you describe its purpose?
Lemorocco: The simplest way to describe it is this: it’s for people who go missing under suspicious or unusual circumstances, not runaways, and not senior citizens covered by the Silver Alert. It fills the gap for missing persons under age 65, when police have reason to believe something’s wrong but no clear evidence of abduction.
What makes this alert different from traditional missing-person efforts?
Lemorocco: Before, we relied on billboards, flyers, and search parties. The Turquoise Alert is immediate, it reaches thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people. It starts the conversation, gets people looking, and brings missing individuals’ names to the media. That visibility is especially important for underserved populations who might not have strong social networks or media attention.
Some residents were startled by the early-morning alert. What would you say to those who were frustrated by it?
Lemorocco: I understand it can be surprising, especially at 5 A.M., but if you could wake up to help bring somebody home, that’s huge. Every minute matters when someone’s missing. The sooner the alert goes out, no matter the hour, the better the chances of finding them safe.
How quickly can a Turquoise Alert be issued once someone is reported missing?
Lemorocco: There’s a process. It has to be requested by the Department of Public Safety and law enforcement after they’ve exhausted their resources. They try to make it as timely as possible, regardless of the time of day or night. That urgency is critical, if this system had existed the night Emily went missing, maybe the outcome would have been different.
