Many Arizonans headed to bed recently and heard their cell phones ring loudly due to a statewide alert that led to the safe location of a missing girl.
The June 23 Turquoise Alert led to the safe location the following morning of a 13-year-old who had gone missing some five days earlier near a Circle K in Apache Junction, according to authorities. Brothers Patrick Steve Sanchez Jr., 68, and Manuel Sanchez, 60, are charged on suspicion of multiple felonies in connection to the case, according to Apache Junction police spokesperson Rayna Steffen.
The Turquoise Alert has proven to be a successful resource for the Arizona Department of Public Safety following its implementation nearly a year ago, according to the agency's alerts coordinator, Kelsey Commisso.
Last year, all five cases in which the alert was used resulted in the safe location of missing children, according to Commisso. The success came after a lot of fine-tuning, Commisso said.
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There are multiple alert systems for which DPS is, as Commisso described it, "the gatekeepers." There is a checklist law enforcement must go through before an alert is activated by DPS.
"It is a process, it's not the click of a button. It's a lot of work from the investigating agency well before we've even been contacted, and we're the state agency, so our job is to support all of our surrounding partnering agents," Commisso said.
The Amber Alert is used when a child is missing or abducted, and there is imminent danger involved. The Safe Alert, formerly the Silver Alert, is for anyone 65 or older or someone with cognitive or developmental disabilities who is missing. There is also the Blue Alert, which is related to an active law enforcement incident.
The casket of Emily Pike was decorated with Hello Kitty, a favorite of hers, during her memorial at San Carlos High School on March 29, 2025, in San Carlos, Arizona.
"We're another resource to support and assist in their investigations," Commisso said of DPS's role in the alert system.
The Turquoise Alert came to be after efforts were made to bring attention to members of federally recognized tribes who went missing.
The grisly February 2025 case of 14-year-old San Carlos Apache Tribe member Emily Pike, who was killed and dismembered, prompted state legislators to act. The Federal Communications Commission had established a new alert code for missing or endangered people just months prior.
"It evolved and expanded," and underwent "changes and modifications" in the legislative process, Commisso said of the bill that eventually became "Emily's Law" and led to the new alert being "all inclusive."
Commisso outlined the five specific criteria for the Turquoise Alert to be invoked:
• The missing person is under 65.
• There are suspicious or unknown circumstances related to the missing person.
• The investigating agency has exhausted all efforts.
• There are aggravating circumstances in the missing persons case that lead the agency to consider the individual is in danger.
• The agency has enough descriptors related to the missing persons case, such as vehicles involved and possibly a suspect.
• "The Turquoise Alert kind of fills in the gap of coverage for high risk, endangered situations that normally would not meet an Amber alert criteria," Commisso said.
This year, there have been three Turquoise Alerts, including the safe location of a 13-year-old. The other two instances were for Isabella Comas, an Avondale woman who remains missing, and Maleeka "Mollie" Boone, an 8-year-old Navajo girl found dead in a field.
"All of these types of cases, they're all unique, they're never the same," Commisso said.
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