JEHESSYE SHOCKLEY - 5 yo (2011)/ Charged: Mother; Jerice Hunter - Glendale AZ

Glendale police are moving away from the city landfill in their search for missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley.

Sgt.
Brent Coombs, police spokesman, told CBS 5 News, "It's our
investigators' belief that evidence of Jhessye's disappearance will not
be found in the landfill."

The
redirected focus comes after our crews spotted activity at an area of
the landfill that had been cordoned off for several weeks. Police told
us the area had been preserved so that when the time came to search,
they would not have to dig through weeks or months of extra debris.
That time never came, as police tell us investigators never performed a
search there.

Jhessye
was reported missing Oct. 13 by her mother, Jerice Hunter. Hunter said
she left her apartment near 45th Avenue and Glendale to run an errand
and came back to find her youngest child missing. Investigators removed
three of Hunter's other children from the home and put them in foster
care. Documents show that within weeks, those children began to tell of
Jhessye's abuse at the hands of their mother.

Coombs
said, "The release of the areas at the Glendale Landfill should not be
seen as a sign that we have found Jhessye, or that we have reduced our
investigative efforts. Our primary goal remains the same: to locate
Jhessye Shockley and to bring to justice the person or persons
responsible for her disappearance."
http://www.kpho.com/story/16169328/police-believe-missing-girl-is-not-in-landfill

The attorney representing the mother of a missing Glendale
kindergartner says his client is concerned for her safety following her
release from jail on Monday.

“(Jerice Hunter) has had people come up to her and threaten her,”
Scottsdale-based attorney Scott Maasen said. “She’s had neighbors,
people that she sees at store (approach her). People continually follow
her around.”

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office released Hunter from jail after
prosecutors let a deadline lapse rather than charge the Glendale mother
with one count of felony child abuse involving her daughter Jhessye
Shockley. Since her release, Hunter has stayed with family rather than
return to the Glendale apartment complex that has been filmed by news
crews and searched by investigators, Maasen said.

Glendale police won’t search landfill for missing girl
Missing-girl case full of twists and turns

Still, the Glendale woman remains focused on finding her 5-year-old
and has sought local private investigators who might help her, the
attorney said.

Police arrested Hunter last week on suspicion of child abuse. County Attorney Bill Montgomery told The Republic
that prosecutors decided not to charge her because if Hunter was
indicted on a child-abuse charge, it could create a situation of double
jeopardy if prosecutors later pursued a felony murder case against her.

Hunter spent eight days in jail before her release.

Maasen said she should have been released within 48 hours per Arizona
Rules of Criminal Procedure that require a suspect’s release if he or
she has not been charged with a crime.

“There are rules that need to be followed and in this case, it’s a clear violation of the rules,” Maasen said.

In a Friday statement, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office defended its actions.

“Hunter had her initial appearance in court on Tuesday, Nov. 22. Due
to the Thanksgiving holiday, no further action could be taken on her
case until the next business day following her initial appearance,
Monday, Nov. 28,” said Sgt. Jesse Spurgin, a Sheriff’s spokesman.

Another issue also may have affected Hunter’s release date. She was
initially arrested on a higher-level child abuse offense and was set to
have her initial appearance on the day of her arrest. After a meeting
with prosecutors, police decided to recommend Hunter be charged with a
lower level felony charge, giving prosecutors additional time to charge
her with a crime.
http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2011/12/02/attorney-mother-of-missing-glendale-girl-subject-of-threats/

Search warrant sought evidence of Glendale missing girl’s murder
Dec. 05, 2011

Investigators who recently searched the home of a missing
Glendale kindergartner sought evidence of a murder, according to documents.

A search warrant released Monday shows Glendale police scoured Jerice
Hunter’s apartment Nov. 21 for trash containers, sharp items and
anything that could have been used to hurt her daughter, 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley.

---

Read the search warrant

---

Police also looked for notes that might have shown “the state of mind
of the victim, witnesses and/or suspect” and “any cleaning items used
to clean the scene to conceal the disappearance of victim Jhessye.”

It’s unclear what police found inside Hunter’s apartment, near 45th
and Glendale avenues. A Maricopa County justice of peace sealed the rest
of the search warrant, including an inventory of what authorities took,
at a Glendale detective’s request.

Police searched Hunter’s apartment two weeks ago, immediately after
the Glendale woman’s arrest. Police recommended that Hunter be charged
with felony child abuse involving Jhessye, who was reported missing on Oct. 11.

Hunter was later released. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery
has said prosecutors decided not to charge Hunter because if she was
indicted on a child-abuse charge, it would create a situation of double
jeopardy if authorities pursued a felony murder case against her.

Last week, Glendale police announced they would not search the city
landfill for evidence of the missing girl after a spokesman said their
investigation led elsewhere. Police would not provide additional
information about this decision.

On Monday, the spokesman said there was nothing new to share on the case.
http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2011/12/05/search-warrant-sought-evidence-of-glendale-missing-girls-murder/

Attorney: Missing Glendale girl's mom won't take polygraph

Attorney for Jerice Hunter says more details about case are needed
Dec. 6, 2011 01:25 PM

The attorney for the mother of a
missing Glendale girl says his client won't submit to a polygraph exam
until police provide more details about the case against her.

Scottsdale-based attorney Scott Maasen said he has repeatedly called
Glendale police to request information about their investigation of
Jerice Hunter and has received no calls back.

---

[b] Read the search warrant | Attorney: Mom gets threats
Warrant sought evidence of missing girl's murder

---

Police have said Hunter is their "No. 1 focus" in their search for
Hunter's daughter, Jhessye Shockley, who was reported missing on Oct.
11. They have said they do not expect to find the 5-year-old alive.

Maasen said he has sought reports on the case, as well as an
inventory of what was recovered during a Nov. 21 search of Hunter's
apartment. A partial copy of the search warrant was made public on
Monday.

"At this point, the (polygraph) is certainly on hold," Maasen said.
"It would be careless for me to even say that's a good idea or a bad
idea when we don't have any records on the case. We need to have the
records and to understand the nature of the investigation."

A Glendale police spokesman said Tuesday he would not comment on Maasen's allegations.

Hunter's friends and family hired Maasen two weeks ago after the
Glendale woman was arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse involving
daughter Jhessye.

Hunter spent eight days in Maricopa County jail before prosecutors decided not to charge her with child abuse.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has said that was a
strategic decision, meant to avoid a case of double jeopardy if
authorities pursued a felony murder case against Hunter.

Maasen maintains Hunter should have been released sooner, as Arizona
Rules of Criminal Procedure require a suspect's release within 48 hours
if he or she is not charged with a crime.

Last week, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said the Thanksgiving holiday delayed Hunter's release.


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/12/06/20111206attorney-mom-missing-girl-wont-take-polygraph.html#ixzz1fn8iZy00

Of course the mom's attorney doesn't want her to take a polygraph because she would FAIL! All evidence is pointing to Jerice and that she beat that poor baby to death. I hope they can come up with enough evidence to charge her.

PHOENIX -- A prosecutor is assuring the public that a
missing Glendale girl isn't being forgotten and that
authorities are pressing their investigation.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery says concerns for
5-year-old Jhessye (Jesse) Shockley are just as strong now
as they were when she was reported missing Oct. 11.

Montgomery declined Wednesday to say if an indictment is
near but said ``appearances can be deceiving'' when asked about
the release of the girl's mother.

Jerice Hunter was arrested Nov. 21 on a child abuse charge
related to the girl but released days later when
prosecutors said they wanted more investigation.

Glendale police have said they don't believe they will
find the girl alive, but Montgomery says it's important to find her
body if only to demonstrate that the community cares.

http://ktar.com/6/1478322/Prosecutor-says-missing-Arizona-girl-not-forgotten

Missing Arizona girl, 5, was 'murdered and her body was dumped in the trash across town' say police

Last updated at 9:51 PM on 21st December 2011

Police now believe a five-year-old
Arizona girl missing for more than two months was murdered and her body
dumped in a trash bin.
Though police have not outwardly said it, they believe Jhessye Hunter's mother
Jerice is responsible and they have said in the past she was their 'number one focus'.
They believe the five-year-old was dead even before her mother reported her
missing, which is the most substantive information detectives have
released about what they think happened to the girl.




Missing: Jhessye Shockley has been missing since
October 11 and police now believe she was dead before even being
reported missing

A month ago, detectives arrested Hunter on a child abuse charge related to the girl.
Hunter was released days after when prosecutors said they wanted further investigation.


Arrested: Jerice Hunter was taken in on child abuse charges 'directly related' to Jhessye's disappearance in October

She has maintained she had nothing to do with her daughter's disappearance, and has been critical of investigators.
Glendale police today did not say what evidence led them to believe Jhessye's body was dumped in the trash bin in Tempe.
However, Police Sgt Brent Coombs did say detectives are deciding whether to search a landfill where they
believe the child's body could have ended up.
He said they're evaluating the likelihood of finding her.
Hunter reported her daughter missing
on October 11, telling police she left Jhessye with the girl's older
siblings while she ran an errand and returned to find her gone.
A court document released last month
says Hunter's teenage daughter later told police that she hadn't seen Jhessye since September.
She told them that a few days before
Hunter reported the girl missing, she saw Hunter cleaning her shoes and a closet where she kept Jhessye.
Police said they found a receipt that showed Hunter bought food and a bottle of bleach October 9.
The teen also told police that Hunter deprived Jhessye of food and water while keeping her in the closet, and
that she saw the girl with black eyes, bruises and cuts to her face and body.
'She reported that Jhessye's hair had been pulled out and described her as not looking alive and that she
looked like a zombie,' the document said. 'She said that the closet
where Jhessye had been looked like a grave and smelled like dead people.'





Parents: Mother Jerice Hunter (L) is a
'number one' interest in the case. She was arrested in October 2005 with
then-husband, George Shockley, (R) for child abuse

The teen also said Hunter became angry with Jhessye some time in September when she returned home to find
the girl wearing a long T-shirt while watching TV with a neighbour boy.
Hunter told Jhessye she was a 'ho' before taking her into a bedroom, according to the document.

'She reported that Jhessye's hair had
been pulled out and described her as not looking alive and that she looked like a zombie'

The teen said she then heard her sister screaming and crying in the room.
Police say Hunter has declined to submit to a lie-detector test.
Child welfare workers removed Hunter's other children, including a newborn, from her apartment the day
after she reported Jhessye missing.
Hunter came under scrutiny during the
investigation for an October 2005 arrest with her then-husband, George
Shockley, on child abuse charges in California.
She pleaded no contest to corporal
punishment and served about four years in prison before she was released on parole in May 2010.
George Shockley is a convicted sex offender and is still in a California prison.


Protest: Family members marched through Phoenix to raise awareness for five-year-old Jhessye in October

Hunter's mother, Shirley Johnson, has said her daughter changed after prison and became a loving mother.

Hunter was eight months pregnant at the time of Jhessye's disappearance. While still pregnant, she
demonstrated at the state capitol in Phoenix, saying her daughter's case
wasn't getting the attention it deserved because she is black.
At the October 24 demonstration,
Hunter condemned members of the media for focusing too much on her past
and said she had nothing to hide.
'I have been forthcoming with law
enforcement from day one. I let them turn my home into a crime scene
hours after I reported that I couldn't find my daughter,' she said.
'They didn't find anything, but they're holding my children hostage.'
She also criticised the Glendale police department's investigation.
'We feel that law enforcement is not active in finding Jhessye and that
they're more active in persecuting me instead of finding out where she is,' Hunter said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2077273/Arizona-girl-Jhessye-Shockley-murdered-body-dumped-trash-town-say-police.html#ixzz1hD2g68gb

The Glendale Police Department says it now believes the body of missing
5-year-old Jhessye Shockley was thrown in a trash can in Tempe and may
be in a landfill just south of the Valley.

Glendale Officer Tracey Breeden tells New Times that the case is now a homicide investigation and that Jhessye Shockley's mother, Jerice Hunter, is the primary focus.

Breeden says information was given to police -- after Hunter was arrested on
child abuse charges last month -- that the 5-year-old's body was thrown
in the trash. Breeden would only say the information was given to police
through investigative leads and through Silent Witness.

Trash from the location where police suspect Jhessye was dumped is taken to
the Butterfield Landfill south of the Valley. Detectives will now
determine whether to search the landfill, a decision they'll base on --
among other variables -- the likelihood that they'll be able to find the body.

Jhessye was reported missing on October 11. Since then, Hunter's played
the role of a concerned, grieving mother. However, the Glendale P.D.'s
investigation revealed that Hunter served time in prison for abusing her
other children. Detectives also determined that Hunter locked Shockley
in a closet for what may have been weeks before reporting her missing.

According to court records obtained by New Times,
two of Jhessye's siblings, who are now in foster care, told their
foster parents about some of the abuse Jhessye received at the hands of
Hunter, who spent four years in a California prison for child abuse --
and scolded us last month for asking whether she hurt her daughter .

Jhessye's 13-year-old sister told her foster parents that several weeks before
the little girl was reported missing, Hunter came home and found her
watching TV with a boy from the neighborhood. The girl told her foster
parents -- and later police -- that Hunter called Jhessye a "ho" and
dragged her into a bedroom where the sister could hear Jhessye screaming and crying.

Following the apparent beating, Hunter kept the child in a closet. Her sister
told police she had to bring the 5-year-old water when Hunter was out so
she wouldn't become dehydrated. She would let the her out when Hunter
was gone, but quickly put Jhessye back when Hunter got home to keep her
from getting in trouble.

The sister also told investigators that
she saw bruises and cuts on Jhessye's face and body while she was kept
in the closet, and that her eyes were black and only slightly open.

The 13-year-old also told police that her sister's hair had been pulled out
and that she didn't look alive. The older sibling described Jhessye as
looking like a "zombie" and that the closet she was kept in smelled like
"dead people" and was like a "grave."

All of the alleged abuse happened weeks before Hunter called police on October 11. The last time
anyone saw Jhessye alive was September 22, which was the last time
records show her attending school. Her sisters say they never saw
Jhessye the day her mother reported her missing, when Hunter told police
that the older siblings were watching the girl as she ran errands.

On October 9, Hunter bought a bottle of bleach at a Walgreens. She then
cleaned the entire apartment and scrubbed her shoes that were in the
closet with Jhessye with bleach, the sister told police.

Court records also show that Hunter was suspected of child abuse in April, and
a report was filed. It's unclear whether Child Protective Services was
alerted about the reported abuse.

Hunter has made sobbing attempts to declare her innocence since the day she reported her
daughter missing more than two weeks after she was last seen alive.
She's blamed everyone from the media to the Glendale Police Department
for not locating her daughter. When we spoke to her, Hunter went
ballistic when we asked if she had hurt her daughter.

"I really think they should take the focus off of me and quit asking people --
wasting time -- if I did something to my daughter," Hunter told us last
month. "They should quit holding my babies hostage and trying to get
them to say something [about what happened to Jahessye]. [Authorities
are] telling me 'your kids aren't saying anything.' It's been 13 days.
What do they expect my babies to say that they haven't already said?
[CPS] don't wanna hear 'we love our mama, we wanna go home we want our
mommy' -- they don't wanna hear that. They won't let me see them because
they don't want them running into my arms. They don't wanna hear them
scream 'mommy.'"

Hunter was arrested last month on child-abuse
charges but wasn't officially charged because the Maricopa County
Attorney's Office didn't want to create a double-jeopardy situation if
police could gather enough evidence to later charge her with murder.

Glendale police say a decision about whether to search the landfill will be made in the next few weeks.
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/12/jhessye_shockley_thrown_in_tem.php

PHOENIX – Police now believe a 5-year-old Arizona girl missing for more than two months was killed and that her body was dumped in a trash bin across town before her mother reported her missing -- the most substantive information detectives have released about what they think happened to the girl.

Police in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale stopped short of saying who they think killed Jhessye Shockley, but Glendale police Sgt. Brent Coombs reiterated Wednesday that the girl's mother is the "No. 1 focus."



"We're in what we believed to be the worst-case scenario from the beginning," Coombs said.

A month ago, detectives arrested Jhessye's mother, Jerice Hunter, on a child abuse charge related to the girl, announcing at the time that they didn't believe they'd find the girl alive.

Hunter was released from jail days later, and the charge against her was dropped. Prosecutors said at the time that they wanted further investigation and were worried that Hunter would not be eligible for a potential murder charge if she was convicted of abusing Shockley, a situation known as double jeopardy.

A call to Hunter's home was not immediately returned Wednesday, but she has previously maintained her innocence.

Coombs said tips that came in following Hunter's arrest and evidence collected during search warrants led police to believe Jhessye's body was dumped in Tempe. He declined to elaborate.

Coombs did say detectives firmly believe Jhessye's body is now in a landfill south of the Phoenix area, and that detectives are deciding whether to search for it.

"There's such a scientific method behind trying to pinpoint a location within a particular cell within that landfill. It's a very difficult thing to do," he said, also noting that decomposition is an issue. "The reason we're taking such a long time is we want to be as confident as we can be prior to starting any operation that we're going to do the very best job we can."

Hunter reported Jhessye missing Oct. 11, telling police that she left Jhessye with the girl's older siblings while she ran an errand and returned to find her gone.

But a court document released last month says Hunter's teenage daughter later told police that she hadn't seen Jhessye since September. She told them that a few days before Hunter reported the girl missing, she saw Hunter cleaning her shoes and a closet where she kept Jhessye.

Police said they found a receipt that showed Hunter bought food and a bottle of bleach Oct. 9.

The teen also told police that Hunter deprived Jhessye of food and water while keeping her in the closet, and that she saw the girl with black eyes, bruises and cuts to her face and body.

"(She) reported that Jhessye's hair had been pulled out and described Jhessye as not looking alive and that she looked like a zombie," the document said. "(She) said that the closet where Jhessye had been looked like a grave and smelled like dead people."

The teen also said Hunter became angry with Jhessye sometime in September when she returned home to find the girl wearing a long T-shirt while watching TV with a neighbor boy. Hunter told Jhessye she was a "ho" before taking her into a bedroom, according to the document. The teen said she then heard her sister screaming and crying in the room.

Police say Hunter has declined to submit to a lie-detector test.

Hunter has said she had nothing to do with her daughter's disappearance, and has been critical of investigators.

"We feel that law enforcement is not active in finding Jhessye and that they're more active in persecuting me instead of finding out where she is," Hunter said in October.

Child welfare workers removed Hunter's other children, including a newborn, from her apartment the day after she reported Jhessye missing.

Hunter came under scrutiny during the investigation for an October 2005 arrest with her then-husband, George Shockley, on child abuse charges in California. Hunter pleaded no contest to corporal punishment and served about four years in prison before she was released on parole in May 2010.

Hunter's oldest child, 14 at the time, has told police his mother routinely beat the children. George Shockley is a convicted sex offender and is still in a California prison.

Hunter's mother, Shirley Johnson, has said her daughter changed after prison and became a loving mother.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/21/missing-arizona-girl-thought-to-have-been-killed-dumped-in-trash/#ixzz1hDhm5XW8

Five-year-old Jhessye Shockley was reported missing from her Glendale home on Oct. 11. 2011.

Here's a look back at what has happened so far in the case of the missing kindergartner.


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2011/12/29/20111229glendale-arizona-jhessye-shockley-case-timeline-prog.html#ixzz1i5Jr2Int

Police suspect that a 5-year-old Glendale girl who went missing a few months ago is dead, her body callously disposed of and probably lying buried beneath tons of trash in a giant landfill.

If Jhessye Shockley's body is not found, bringing a killer to justice will be a daunting task. But experts say it is not impossible.

Across the nation, prosecutors have won murder convictions in dozens of cases in which there was no victim's body. In the past year, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office successfully prosecuted two such cases.

Experts say the cases come with a unique challenge: Not only must authorities convince jurors that a suspect was responsible for a murder, they also need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim is actually dead.

Jhessye's mother reported her missing nearly three months ago.

After initial searches for the missing girl, the case shifted to a homicide investigation.

Police said their work and tips from the public eventually led them to suspect Jhessye's body was dumped in a Tempe trash bin, miles from her Glendale home, by someone who wanted to cover his or her tracks and keep anyone from finding the body.

Now, Glendale police are weighing a search at a landfill south of the Valley where the contents of the bin would have gone. Police will launch the search if experts can help them narrow where they might find the body among acres of trash that grows by at least 6,000 tons each day.

Jhessye's mother, Jerice Hunter, remains the pivotal figure in the investigation, although police stop short of calling her a suspect. Hunter was arrested Nov. 21 on suspicion of felony child abuse involving Jhessye. She was released several days later when prosecutors decided that pursuing an abuse charge might create a situation of double jeopardy that could prevent her from being tried again in the same case if prosecutors pursue a murder charge against her.

The attorney representing Jhessye's mother has said his client is innocent. Scott Maasen has criticized the focus on Jhessye's mother and has hired private investigators to aid in the search for the girl, saying Hunter's primary interest is finding her.

Detectives who have worked on similar cases caution it can take months or years to arrest a murder suspect if a body isn't located, because it takes an enormous amount of effort to build an airtight case.

Melissa Lutch, a Phoenix detective who handled a homicide case with no body that led to a 2011 conviction, said killers in such cases often take great pains to destroy evidence and hide the body.

"You don't want to see somebody get away with that," she said. "No one deserves to be killed and have their remains hidden so they don't get their final resting place, or to have their families be tortured over the years."

Proving murder


In the weeks after Jhessye's disappearance, police received hundreds of tips. Detectives initially suspected the girl might have been abducted. Jhessye's family suggested a sex offender or family member might have taken her.

Police later said Jhessye's 13-year-old sister told them that she last saw the 5-year-old unresponsive, eyes bruised and hair pulled out, inside her mother's closet. The teen said their mother often kept Jhessye in the closet without food or water, according to a police probable-cause statement filed in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Since then, police have shifted their focus.

If prosecutors decide to pursue a murder case without Jhessye's body, police must seek details that prove death was the most plausible explanation for the disappearance. They must wade through hundreds of interviews conducted immediately after Jhessye was reported missing and home in on inconsistencies in their suspect's story.

Police also must try to find a motive for the crime, an element that can be especially crucial for jurors once such a case goes to trial, said Treena Kay, a deputy Maricopa County attorney who won a conviction in the case Lutch investigated, the slaying of William McGrath.

At trial, authorities emphasized efforts by McGrath's handyman to use the Phoenix man's bank cards and ID to wire funds.

A motive isn't necessary to prosecute a murder, but it makes a jury more comfortable with finding a person guilty, Kay said.

If Jhessye's case goes to trial, prosecutors will likely call a slew of witnesses to talk about her life. They might be asked about Jhessye's relationship with the person believed to be responsible for her disappearance and Jhessye's behavior at school. They'll likely be asked about the last time they saw Jhessye.

Prosecutors also will want to show evidence that a crime scene may have existed, such as traces of blood or cleaning supplies used to wipe away evidence, as well as establish a timeline for Jhessye's disappearance.

Authorities must use multiple examples to convince jurors that death is the reason for a disappearance, said Tad DiBiase, a former federal prosecutor who has studied more than 300 homicide cases in which a body was never found.

"It is the combination of things that's damning in these cases -- not any one single factor," he said.

Long investigations


Most homicide investigations start with a body, a weapon and, if police are fortunate, a witness or two.

When authorities have none of those, there's a lot more work to do.

In the Phoenix case, it took police eight months to know for sure that McGrath was murdered, said Lutch, the lead investigator.

Detectives made their case after they recovered McGrath's bank cards, wallet and a gun covered in his blood hidden in the cobwebbed attic of a home his killer was remodeling.

Other cases have taken even longer.

Detectives in Aurora, Colo., spent more than four years investigating the disappearance of 6-year-old Aaroné Thompson. Her father reported her missing in November 2005, saying the girl had stomped off after he refused to give her a cookie. A tip revealed Aaroné had been missing for months. Eventually, the girl's siblings opened up and told authorities their parents often whipped them with a belt and left Aaroné in a closet.

In 2009, Aaroné's father was convicted of child abuse resulting in death.

Before the case went to trial, police searched the Thompson home multiple times. Investigators questioned children and friends numerous times over weeks and months.

Detective Randy Hansen, one of the lead investigators on the case, is convinced authorities wouldn't have won a conviction if they had rushed to arrest Aaroné's father.

"Without a body and without saying the cause of death, without having those particular evidentiary pieces, you need to make sure you have as much information as possible, and that might come weeks, months or even a year later," Hansen said.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has said he is determined to bring Jhessye's killer to justice, no matter how long it takes.

Closing cases


Authorities who have worked on murder cases without a body say they can be frustrating.

Lutch recalls feeling sick with worry on some trial days during the McGrath case.

The public sometimes has the mistaken impression that police are not acting quickly enough to make an arrest, she said. But the police are thinking only of getting a conviction, which means being thorough, no matter how long it takes to "make sure everything is right," she added.

"Ultimately, the jury is going to determine whether we screwed anything up," Lutch said.

Even after a trial ends, difficult cases such as these stick with detectives because of the intensity with which they pursue details about the victim, and a need to bring some kind of meaningful closure for families who may never get to bury their loved ones.

After the jury convicted McGrath's killer, he told police where to find the body. Lutch helped dig a 5-foot-deep hole beneath a central Phoenix home to recover the man's body last spring.

Hansen, the Colorado detective, still searches for Aaroné.

"I guess I felt my job was to find her," he said.


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/12/20/20111220jhessye-shockley-investigators-challenge-proving-murder-without-body.html#ixzz1iPAwzY00

Authorities investigating the disappearance of a 5-year-old Arizona girl plan to search a landfill south of metropolitan Phoenix in hopes of finding the girl's body and other evidence.

Police in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale say Tuesday that the search of the landfill will begin within the next few weeks.

Investigators say 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley was killed and her body was dumped in a trash bin across town before her mother reported her missing on Oct. 11.

Shockley's mother was arrested in November on suspicion of child abuse related to the girl but was released from jail day later after prosecutors said they wanted to investigate further.

Detectives believe the girl's body is in the landfill and the search could take several weeks.



Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Police-to-search-landfill-for-missing-Ariz-girl-2455413.php#ixzz1j5oVXb00

GLENDALE, AZ - The mother of a missing Glendale girl is moving on; at least, into a new home.

Five-year-old Jhessye Shockley has been missing since October.

“After they executed the search warrant, [investigators] basically ripped up the home,” said Scott Maasen, an attorney representing Jhessye’s mother, Jerice Hunter.

Hunter is moving out of her Glendale apartment to a new location in the Valley, Maasen told ABC15.

Hunter still believes her daughter is alive, said Maasen. “Certainly, if she’s not dead, this would be a waste of time,” Maasen said of the plans to search a landfill for Jhessye’s body.

Glendale police announced they will be launching a search at a landfill south of the Valley in an effort to locate the body of a 5-year-old girl missing since October.

During the course of their investigation into the disappearance of Jhessye Shockley, investigators from the Glendale Police Department determined a search of the landfill in Mobile, Arizona is necessary.

According to police, the search will be launched some time in the next few weeks.

Glendale police Sgt. Brent Coombs said landfill searches are very time and labor intensive, and it is likely that their search will exceed several weeks in duration.

Jhessye's grandmother, Shirley Johnson, recently contacted ABC15 about the possibility of a landfill search, saying, "We had to suffer through Christmas knowing AZ has allowed GPD to let my child lay in the dump like she is trash. This confirms it. If this was a dog they would be [searching].”

Johnson also said, “The police wouldn’t let a dog stay in the trash like that this long. It just shows they are treating Jhessye like a piece of trash and they have been since day one.”

Police in December said they believed Jhessye's body had been placed in a trash receptacle in Tempe, prior to her reported disappearance on Oct. 11.

"She was taken all the way to the city of Tempe, not alive, and placed in a large trash receptacle that is ultimately picked up and goes to a transfer station, then removed to a landfill," Coombs said.

Coombs said the trash from that location is eventually taken to Butterfield Landfill south of the Valley.

"We do believe Jhessye is there," he said. "This is an active homicide investigation."


Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_west_valley/glendale/jhessyes-mother-is-moving-out-of-her-apartment#ixzz1jFfd6uXP

I just love how the grandmother is blaming LE. Why the heck doesn't she blame her POS mean daughter. That's who killed that sweet child. Ugh!

And, didn't the grandmother lie to LE? For her daughter.

twinkletoes wrote:And, didn't the grandmother lie to LE? For her daughter.

I think you're right. I believe I recall the grandmother praising her POS daughter. So that must mean she doesn't believe the granddaughter who told police about her mother beating poor Jehsseye to death.

Missing Glendale Girl: Search Warrant Findings Released




GLENDALE - New documents have been released in the investigation into the disappearance of Jhessye Shockley.
We’ve obtained documents surrounding the search of her mother's home.
We’ve
learned police and FBI removed dozens of items, including the carpet
from the master bedroom and closet, several belts and shoes, a vacuum
filter, and Clorox wipes.
You may remember Jhessye's siblings
told police their mother -- Jerice Hunter -- kept the little girl in the
closet and the closet smelled like “dead people.”
Hunter was arrested on child abuse charges but later released.
Jerice Hunter / Search Warrant Report

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/investigative/missing-glendale-girl-search-warrant-findings-released-1-13-2012

babyjustice wrote:

twinkletoes wrote:And, didn't the grandmother lie to LE? For her daughter.

I think you're right. I believe I recall the grandmother praising her POS daughter. So that must mean she doesn't believe the granddaughter who told police about her mother beating poor Jehsseye to death.

Is this grandmother like Cindy?

Isn't the woman out of jail? Does she have her other daughter? If so, I'm sure she was punished for telling LE the truth. She won't make that mistake again.

What is wrong with people?

Arrest coming in Jhessye Shockley case
by Catherine Holland

Posted on January 20, 2012 at 7:19 AM
Updated today at 9:14 AM


GLENDALE -- Police say they are close to making an arrest in the disappearance and presumed death of Jhessye Shockley, the 5-year-old Glendale girl who vanished in October.

Earlier this month, the Glendale Police Department announced that it is putting together an operation to search Butterfield Station Landfill for the little girl's body. That search is still in the planning phase, but it is expected to get under way later this month.

Detectives also were awaiting the forensic results on evidence collected from the Shockley home during a search in November. That analysis reportedly is now complete.

Police said their investigation continues to focus on Jerice Hunter, Jhessye's mother. Officers already arrested Hunter once in connection with Jhessye's disappearance, but she was never charged.

Hunter's lawyer, Scott Maasen, does not believe detectives have what they need to arrest his client.

"Nothing has happened," he said. "That tends to believe that there isn't enough evidence to go forward with the case or whatever their theory of the case is. Otherwise they would make an arrest and things would kind of proceed. That hasn't happened."

Jhessye was last seen at her Glendale apartment on Oct. 11. Since then, she has been the center of a massive search. According to Sgt. Brent Coombs, detectives developed information that the girl had been killed and her body dumped in a Tempe trash bin.

While Jhessye was reported missing on Oct. 11, detectives now believe she was killed before that.

Investigators have not released any information about what led them to that conclusion, nor have they said when they believe Jhessye died.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Arrest-coming-in-Jhessye-Shockley-case-137752078.html

Glendale PD: No arrest imminent in missing girl case
by Jim Cross/KTAR (January 20th, 2012 @ 10:45am)

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- It has been just over four months since five-year-old Jhessye Shockley was reported missing by her mother Jerice Hunter, who remains the primary focus of the investigation.

Hunter was jailed briefly after the girl vanished before the county attorney dropped child abuse charges to prevent a double jeopardy situation in the event that first-degree murder charges are filed.

"We are progessing down the path toward making an arrest of the person or persons responsible for Jhessye's death," Glendale Police Sgt Brent Coombs said.

Right now the focus is on laying the groundwork for searching the massive Butterfield Station Landfill near Mobile, south of the Valley.

"We're hopeful that will begin within a matter of days," Coombs said. "We're working closely with the county attorney and we both want the strongest case possible prior to making an arrest."

Investigators believe the girl died days, possibly weeks before she was reported missing by her mother and then dumped in a Tempe trash bin before she finally ended up in the landfill.

Hunter, and her father Jesse Johnson have been critical of the Glendale Police investigation almost from the beginning and the family has also been very outspoken about their belief that the case didn't garner more significant national attention because the missing girl is African-American.

http://ktar.com/6/1490557/Glendale-PD-No-arrest-imminent-in-missing-girl-case

Well, which is it?

Glendale police have set Feb. 6 as the target date to start searching a landfill for the remains of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley, who has been missing since October.

Glendale police said Thursday they have identified personnel and equipment for the search at the Butterfield Landfill in Mobile, south of the Valley. The department is in the final stages of obtaining the necessary equipment, as well as scheduling, training and medically screening personnel.

Search personnel will consist of sworn officers and detectives, FBI, and Child Abduction Response Team members. Including search teams and support personnel, there will be more than 40 people on site per day, excluding weekends, officials said. The search could last several weeks.

As a result of investigative efforts, analysis and research, a specific area as been identified, which is considered the most probable place for finding the child’s body. This specific area measures approximately 180-by-200 feet and is more than 20 feet in depth. It is the equivalent of one day’s waste, which amounts to 6,000 tons of trash.

Police said the area is secure and is being prepared for the search and required heavy equipment for the search will be arriving at the site soon.

http://www.yourwestvalley.com/glendale/article_33de2efe-4840-11e1-894d-001871e3ce6c.html

she murdered her child and she's playing the race card???? Unbelievable!!!

PHOENIX—Police have started methodically searching a landfill south of Phoenix for the body of a 5-year-old Arizona girl who has been missing for more than four months and who authorities now believe is dead.




About 20 officers wore protective gear, masks, and boots, and used rake-like tools as they began sifting through every single piece of garbage in a 36,000-square-foot area of the Butterfield Landfill in Mobile, south of the Phoenix area. That amounts to about 6,000 tons of trash.


They will search eight hours a day Monday through Friday for up to six weeks or until they find the body of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley of Glendale.


The officers conducting the search all volunteered for the labor-intensive and potentially dangerous work, Glendale police Sgt. Brent Coombs said Monday just after the search began.


"Nobody here believes that little girl should be left in that landfill," he said. "She shouldn't be dead, first thing. Secondly, she deserves a proper interment, and certainly recovering her remains is a critical piece to making our case as strong as possible."


Glendale police now believe that Jhessye's body was dumped in a Tempe trash bin a few days before her mother, Jerice Hunter, reported the little girl missing on Oct. 11.


An intensive search began as police and volunteers combed her neighborhood and found no sign of her or any evidence indicating what might have happened to her.


In the weeks that followed, information about Hunter's past abuse of her children came to light and the investigation turned to her, and Coombs said Monday that she was still the "No. 1 focus."


"I can't really speak about the volume of evidence in hand but we want to be in the best possible position we can be before making that next step in an arrest," he said. "We're going to let this search effort play out in hopes that we gain the final piece of critical evidence so we can strengthen our case more."


The phone at Hunter's home was disconnected. She and her attorney, Scott Maasen, have maintained her innocence.


Maasen was in court Monday and could not immediately be reached for comment.


Hunter's 13-year-old daughter, who had been removed from Hunter's home with her other siblings Oct. 12, told police in November that she hadn't seen Jhessye since September. She told them that a few days before Hunter reported the girl missing, she saw Hunter cleaning her shoes and a closet where she kept Jhessye.


Police said they found a receipt that showed Hunter bought food and a bottle of bleach Oct. 9.


The teen also told police that Hunter deprived Jhessye of food and water while keeping her in the closet, and that she saw the girl with black eyes, bruises and cuts to her face and body. When she last saw Jhessye, the teen said that the girl's hair had been pulled out, that she didn't look alive, and that the closet where she was kept "looked like a grave and smelled like dead people."


Police arrested Hunter soon after on suspicion of child abuse related to Jhessye. They released her from jail a day later and dropped the charge against her after persecutors said they wanted to investigate further and were worried that Hunter would not be eligible for a potential murder charge if she was convicted of abusing Shockley, a situation known as double jeopardy.


Hunter has declined to submit to a lie-detector test by police but has told reporters that she had nothing to do with her daughter's disappearance. She also has been critical of investigators, who she said were wrongly focused on her instead of looking for Jhessye.


In October 2005, Hunter was arrested with her then-husband, George Shockley, on child abuse charges in California. Hunter pleaded no contest to corporal punishment and served about four years in prison before she was released on parole in May 2010.


Shockley is a convicted sex offender and is still in a California prison.


Hunter's oldest child, 14 at the time, told police that his mother routinely beat the children. Hunter's mother, Shirley Johnson, has said that her daughter changed after prison and became a loving mother.



http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/02/06/ariz_police_begin_searching_landfill_for_girl/

Shirley Johnson reminds me very much of Cindy Anthony.