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

Crews found no sign of a missing 5-year-old Glendale girl on Tuesday, their second day searching a landfill south of the Valley.

But police said the meticulous process to find the remains of Jhessye
Shockley, reported missing nearly four months ago, is becoming
smoother.

Crews are adjusting to the painstaking process, which is laden with
protocols and procedures, Glendale police spokeswoman Tracey Breeden
said.

Heavy-equipment operators first move trash to a search pad at the Butterfield Station Landfill in Mobile, Breeden said.

Then, dressed in boots and other protective gear and armed with
rakes, crews methodically work through piles of dug-up, compacted trash.

Nearly 50 people were involved in Tuesday’s search, personnel from
several agencies: the FBI; Glendale and Phoenix fire departments;
Glendale Police Department and police departments from Gilbert, Phoenix
and El Mirage, which are part of the Child Abduction Response Team.

“They’re still in great spirits,” Glendale police Sgt. Brent Coombs
said of the crews. “They want to be involved in the recovery effort.”

Jhessye’s mother reported her missing Oct. 11.

Police initially searched the south Glendale area and issued an Amber
Alert in hopes of finding the girl. Eventually, police said they no
longer expected to find her alive.

They believe her body was disposed in a Tempe trash bin and was taken to the Mobile landfill.

They have repeatedly said that Jhessye’s mother, Jerice Hunter, is the primary focus of their investigation.

Meanwhile, grandmother Shirley Johnson prays that police won’t find the 5-year-old in the landfill, but elsewhere and alive.

Still, Johnson, who has repeatedly said her daughter is not responsible for Jhessye’s disappearance, is grateful for the search.

Perhaps it will bring closure, she said.
http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2012/02/07/glendale-girl-not-found-on-second-day-of-landfill-search/

I hope they find Jehessye soon so they can put her sorry ashat mother in jail for life. That mean POS deserves to be put away and punished for what she did to that poor child. Her other children will have nightmares and emotional problems the rest of their lives. Where do all the evil people come from?

Feb 8, 2012
PHOENIX – Authorities
searched a landfill south of Phoenix for a third day without finding a
missing Glendale girl's remains, but they had reason to be optimistic.


The Arizona Republic says authorities
sifting through trash Wednesday found mail and newspapers marked with
the same date that investigators believe 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley's
body was disposed in a Tempe trash bin.


Police believe the girl's body was disposed days before her mother reported her missing on Oct. 11.


The search at the Butterfield Station
Landfill in Mobile began Monday and involves officers from Glendale and
other law enforcement agencies.


The search team had to go through an amount
of trash that's at least 8 feet deep on previous days to get to the
letters and other items they believe correspond to their case.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/08/arizona-authorities-optimistic-after-landfill-search-for-missing-girl/#ixzz1lqhWBynq

PHOENIX — A weeklong search of a landfill south of Phoenix for a missing Glendale girl has so far come up empty, but Glendale police say they'll continue their quest on Monday.

Police spokeswoman Officer Tracey Breeden says officers
are optimistic they'll find the remains of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley
in the Butterfield Station Landfill 50 miles south of Phoenix.

Breeden tells the Arizona Republic (http://bit.ly/ArPpGB
) that crews are getting the hang of sifting through piles of trash and
have found items from the day they believe Jhessye's body was dumped in
a Tempe trash bin.

Police have said the girl's mother, Jerice Hunter, is the primary focus of their investigation.

Hunter's attorney, Scott Maasen, has said that his client is not responsible for her daughter's disappearance.
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/8115507e89d74bd094f00341eead123c/AZ--Missing-Arizona-Girl/

The search continues for the body of Jhessye Shockley after it was temporarily halted when crews came upon skeletal remains Friday afternoon.

Glendale police took photos of the bones from the Butterfield Station Landfill and sent them to a forensic anthropologist who determined they were animal bones.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is considering providing their cadaver dogs to assist in the search.

Glendale Police told us today they are extending their search schedule next week by adding another 90 minutes each day.

http://www.kpho.com/story/17015717/bones-found-during-search-for-missing-child

Police say the landfill search south of Phoenix for a missing Glendale child is nearing the halfway point.

Glendale police spokesman Sgt. Brent Coombs says that so far, searchers
have combed through over 2,500 tons of trash searching for the body of
5-year-old Jhessye Shockley. Searchers plan to scour through 6,000 tons
of trash looking for Jhessye.

Coombs says detectives have not found any evidence so far that is directly linked to the child.

However, Coombs says searchers have recovered pieces of mail that
detectives think are from the same area where her body was left as well
as dates on documents that match the time that police believe she was
placed in a container in Tempe.

Coombs says that information tells detectives they're in the right landfill search area.

Police believe the girl's body was disposed of days before her mother reported her missing Oct. 11.

The landfill search in Mobile began Feb. 6.

http://ktar.com/6/1521717/Search-nears-halfway-point-for-missing-girl

GLENDALE, AZ - A birthday party was thrown for a missing 6-year-old
Glendale girl Sunday even though she has not been seen in more than half
a year.
A group of child abuse prevention advocates brought cake, balloons, and refreshments to Jhessye Shockley ’s memorial on in the corner of 45th and Glendale avenues.
The group used Jhessye’s 6th birthday as a way to acknowledge the start of National Child Abuse Prevention month in April.
The group Jessica’s Law Now told ABC15 they held the event for every victim and survivor of child abuse.
The
group takes their name from Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old Florida girl
killed by a sex offender. They want stricter laws to protect children
nationwide.
Police, friends, and family have searched for Jhessye practically every day since her disappearance in October.
The main search for her has moved to a landfill south of Phoenix . That's where detectives think Jhessye's body is.
Law
enforcement is investigating the possibility that her mother, Jerice
Hunter, killed Jhessye and then dumped her body in the trash.
Searchers have so far gone through more than 2,500 tons of trash, but there is still no sign of Jhessye.
The
people behind Sunday’s child abuse prevention event said they are
suspicious of Hunter. She refused to show up to the birthday event in
her daughter’s honor.
"This is what's sad; all the mothers we
work with, that we've been involved with, I've never seen any case where
right away they want to hide,” Jessica’s Law Now organizer Mark Palmer
said. “She should go to the police, take a lie detector test, clear
herself, and say, 'what can I do to find my daughter.' "
Statistics
from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show nearly five
children die everyday in the country from child abuse. By raising
awareness of the issue, organizers from Jessica’s Law Now hope they can
save a few of those kids.


Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_west_valley/glendale/Dark-birthday-for-missing-Glendale-girl-Jhessye-Shockley#ixzz1qtF2pqtK

Something about this, I find macabre. The girl is presumed dead and these well-meaning advocates hold a "Birthday party"? I say this was a poor PR move. Yes, acknowledge her birthday, but it's no time to party.

advocates brought cake, balloons, and refreshments to Jhessye Shockley ’s memorial

Lemme guess, they all played Pin the Tail on the Donkey, busted open a pinata and got goodie bags with prizes to take home.
Somebody needs a lesson in meaningful PR.

I agree Tom. A big birthday bash does seem distasteful.

What's even more disgusting is Jehessye's POS mother is still free. Why isn't that murderer in jail. Her other children implicated her in the child's death. They must be scared. I hope they are in a safe place and don't have to go back to this woman.

when r they going to arrest this woman?

Glendale police have spent nearly $400,000 in the first eight weeks of a landfill search for a missing girl's remains.

For
10 weeks, police have raked through thousands of tons of trash at the
Butterfield Station Landfill south of Phoenix hoping to find 5-year-old
Jhessye Shockley's body.

Authorities say they have yet to find any evidence that's directly linked to the child.

Police believe the girl's body was disposed of days before her mother reported her missing Oct. 11.

The landfill search in Mobile began Feb. 6.

The
Arizona Republic says police have used funds from drug-investigation
seizures to cover $255,500 in equipment, fuel and other costs.

But
the newspaper says Glendale has paid out about $144,000 in overtime to
officers, firefighters and others assisting with the search.

http://www.kvoa.com/news/landfill-search-for-missing-ariz-girl-nears-400k/

Missing Children's Day poignant in Glendale's Jhessye Shockley case

by Jane Lednovich - May. 30, 2012 09:11 AM
The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

With National Missing Children's Day recognized on Friday, Glendale police took the opportunity to encourage anyone with information about Jhessye Shockley to call police.

The 5-year old was reported missing in October, though police now suspect her dead, her body disposed of in a Tempe trash can and taken to a landfill.

Police crews have been searching the Butterfield Station Landfill in Mobile since February.

"This day has a special significance to our agency, which continues in its efforts to locate the remains of Jhessye Shockley, and to bring to justice the person or persons responsible for her death and the disposal of her body," Glendale police said in a written statement.

Jhessye was reported missing Oct. 11. Her mother, Jerice Hunter, was arrested in November on suspicion of child abuse, but was released a week later.

Glendale police have spent more than $400,00 searching the landfill for Jhessye's body, but have found no new leads since the search began.

As part of the national awareness efforts, police reminded parents to keep high-quality photographs of their children in case of an emergency, and to pay close attention to any posters or pictures of missing children.

"We cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of keeping recent, high-quality color photographs of your children immediately available," police said.

Police said to call 480-WITNESS if anyone has information that might assist in the investigation of Jhessye's death.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/20120524glendale-jhessye-shockley-case-missing-childrens-day#ixzz1wNMS2W9L

The methodical search of an Arizona landfill for the body of a
5-year-old girl missing for about eight months and now believed to be
dead is expected to finish by the end of June, police said Thursday.

More
than 180 volunteer police personnel have sifted through 75 percent of a
36,000-square-foot area of the Butterfield Landfill in Mobile, south of
the Phoenix area, Glendale police Officer Tracey Breeden told The
Associated Press.

The search for 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley’s
body began Feb. 6 as dozens of officers donned protective gear, masks,
and boots and used rake-like tools to sift through about 6,000 tons of
trash.

Breeden said that the only items the search has turned up
are documents from the date police believe Jhessye’s body was dumped in a
garbage bin in Tempe, which means police know they’re looking in the
right spot.


She said searchers likely will be finished by the end of June but that there was no set end date to the search.

As
the search turned from weeks to months, police have moved up their
hours to begin at 6 a.m. and end at noon to avoid peak daytime highs in
the triple digits.

“You’re out there in a pile of compacted
trash, so it takes a very long time,” Breeden said. “Every inch of it
has to be gone through. It’s a landfill so it smells, and it’s very
physically intensive in the heat. It takes its toll.”

Glendale
police believe Jhessye’s body was dumped in Tempe a few days before her
mother, Jerice Hunter, reported the girl missing on Oct. 11.

An
exhaustive search of her neighborhood began immediately, but police
found no sign of Jhessye 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, with police calling her the “No. 1 focus.”


Hunter’s attorney, Scott Maasen, said Thursday that she is innocent and criticized the police investigation.

“They
have certainly spent a long time and a lot of taxpayer money on the
search,” he said. “And the public at large and myself haven’t seen one
shred of evidence that connects Jerice Hunter to the disappearance of
her daughter, period.”

Police arrested Hunter in November on
suspicion of child abuse related to Jhessye. They released her from jail
a day later and dropped the charge against her after prosecutors 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.

Police have been hoping that finding Jhessye’s body would be the key piece of evidence to strengthen their case.

Hunter’s
13-year-old daughter, who had been removed from Hunter’s home with her
other siblings Oct. 12, told police that a few days before her mother
reported Jhessye missing, she saw Hunter cleaning a closet where she
kept Jhessye.

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.”

Maasen said that Hunter’s children have told police varying stories, making their statements unreliable.

He
also questioned why it took police four months to begin searching the
landfill, saying they must not have been sure she was there.

Police
have said that they needed to properly prepare for the search, which
includes teams for hazardous materials and heavy equipment, and
paramedics.

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 wrongly focused on her instead of looking for Jhessye.

Maasen
said he has advised Hunter not to submit to a lie-detector test because
he wants the police to share more information about their investigation
with him and because they “are pointing the finger” at her.

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.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2012/06/01/news/state/doc4fc869229d888007715495.txt

Glendale police to give update in case of missing girl Wednesday

by Lisa Halverstadt - The Republic | azcentral.com
Jun. 27, 2012 07:39 AM

More than five months ago, authorities began sifting through trash at a landfill south of the Valley in hopes of finding a missing Glendale girl's remains.

Police said last week that the effort at the Butterfield Station Landfill in Mobile was winding down and that they had yet to find 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley's body or anything significant to their case.

The probe may take a new turn Wednesday when police are set to provide an update on their investigation into Jhessye's disappearance. A press conference is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The Glendale girl's mother reported her missing on Oct. 11. Police later said they believed Jhessye's body was disposed in a Tempe trash bin and transported to the landfill. They have said Jhessye's mother, Jerice Hunter, is the focus of their investigation.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/20120627glendale-missing-girl-case-update.html#ixzz1z0dB8pg4

RAW VIDEO: Emotional Jhessye Shockley news…

During the Wednesday news conference, officials were emotional as they spoke about ending the landfill search for the little girl's body.



http://www.abc15.com/subindex/video

27 June 2012
A landfill search for a missing 5-year-old has ended without success,
but Glendale police on Wednesday said they will continue to pursue a
case against the girl's mother.

For now, family and police must accept that a 41/2 month search that
cost more than $750,000 turned up no signs of Jhessye Shockley.

Some of the girl's family gathered Monday at the landfill south of
the Valley to say goodbye. They hugged and thanked officers who spent
weeks sifting through roughly 9,500 tons of compressed trash, enough to
fill most of a football field heaped 20 feet deep. One searcher brought
flowers for a makeshift memorial in an open dirt field at the
Butterfield Station Landfill.


Photos | Landfill search | Timeline of events in Jhessye Shockley case
Montini: Landfill search worth every penny

Police believe the Mobile landfill is Jhessye's final resting place.

"We're not going to be able to go to a cemetery to visit Jhessye or
leave flowers," said Lisa Vance, a family member who helped raise the
girl. "Now we're just waiting for justice for Jhessye."

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said Wednesday that it's too early to comment on potential criminal charges.

Police are determined to pursue a case against the girl's mother, Jerice Hunter, who reported her daughter missing in October.

Assistant Police Chief Rick St. John said Hunter remains the prime
suspect. He would not comment on whether police believe others were
involved.

Police believe Hunter, who previously served time in a California
prison for abusing her older children, disposed of her daughter's body
in a Tempe trash bin before she reported the 5-year-old missing. An
older sister later told police she last saw Jhessye beaten and bruised,
looking like "a zombie," in her mother's bedroom closet.

Police now must work to prove Jhessye was murdered.

"Our resolve, our commitment, our conviction is to do that," St. John said.

An attorney who has represented Hunter could not be reached for comment. He's previously maintained her innocence.

Police at Wednesday's news conference grappled with guilt at not accomplishing the mission to find the girl's remains.

"We ask for your forgiveness," St. John said to the family. "We
wanted to find Jhessye and bring her home. We were unable to do that."

Commander Dave Madeya, who spent dozens of days at the landfill, choked up as he said officers "didn't want to leave."

Police were determined to bring closure to Vance and others who
raised Jhessye before her mother was released after a four-year prison
term, Madeya said.

"We did everything possible to try to find her," he said.

That included assistance from law-enforcement and Arizona State
University experts, as well as weeks of research and planning before
officers ever began raking through piles of trash. Police used
technology to narrow their search to less than 1acre of the nearly
700-acre landfill.

Glendale spent more than three-quarters of a million dollars, much of
which will be covered by funds from drug-investigation seizures and
assistance from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

And then there were the hours officers spent shoulder to shoulder,
sweat filling their rubber gloves and white protective suits, scouring
each piece of trash. Officers from Surprise to Show Low volunteered to
assist. Sometimes they called out Jhessye's name to remind the girl that
they were at the landfill to find her.

Now, St. John said, searchers must live with the fact that they didn't.

In coming days or weeks, they will sit down with county prosecutors and decide what's next.

A murder prosecution without Jhessye's body may be possible, but
Montgomery acknowledged such cases are more difficult. They come with a
unique challenge: Not only must authorities convince jurors that a
suspect is responsible for a murder, but they also need to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that the victim is actually dead.

Detectives in Aurora, Colo., spent more than four years investigating
the disappearance of 6-year-old Aaroné Thompson before her father was
convicted in 2009 of child abuse resulting in death. The girl's body was
never found.

"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," said Randy Hansen, one of the lead investigators in the
Colorado case.

St. John said Glendale police are waiting for "pieces of the investigation" to progress, although he would not elaborate.

Jhessye's family prays for closure.

"It's a bittersweet ending, but it's not over," Vance said. "We've
just got to regroup and reorganize and find justice for Jhessye. That's
all that matters for me and my family."

Silent Witness is offering a $25,000 reward for any details about
Jhessye's disappearance. Anyone with information can call 480-WITNESS.


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/27/20120627glendale-police-end-landfill-search-missing-girl.html#ixzz1z4s0B8xw

dont hear much from granny now that her daughter admitted to killing her daughter. see what happens when u start criticizing everyone that is truly trying to help. this little girl was only 5 years old and didnt mistreatment and death. also it baffles me no end how some of these extremely young children have so many ppl that claim to have helped raise them. i wonder how the children even know where their real home is. it only proves a point i made on another site when some children r left to fend for themselves while still in diapers. its sad, but until ppl realize that birth control is an alternative to having so many children that they cant or wont take care of them, i guess it will continue.

Glendale police: Mother of Jhessye Shockley arrested, new details expected in murder investigation

Posted: 2:01 PM
Last Updated: 4 minutes ago
By: Katrina Schaefer

GLENDALE, AZ - New details are expected to be released this afternoon in the murder investigation of a Glendale girl who went missing last October.

Sgt. Brent Coombs with the Glendale Police Department said there will be a press conference regarding the Jhessye Shockley murder investigation today at 4 p.m.

Jhessye’s cousin, Lisa Vance, tells ABC15 News Jhessye’s mother, Jerice Hunter, was arrested this morning in Mesa.

Glendale police also confirmed Hunter's arrest for the disappearance of her daughter.

ABC15 is working to provide live coverage of the press conference at 4 p.m.

Shockley was 5 years old at the time of her disappearance on October 11th.

Police have said they believe her body was disposed of days before her mother reported her missing at an apartment complex near Glendale and 45th avenues.

Police records show Jhessye's siblings told investigators, in the days after her disappearance, Hunter abused Jhessye and kept her in a closet where they often heard screams.

Police ended a search for the girl at the Butterfield Station Landfill at the end of June after 96 search days. They were unsuccessful in their efforts to locate Jhessye.

ABC15 is working to provide live coverage of the press conference at 4 p.m.

Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_west_valley/glendale/glendale-police-mother-of-jhessye-shockley-arrested-new-details-expected-in-murder-investigation#ixzz25jAM0tlV

Mother of missing Jhessye Shockley re-arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder

By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 01:10 EST, 7 September 2012
UPDATED: 01:11 EST, 7 September 2012

The mother of Jhessye Shcokley, the Arizona girl missing for nearly a year was re-arrested on Thursday on suspicion of the first-degree murder of her daughter and on charges of child abuse.

Police in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale announced at a news conference that Jerice Hunter was taken into custody without incident at her home in Mesa.

Hunter, 38, was indicted earlier in the day by a Maricopa County grand jury, even though the body of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley hasn't been found.

'And certainly in this particular instance with the totality of the evidence gathered over the course of the investigation and the quality of the evidence that was obtained not only securing an indictment, also led us to believe there was a reasonable likelihood of conviction at this point.'

'We now have the opportunity to seek justice for Jhessye and uncover the truth behind her disappearance,' Montgomery added.

Investigators believe Shockley's body was disposed of days before Hunter reported her missing on October 11th of last year and told police that she left Jhessye with the girl's older siblings while she ran an errand and returned to find her gone.

A 96-day search at a Phoenix-area landfill ended in late June without finding the girl's remains.

Glendale police, working with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and other law enforcement partners, moved forward with the case after a warrant was issued for the arrest of Hunter, based upon a Grand Jury Indictment handed down late Thursday morning.

Glendale Police Chief Debora Black said at a news conference that Shockley's 'final resting place' likely is at the bottom of the Butterfield Landfill in Mobile, south of Phoenix, but no additional searches are scheduled.

She said 280 officers sifted through more than 9,500 tons of trash from early February to late June without success.

'They worked tirelessly to accomplish two goals: to find Jhessye and to hold the person responsible for her disappearance accountable,' Black added. 'We are confident with the indictment and arrest, we will achieve our second goal of securing justice for Jhessye.'

Hunter was arrested in November on suspicion of child abuse but later released from jail with the charge dropped.
Prosecutors said then that they wanted to continue investigating 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.

At the news conference, authorities said Hunter was arrested based on the collection of evidence in the case since October.

Police records show Jhessye's siblings told investigators in the days after her disappearance that Hunter allegedly abused her and kept the girl in a closet.

According to a court documents from November last year, Jhessye's 13-year-old sister told police her mother kept the girl in a closet, and that Jhessye had black eyes, cuts and bruises before she was reported missing.

The teen recounted an incident just weeks earlier when Hunter returned home to find Jhessye wearing a long T-shirt while watching TV with a boy.

She told the girl that she was a 'ho' before taking her into a bedroom, according to the document.

The teen said she could hear her sister screaming and crying in the room, the document said.

She also told police that Hunter kept Jhessye in a bedroom closet and deprived her of food and water, according to the document.

'(She) reported that Jhessye's hair had been pulled out and described Jhessye as not looking alive and that she looked like a zombie,' it said.

'(She) said that the closet where Jhessye had been looked like a grave and smelled like dead people.'

The teen said Hunter placed incense in a container to conceal the odor.

She also said that a few days before Jhessye disappeared, her mother spent the entire day cleaning the apartment and cleaning her shoes from the closet with soap and bleach.

Police said they found a receipt that showed Hunter bought food and a bottle of bleach two days before she reported her daughter missing.

In October 2005, Hunter was arrested with her then-husband 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.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2199635/Mother-missing-Jhessye-Shockley-arrested-suspicion-degree-murder.html#ixzz25ngNdFl5

okay, so I'm terrible at math - but I'm trying to figure out these dates. If she was in prison from 2005-2010, and Jehssye was 5 years old in 2011, then did she give birth in prison??

Jhesseye Shockley case: Defense attorney discusses Jerice Hunter arrest

by Javier Soto
GMAZ interview with Kaley O'Kelley
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 1:25 PM
Updated Friday, Sep 7 at 1:40 PM

PHOENIX -- The arrest of Jerice Hunter for the disappearance of her 5-year-old daughter Jhesseye Shockley has left many people with questions.

In November 2011 Hunter was arrested on child abuse charges but released after those charges were dropped. For nearly a year many people have wondered why police were waiting to make an arrest if Hunter were the main suspect.

We asked Phoenix criminal defense attorney Jason Lamm that same question.

"They've spent a lot of time putting this case together because of the high-profile nature, because we have a child involved," he explained. "With complexities, they wanted to dot their Is and cross all their Ts."

Although he is not working on this case, Lamm believes the detectives were likely looking at all the circumstantial evidence, piecing it all together like a big puzzle.

"They had eye-witness testimony of someone who saw Jhesseye looking like a zombie, looking severely abused," he said. "We know that the closet where she was basically held prisoner smelled like death, and we know police took physical and biological evidence out of there."

Many people worry about whether prosecutors can get a conviction without the body of the 5-year-old.

Lamm says it can be done

"You need to build your case to show Jerice Hunter actually caused the death of her daughter," he explained. "But you're not going to have the body to show how the death happened, in terms of the mechanism or cause of injury or an autopsy. So what they need to do is build the case with other evidence. For example if Jerice Hunter made statements to other people, that's the kind of thing they will get into."

A judge set Hunter's bond at $500,000. Hunter is scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 13.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Defense-Attorney-Discusses-Jerice-Hunter-Arrest-168946806.html

Mother pleads not guilty in murder of missing Glendale girl

by Megan Thompson - Sept. 17, 2012 09:43 PM
The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

Jerice Hunter pleaded not guilty Monday to charges alleging that she murdered her 5-year-old daughter.

Hunter entered her plea during an arraignment on charges of first-degree murder and child abuse involving her daughter Jhessye Shockley.

Hunter was arrested at a Mesa apartment on Sept. 6 after a Maricopa County grand jury handed up an indictment, authorities said She was arrested peacefully and without incident.

Glendale Police Chief Debora Black said it took authorities 11 months before obtaining the indictment in order to accommodate the landfill search and to build a good case.

The announcement came nearly a year after Jhessye was reported missing from her home near 45th and Glendale avenues.

When the girl was first reported missing, police spent days scouring the area. Neighbors and community members who had never met the family stood on street corners passing out fliers and knocked on doors. All puzzled over how the girl might have disappeared.

But then, police announced they believed Hunter, who had served time in a California prison for abusing her older children, disposed of her daughter's body in a Tempe trash bin before she reported the girl missing.

A sibling later told police she last saw Jhessye beaten and bruised, looking like "a zombie," in her mother's bedroom closet.

Police later said they suspected Jhessye's body had been taken to Butterfield Station Landfill in Mobile, and they spent weeks going through trash hoping to find her remains. More than 280 people from more than 13 agencies sifted through roughly 9,500 tons of compressed garbage.

But authorities did not recover Jhessye's body or any evidence linked to the case despite weeks of searching.

Hunter's lawyer, Scott Maasen, criticized prosecutors, saying a conviction involving a homicide without a body would be an "uphill battle."

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has said he firmly believes his office secured the appropriate charges in the case based on the investigation.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2012/09/17/20120917glendale-missing-girl-mother-pleads-not-guilty-murder-abrk.html?nclick_check=1#ixzz27PleXopC

Police report released on Jhessye Shockley's murder 10/10/2012 GLENDALE, AZ (CBS5) -


The Glendale Police Department released the full report on the investigation of Jhessye Shockley's murder.

The report goes into explicit detail about
the exhaustive search for Jhessye, her mom Jerice Hunter's background of
abuse and the tips and leads that investigators followed.
Hunter is facing charges of first-degree murder and child abuse in Jhessye's disappearance.

Up to this point, the public never really
knew why police believed with certainty that Jhessye was killed and her
remains at the Butterfield Landfill.

The crucial tip that lead them in that
direction is reflected on page 925 of the report. There it is revealed
that on Nov. 23, about six weeks after Jhessye was reported missing, a
woman contacted investigators.

That woman said that seven to 15 days before
Hunter reported her daughter missing, she gave Hunter a ride to Tempe.
At the time, Hunter put a large, heavy suitcase in the woman's
trunk. When they got to Tempe, Hunter put it in a Dumpster. Hunter even
apologized to the woman for the smell of the suitcase. Police tested the
trunk of that car and it tested positive for blood.

Jhessye's body has never been found. Glendale
police said they believe she was killed last fall and her body was
thrown in a trash can in Tempe.

Investigators have been working on the case since Oct. 11, 2011, when Hunter reported her daughter missing.

Click on the links below to read the full report:
http://www.kpho.com/story/19776484/police-report-on-jhessye-shockleys-murder
101 pages of documents at:
http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/kpho/KPHO%20NEWS/Shockley%20Report%203.pdf

Mother of missing Ariz. girl getting a new lawyer

January 15, 2013

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona woman accused in her missing 5-year-old daughter's death is getting a new lawyer.

The attorney for 38-year-old Jerice Hunter filed a motion in a Phoenix court Tuesday to withdraw from the case because he hasn't been paid.

Hunter is expected to be appointed another lawyer soon.

She has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and child abuse.

Glendale police claim Jhessye Shockley was killed and her body put in a Tempe trash bin before Hunter reported her daughter missing on Oct. 11, 2011.

Hunter told authorities that she left Jhessye with the girl's older siblings while she ran an errand and returned to find her gone.

A 96-day search at a Phoenix-area landfill ended last June without finding the girl's remains. Hunter was arrested in September.

http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Mother-of-missing-Ariz-girl-getting-a-new-lawyer-4196920.php

Granny isnt helping with the legal bills? i remember her condemning any and everyone because her daughter, the loving mother, was a suspect.