Missing 5-Year-Old Jhessye Shockley Feared Dead After Alleged Abuse By Mother Jerice Hunter

Jerice Hunter made national news when she tried to draw attention to her missing 5-year-old daughter, Jhessye Shockley. Hunter said Shockley's case was less of a priority because the little girl was black and Hunter had a history of run-ins with the law. But the police in Glendale, Ariz., now believe that Shockley is likely dead, and that Hunter abused her prior to her disappearance.

Hunter, 38, was arrested on Monday for allegedly depriving Shockley of food and water and locking her in a closet. Prosecutors say she lied about the little girl's disappearance, and that Hunter is now the "number 1 focus" of their investigation.

According to court documents, investigators conducted an interview with Shockley's 13-year-old sister, who said Hunter had told her and the other children to lie about Shockley's disappearance. In her initial reports to the police, the teenager said that she had seen Shockley the day of her disappearance, but recanted that story in a subsequent interview.

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

PHOTOS: (Story Continues Below)

The teenager was removed from the home by authorities after Shockley went missing. Police said they do not expect to find Shockley alive.

According to the teen, Hunter spent thoroughly cleaned the apartment and her shoes from the closet with soap and bleach.

A neighbor who lives at the apartment complex told a local television station that the closets there are about six feet wide and two-and-a-half feet deep, and that keeping a child in that space would be "inhumane."

Some of Hunter's family members defended her, telling a local television station that the accusations against her were brought on by a police department wanting to quickly wrap up the case. "But it's going to be a long fight, I can tell you that, Glendale Police Department!" Hunter's father said.

When Shockley went missing in early October, Hunter lambasted the police and news media for what she said was their overlooking the case because of Hunter's past and the child's race. ""We feel that law enforcement is not active in finding Jahessye and that they're more active in persecuting me instead of finding out where she is," Hunter said. Hunter was arrested in 2005, along with her then-husband, for child abuse. She served four years of an eight-year sentence before being released in 2010. Another of Hunter's children told police at the time that his mother regularly beat them.

Some of the volunteers who helped search for the missing child said they now felt betrayed by Hunter. "As a parent, I was frantic," Andrew Smiley said to. "I was like we got to find this girl and do whatever we can."

Comments

[jozi jones]

12:21 PM on 12/01/2011

It makes me wonder how a grown so called adult can hurt a child .they look to us for protection and guidence. no parent is perfect but you dont hurt your child or someone eles .yes socitey is more focus on white childern then of any other,but the point is a child is being hurt some how.I ask of myself and others ;what would we do if we saw or knew of it happening ?

[adivanai]

09:45 PM on 11/29/2011

The mother was released from prison today because there wasn't enough evidence to keep her there. Just like I said in a previous post, I'll wait until further evidence in the case is fully investigated. Arizona is a trip because they arrested this woman with bogus information from a child. Now time has gone away and this poor baby is still missing. Arizona, If this lady is not guilty then this case will go down in history on how racist this place really is. Why was the damn Amber Alert issued a day late? The focus was never on finding the child it was on arresting the mother and maybe planting evidence. :(

[alzetta]

10:13 AM on 11/30/2011

this child was old enough to testify,so why shouldn the police take her into custody? as far as arizona being raciest,,,no they are not. every time somethine happens and its not in your favor,its a raciest thing. why cant you grow up and get over this .i know for a fact that all races are at fault. this one little girl in pa.,was taken away from her mom. later she was given back not long after her boyfriend killed the girl.SHE WAS WHITE. do you hear us calling names. NO. the police have to get evindence,and go from there. why dont you follow an officer in his every day events.its not an easy job.

[DaydreamingTori]

09:13 PM on 11/28/2011

The victim in this is obviously Jhessye & her other siblings. We dont know if they were beaten or molested, both while living with Hunter & during her prison sentence. It's understandable that she wasn't considered the initial suspect, but her criminal background shouldn't distract from hte painful reality that an innocent child fell through the cracks. The argument by Hunter's family is valid. Black & Hispanic children DON'T get comprable national attention when missing. If indeed Jhessye wa killed by her mother, & the public spectacle was a cover up to buy her time to clean up the evidence--I GUARANTEE Hunter WILL DO TIME. Casey Anthony will be laughing somewhere. Thinking, "Amateur"...

[cbrantley15]

09:41 PM on 11/28/2011

Tori - My heart weeps for this little girl. She didn't deserve this... I couldn't imagine doing that to my daughters... EVER!!!

[lobstur]

05:47 PM on 11/28/2011

I think the teenager should also be arrested, for not assisting in the rescue of a person in harm. That is a law, and a punishable offense, you know.

Why do we cut teenagers slack? There was a time when a 13-year-old boy was considered a man, sent out to work. Now this girl is dead because a teenaged sibling wouldn't come forward, knowing his/her sister was being slowly killed. Too busy to care!

[Clara Sturak]

11:27 PM on 11/28/2011

I guess I'll state the obvious: No doubt the teenager was also abused and feared for her safety and her life -- apparently, with good reason. And we have no knowledge of what she did or didn't do to try to "rescue" her sister in the past. A 13-year-old (or younger) child has very little power in this world. I admire the girl (and she is only a girl...) She's incredibly brave to have gone against her against her mother's wishes/threats and told the truth to police. I wish only healing and health for her and her remaining siblings.

[Suemoni]

10:55 AM on 11/30/2011

The teenager was also being abused by the mother. I too believe teenagers need to own up at times. But in this cae NO. Why? Because kids who are abused are "Victims" of their abusers . Most Abusers often Control their victims through Fear and that can make a child who's being abused feel Powerless and very Afraid which can make them incapable of helping themselves and or their siblings.

[kencrn419]

06:15 AM on 11/28/2011

They won't search for my granddaugh­ter because she's black!"

"They only look into my daughter's criminal background because she's black!"

"They're only arresting my daughter for murder because she's black!"

Jesus, granny...k­ick the jukebox, will ya?

[darkstar58]

07:50 PM on 11/27/2011

I hope the state criminal laws allow for a death penalty sentence. Hunter only deserves death for her deplorable intentional actions.

[Frog in a pot]

06:27 PM on 11/27/2011

Poor baby.

Its harder to adopt a dog than have a kid.

[unique]

04:28 PM on 11/27/2011

Let me also say this. These people that abuse
their children, not all of them are bad parents.
They are not able to cope, they are usually not
educated, they do not have life skills, they are
sometimes children themselves. It really is quite
sad not only for the parents, but, also for the
children.

[Winter Skye]

07:16 PM on 11/27/2011

This woman was 38 so I don't know why you thought it necessary to bring up the "good" parents who abuse and/or neglect their kids.

[Suemoni]

12:19 PM on 11/30/2011

Just my personal oppinion. If one is not ready to be a parent they shouldn't have a child. Which brings the issue back to "Abstinance or using Contraceptives." Many of these teens/young adults who have 1, 2, 3 or more kids if they are smart enough and grown enough to know about sex then I figure they should be smart enough and grown enough to protect themselves from getting pregnant. Now a days in "some" instances there's really no excuse for an unwanted pregnancy amongts teens and young adults because talk of Sex and Birth Control is just about everywhere ie; Schools, Television, Amongst their Peers etc. Sex and Birth Control is no longer a taboo issue. I think alot of these teens/young adults who have these babies are just being selfish and very careless. In the end the babies suffer from the parents abuse because the young parents can't handle the responsibillity. But yet they were old enough and grown enough to lay down have sex and create that baby. It takes just a few minutes to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. In my oppinion in most cases there's really no exuse for an unwanted pregnancy. There's too much good preventive information out here now a days.

[unique]

04:21 PM on 11/27/2011

I work in a jail. You would be amazed at the amount of
people that are arrested for child abuse. Especially when
the economy goes bad, people don't have jobs, they are
frustrated, angry, they take it out on their spouse and then,
even eventually take it out on their children that do not
understand what is happening and going on.

[kel347]

02:58 PM on 11/27/2011

Yes, very, very good points on the other posts below. Hadn't thought about the timeline. And little Jhessye probably rebelled against the mother after she was returned to her. This child must have wondered what in the world is going on and probably fought for her life, provoking the mother to abuse her violently. Life with no parole. The same sentence as the two females, in 2009, who tortured another little one to death! That story was on the Huffington main page not long ago.

[urfearlessleaderalways]

12:30 AM on 11/27/2011

I am always amazed that people can abuse children. I can not wrap my mind around it. Is it a power thing? Did the mother abuse this child because of a failed relationship with the child's father. This sickens me. In cases like this I think swift justice is the answer. I am SICK of people abusing children. Family members had to know this woman was abusive. Why didn't they do something.
Every adult that had knowledge of what was going should be held responsive for not taking some kind of action.

[urfearlessleaderalways]

12:32 AM on 11/27/2011

Should be held responsible for not taking some kind of action.

[urfearlessleaderalways]

12:51 AM on 11/27/2011

Yes, thank you.

[californiananc]

08:48 PM on 11/26/2011

I felt bad for the Grandma at first, when she played the race card. Then I started hearing more and more, and I am becoming to believe that the race card gets played more and more when there are no other cards to play. I would have gladly taken this little girl. One hour with me would have probably been better than her entire life. Hope the mom is a 3 time felon.

[Assumed Name]

07:21 PM on 11/26/2011

...I can't imagine a child going through this and I can't imagine putting a child through this. No one can tell me that evil doesn't exist.

[fromdnorth]

09:40 AM on 11/26/2011

That will shut her up...

[pachonette]

11:05 PM on 11/25/2011

Im confused, if the child was 5 and the mother served 4yrs and was just released last year (it takes 10 lunar mos to have a baby), when & where was the baby born?? Given the time frame, either the baby was born just before she went to prison (or was born while she was in prison) and it would make since that she would harm that child since she really had no time to build a motherly bond with her,, why would the family be supporting her with this knowledge?? Furthermore, are they suggesting that the older children are lying and if so, why would they tell lies of this magnitude if she's a loving and caring mother? There seems to be a lot of questions needing to be answered and the truth befalls upon and/or with the mother!!!

[lostson]

11:45 PM on 11/25/2011

I was thinking the same thing, that photo was taken when she was living with someone else. Somewhere she was happy!! She didn't want to stay with this new MOM, she knew she didn't want to be abused and unloved. She had some place before where she was happy and wanted to go HOME. Hunter couldn't give her back, if might cost her some money. Baby Jessie wanted to be happy again. God Bless you our baby.

[pachonette]

09:06 AM on 11/26/2011

It seems to me that social services dropped the ball (yet again) and failed another beautiful baby!!! Although Hunter is wrong (DEAD WRONG), someone allowed this horrible tragedy to begin to come into play... Like I said, this lady couldn't have known Jhessey very long (if at all), and with her alleged history of abuse shouldn't have had the access and/or opportunity to get close enough (unsupervised anyway) to cause such severe pain and suffering on this beautiful angel!! Back into the arms of the Angels she went where she shall suffer no more, bless her heart, fly baby, fly and spread your wings...

[MariaMaria]

11:44 PM on 11/26/2011

Her point was that the mother was not in the child's life until recently because the mom was in jail/prison. Someone else took care of the little girl while the mother was in jail. That was her point. In the photo the little girl looks happy and well cared for. That likely was taken before the mother got out. Her further point was that child services returned the child to the mother and had they not done so the child may never have been subjected to the abuse.