Crews trudged through an Arizona landfill this morning on day one of a renewed search for missing girl Jhessye Shockley.
Police believe that the body of Shockley -- who went missing Oct. 11, 2011 -- was disposed of in a waste bin and then deposited in Mobile's Butterfield Landfield, according to ABC-15.
A group of 40 people, some FBI employees and others from the Child Abduction Response Team, began searching what is the state's largest landfill at approximately 7 am Monday morning.
"We want nothing more than to find Jhessye and hold the person who is responsible for her death accountable," police Chief Steve Conrad said, according to CBS-5. "I feel we owe that to her, her family and the community."
Authorities believe that Shockley's five-year-old body is located somewhere within a 180 by 200 foot area that descends more than 20 feet deep, adding up to approximately 6,000 tons of trash.
"Our agency's hope is that we are successful in finding Jhessye's remains, allowing her a proper internment, and ultimately bringing to justice the person or persons responsible for her death," Coombs said in a statement, according to CBS.
In late November, Glendale authorities arrested Shockley's mother, Jerice Hunter, on suspicions that the 38-year-old locked her daughter in a closet and deprived her of food and water before the disappearance. Shortly after, police released Hunter without charges.
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