Jhessye Shockley : Shocking, disturbing discoveries in case of missing AZ girl

GLENDALE, Arizona (Isabelle Zehnder reporting) -- Court documents released Tuesday revealed shocking and disturbing new discoveries in the case of missing Arizona girl, 5-year-old Jhessey (pronounced Jesse) Shockley.

It's a scene you'd expect to see in a horror film – a closet that looks like a grave and smells like dead people, a mother burning incense to mask the odor and cleaning her house and shoes with bleach. A teen describes her younger sister locked in this closet, cuts and bruises on her face and body, her hair pulled out, eyes that are black and only slightly open. She says the little girl doesn’t look alive and looks like a “zombie.”

Instead it's a real-life story of what four girls ages five through 13 were forced to endure and witness at the hands of their own mother.

The story began much like any other missing child's story. A mother makes a frantic call to police to report her child is missing. She publicly says the right things, "Please bring my baby back ... Her safe return is all I want. She belongs to this family."

She even goes so far as to say, "She’s somebody’s child ... Mine ... Please bring her home.”

Six weeks later the story took a twist when the public learned Jhessey's mother, Jerice Hunter, had been arrested on charges of child abuse and that her three older sisters, Jataya, 6, Jheveanae, 9, and Jerneen, 13, admitted they’d initially lied to investigators – their mother had instructed them to.

Their original story was that on Oct. 11, their mother left the house to run an errand. Before she left she instructed her three older daughters to clean leaves in the backyard. The girls reported to police that Jhessey had not come out to help, and that they hadn’t seen her since their mother left for the store but that they had seen her that day. Hunter reported she’d locked their front door before leaving. She said when she returned home the front door was unlocked and Jhessey was missing. She called police.

In another twist court documents show that Jerneen told investigators horrifying details about the weeks prior to Jhessey’s disappearance and said her mother had spent the day before Jhessey went missing thoroughly cleaning her apartment, including cleaning her shoes with bleach and water. Credit card receipts supported her claim showing Hunter purchased bleach two days before Jhessey went missing.

The three sisters held strong to their story until child protective services stepped in and removed them from their mother's care. During the course of their investigation investigators learned Hunter had a long history of abusing her children, with reports made as early as 2005 before Jhessey was born and as recently as April 13, 2011.

Hunter and her then-husband George Shockley were convicted of abusing their four children, three girls and a teen boy (Jhessye wasn’t born at the time) in 2006 and both spent time in prison. The mother reportedly “whipped one of her children with an extension cord.” They were charged for inflicting “cruel and inhuman” corporal punishment and injury on all four of their children. Read: Missing Arizona girl’s parents convicted of child abuse, CPS removes sisters.

The court papers further show a history of domestic violence in the home and said the frequency and intensity of the domestic violence was increasing. Hunter had access to weapons and was reported to have inflicted violence against her children, the records show. The documents state Hunter does not have a steady work history and is looking at time for additional child abuse charges.

Investigators reported their findings to CPS who recently placed the three girls in foster care for their own safety.

Away from the custody of their mother, and possibly feeling safe for the first time in their lives, the three sisters began to share details of what happened days before Jhessey went missing. What they had to say, especially 13-year-old Jerneen, is horrifying.

While in a foster home Jerneen, 13, began talking with a girl in the home and eventually to her foster mother, telling them Hunter had instructed her and her sisters to lie to police about Jhessye’s disappearance.

Jerneen was later interviewed by investigators and during the interview she reported she hadn’t seen Jhessye the day she went missing. She told them that a few weeks before her sister went missing their mother returned home, found Jhessey wearing a long t-shirt while watching TV with a neighbor boy, became angry, and called the 5-year-old a “ho”.

The 13-year-old said her mother took Jhessey into her bedroom and could hear her sister screaming and crying.

Jerneen told investigators that following this incident, Hunter kept Jhessye in her [mother’s] bedroom closet. She said when her mother was gone, she would take Jhessye out of the closet, give her food and water to keep her hydrated, and put her back in the closet so that her little sister wouldn’t get in trouble if her mother saw her out of the closet.

Things took a turn for the worst when Jerneen told investigators she saw Jhessey asleep in the closet and that her face and body were covered in cuts and bruises.

She said the little girl’s eyes were black and slightly open. Jhevaenae, 9, also reported seeing Jhessye’s eyes were black. Jataya, 6, reported she observed bruises on Jhessye.

Jerneen reported that Jhessye’s hair had been pulled out and described her as not looking alive, and that she looked like a “zombie.” Jerneen said that the closet where Jhessye had been looked "like a grave" and "smelled like dead people." She said Jernice put incense in a purple and green container to conceal the odor.

One can only imagine the horror these little girls suffered through as they watched what might have been the last moments of their sister’s life. There has been no confirmation that Jhessey has been found dead, but investigators say they believe this will be the likely outcome to this sad and tragic story - a story that’s becoming all too familiar.

Jerneen said the last time she saw Jhessye was on Sept. 12. School records indicate her last day of school was Sept. 22 and that Hunter reported Jhessey had ringworm and later pink eye, though this was not confirmed by a doctor at the time the report was written. Read the court document here.

The County of Mariposa court documents show Hunter is scheduled for a status conference Nov. 29, and a preliminary hearing on Dec. 2. Bond was set at $100,000.

Jhessye was reported missing from her home at 6821 N 45 Ave S, Glendale at 5:12 p.m. on Oct. 11. She’s is still missing.

Jhessye’s disappearance

Jhessye Shockley, 5, went missing from her Glendale home on Oct. 11. Her mother said she left to run an errand and when she returned her daughter was gone. She had reportedly left Jhessey in the care of her three other daughters ages 13, 9, and 6.

On Mon., Nov. 21, Glendale Police executed a search warrant on the mother’s apartment.

Jerice Hunter was arrested and booked into the Maricopa County jail Monday.

Hunter and her then-husband, George Shockley, were convicted of child abuse and served time in prison in 2006 for abuse inflicted on their children in 2005.

It was reported they inflicted “cruel and inhuman” corporal punishment and injury on all four children, including the mother who “whipped one of her children with an extension cord.” At the time Hunter’s mother, Shirley Johnson, insisted her daughter had changed and was now a loving mother who was pregnant with her fifth child, Jhessey [Hunter also has an older son.]

While Hunter is the main focus of their investigation, Glendale Police Sgt. Brent Coombs said, “We’re not so shortsighted to think that there may not have been an additional person or persons who may … have helped,” CNN reports.

Coombs said with the passage of time, he doesn’t believe Jhessye will be found alive.

Sgt. Coombs said the reward information leading to Jhessye and those responsible for her disappearance has increased to $25,000.

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