- Photo provided by the Glendale PD
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I feel compelled to write about this beautiful little 5-year-old girl who, like most missing children, is not getting enough media attention. Jhessye Shockley (pronounced ‘Jess-ee’) was last seen on October 11 at her home in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb outside of Phoenix. Jhessye’s mom, Jerice Hunter, left Jhessye and her three siblings home alone while she went to run some errands. When she returned home, the front door was unlocked and Jhessye was nowhere to be found. Hunter then walked around to her neighbors’ houses, asking if they had seen Jhessye, before calling 911.
Hunter has a bit of a criminal past, and some of it alarmingly has to do child abuse. Hunter served three and a half years in state prison in 2005, after pleading no contest to abusing her other children. According to the Huffington Post, Jhessye’s father, George Shockley, is a convicted sex offender and is currently still in prison. Some relatives have spoken to the media, saying they suspected Jhessye may have been an abused child, while Hunter says that people need to stop focusing on her past.
Jhessye’s siblings have since been removed from the home by Arizona Child Protective Services, and are now in state custody. The reason for this hasn’t been made public as of this posting, but it sure does raise some red flags. Police say they had nothing to do with the removal of her other children, however, and that Hunter is not a suspect.
Hunter is currently 8 months pregnant with her fifth child, and according to her mother, is now on bed rest.
Jhessye was last seen wearing blue jean shorts, a white T-shirt and pink flip flops. People are asked to call 623-930-Help with any tips. There is an $11,000 reward for anyone who has info leading to Jhessye.
UPDATE: 10/29 2:30 PM
More details are coming out about Jerice Hunter’s prior arrest. Click here to read about it, but I have to warn you that reading about what Hunter and Shockley did to her other kids might make you want to vomit.
After reading that, I think it’s a bit hard to believe that it’s just a coincidence that Hunter spent time in prison for essentially beating her children, and now one of her children goes missing. To beat a child, you have to have some pretty serious anger issues. I understand that Hunter served her time and paid her debt to society for her crimes, but an anger problem like that doesn’t just go away. It seems unlikely that she would spend four years in prison, and the anger would have just disappeared. Was Hunter angry at Jhessye the day she disappeared?
Jhessye’s relatives say they were convinced that Jhessye and her siblings were being abused. In fact, they even reported their suspicions numerous times to Child Protective Services. My heart is seriously breaking right now, and I want to give Hunter the benefit of the doubt, but it’s hard.
What I would like to know is, how was Hunter allowed to leave prison and instantly regain custody of her children that she had been in prison for abusing? There is something seriously flawed with the system.
Another thing I’ve been thinking about is Jhessye’s father, George Shockley, who is still in prison on the same child abuse charges. Does Hunter still have a relationship with him? Could he be angry with her because he is still serving time while she is out? Did he send someone to kidnap their daughter?
As always with these cases, so many questions…
UPDATE #2 11/3 10:00 AM
Glendale police have come out and said that Jhessye was absent from school for a “period of time” leading up to her disappearance, which now brings into question when Jhessye really disappeared. Residents of the complex where Jhessye lived say they last saw her on the Sunday before she was reported missing the following Tuesday.
Hunter gave birth to her fifth child last week, and the baby was immediately removed by Child Protective Services.
SOURCES:
– http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111026/ZNYT02/110263013/-1/news?p=1&tc=pg&tc=ar
– http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/25/jahessye-shockley-search_n_1031277.html
– http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/LaurieRoberts/146522
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