Glendale police say today that the search for the body of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley has entered its "final stages."
"As of today, there has been no significant discovery of evidence directly connected to Jhessye's death," police say in a statement.
Police believe Shockley's body was placed in a trash bin some time before she was reported missing on October 11, and her body was ultimately taken with the garbage to a landfill south of the Valley.
A little more than three weeks ago, police announced the search of the 180-by-200-foot area of the 691-acre Butterfield Landfill in Mobile was about 75 percent complete.
Glendale police are planning a press conference in the near future, and won't be giving any updates until then.
In the second week of the search, documents were found dated around the time of Shockley's disappearance in October, but still no Jhessye.
According to court records obtained by New Times, two of Jhessye's siblings -- now in foster care -- told their foster parents about some of the abuse Jhessye received at the hands of her mother Jerice Hunter, who spent four years in a California prison for child abuse.
All of that alleged abuse happened weeks before Hunter called police on October 11.
The last time anyone saw Jhessye alive was September 22, which was the last time records show her attending school.
Her sisters said they never saw Jhessye the day her mother reported her missing, when Hunter told police that the older siblings were watching the girl as she ran errands.
On October 9, Hunter bought a bottle of bleach at a Walgreens. She then cleaned the entire apartment and scrubbed her shoes that were in the closet with Jhessye with bleach, the sister told police.
According to KPHO, Hunter's pregnant, again.
Hunter hasn't been charged.
