Shockley mother pleads not guilty
Sep 17, 2012, 12:11 PM | Updated: 12:15 pm
PHOENIX — The mother of a long-missing girl has entered a not guilty plea to first-degree murder and child abuse charges.
Jerice Hunter, 38, was arrested Sept. 6, indicted by a Maricopa County grand jury, even though the body of her daughter, Jhessye Shockley, 5, hasn’t been found.
The little girl was reported missing last October. Authorities searched a Phoenix landfill for 96 days for the child’s body but did not find it.
Bail had been set at $500,000.