Jhessye Shockley Missing: Mother Says She Pleaded to Take Lie Detector Test (VIDEO)
The mother of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley, who has been missing from her Glendale Ariz. home for almost a month, said she pleaded with police to give her a lie detector test, to prove that she has not been involved in her daughter’s disappearance.
In an Interview with Phoenix KPHO TV, Jerice Hunter said the police held off administering the lie detector test until after the expected mother had given birth to her baby.
"That same detective contacted me a few days ago and said Jerice, you've had the baby, are you ready to take the polygraph? I said, 'OK sure, but I'd like my attorney to be present.' What's wrong with that?" Hunter asked.
Hunter has been under a cloud of suspicion since her 5-year-old daughter Jhessey disappeared.
She was sentenced to eight years in a California prison in 2006 for child abuse. The charges included the torturing of her 7-year old daughter and the infliction of physical injuries on her other children.
The mother complained that investigators and the media had focused too much on her past instead of on finding her daughter.
"We feel that law enforcement is not active in finding Jhessye and that they're more active in persecuting me instead of finding out where she is," according to The Associated Press.
Little Jhessye Shockley was reportedly last seen by Hunter when she left the little girl in her apartment before stepping out on an errand on Oct. 11.
"If I knew where my child was she would be here," Hunter said. "Do you understand that? If I could take back Oct. 11 I would never have walked out that door to go run an errand, said Hunter.”
Jhessye, who is African-American, has brown eyes with shoulder length hair, and stands approximately 3 feet and 5 inches tall, when last seen.