Glendale Police Department

The search is still on for the body of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley.

​The search of the landfill where police believe they may find the the body of missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley continues into week two with no sign of the girl, as police say today that nothing related to disappearance has been found.

What has been found, however, are documents in the area that's being searched that are dated around the time of Shockley's disappearance in October.

Glendale Police Officer Tracey Breeden tells New Times that documents with those dates were first found a few days ago, and more continue to be found in the area they're searching.

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.

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Glendale Police Department

Authorities are currently searching a landfill for the body of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley.

​Authorities this morning continued their search of a landfill south of the Valley, where they believe they might find the body of missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley.

The landfill search started yesterday after months of preparation. Police haven't yet said whether they've found anything related to Shockley's disappearance. However, they've released some photos of the search, which you can see below.

Shockley's been missing since October. Police have since determined that she's likely dead, and that her mother, Jerice Hunter, probably killed her.

Get the details of Shockley's disappearance here.

Authorities say at least 40 people from agencies including the Glendale Police Department, the FBI, and the Child Abduction Response Team, will be at Butterfield Landfill in Mobile every day until the search is complete.

Investigators have narrowed down a 180-by-200-foot area of the landfill where they suspect Shockley's remains might be. The area is 20 feet deep, which amounts to about 6,000 tons of trash investigators will have to sift through.  

See the latest photos from the search of the landfill below.

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Glendale Police Department

Glendale police suspect the body of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley is in a landfill south of the Valley.

​Authorities have begun searching a landfill south of the Valley for the remains of missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley.

Shockley was reported missing in October. Glendale police suspect the girl is dead -- and that her mother, Jerice Hunter, killed her and threw her dead body into a trash can in Tempe.

Authorities say at least 40 people from agencies including the Glendale Police Department, the FBI, and the Child Abduction Response Team, will be at Butterfield Landfill in Mobile every day until the search is complete.

Investigators have narrowed down a 180-by-200-foot area of the landfill where they suspect Shockley's remains might be. The area is 20 feet deep, which amounts to about 6,000 tons of trash investigators will have to sift through.  

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Glendale Police Department

Glendale police suspect the body of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley is in a landfill south of the Valley.

​Glendale police announced this morning that investigators will start searching a landfill south of the Valley for the body of missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley on February 6.

Shockley was reported missing in October. The case is now a homicide investigation, with her mother, Jerice Hunter, as the prime focus of the investigation -- police suspect she murdered the girl and dumped her body in a trash can in Tempe.

Authorities say at least 40 people from agencies including the Glendale Police Department, the FBI, and the Child Abduction Response Team, will be at Butterfield Landfill in Mobile everyday until the search is complete.

Investigators have narrowed down a 180x200-foot area of the landfill where they suspect Shockley's remains might be. The area is 20 feet deep, which amounts to about 6,000 tons of trash investigators will have to sift through. 

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Chandler Police Department

Vito Duda

​A 74-year-old Chandler man has been missing since yesterday afternoon. Aside from being missing, Vito F. Duda also is a registered sex offender.

Chandler Detective Seth Tyler says Duda was last seen by his son at the home the two live in in the 1200 block of Manor Drive in Chandler about 2 p.m. yesterday. When his son got home, just after midnight today, Duda was gone.

Duda, who suffers from severe cataracts, has no friends or family in the area, except for his son. He also never leaves the house alone, his son told police.

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Glendale PD

Jhessye Shockley was reported missing on October 11. Police suspect her mother killed her and threw her body in a trash can.

​The Glendale Police Department says it will move forward with plans to search a landfill south of Phoenix for the body of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley, who's been missing since October.

Glendale police told New Times last month that the case is now a homicide investigation, with Shockley's mother, Jerice Hunter, as the primary focus.

The decision to search the landfill comes after police say they received information that the 5-year-old's body was thrown in a Tempe trash can.

Trash from the location where police suspect Jhessye was dumped is taken to the Butterfield Landfill south of the Valley.

Detectives, as police told us last month, will only search a landfill if there's a likelihood that they'll be able to find a body.

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Gabriel's mother, Elizabeth Johnson (left) is suspected in the boy's disappearance.

​Yesterday marked the two year anniversary of the day Gabriel Johnson was first reported missing. At the time of his disappearance, Gabriel was just eight months old.

The boy's mother, Elizabeth Johnson, is suspected to have been involved in his disappearance -- she currently is charged with kidnapping and child abuse.

Initially, Johnson told the boy's father, Logan McQueary, that she killed the boy and threw him in a dumpster. She later changed her story, saying she gave the baby to an unknown couple she met in a San Antonio park.

Two years later, and McQueary isn't holding out hope that his son will be found alive.

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The body of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley was thrown in a trash can in Tempe, Glendale police now say.

​The Glendale Police Department says it now believes the body of missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley was thrown in a trash can in Tempe and may be in a landfill just south of the Valley.

Glendale Officer Tracey Breeden tells New Times that the case is now a homicide investigation and that Jhessye Shockley's mother, Jerice Hunter, is the primary focus.

Breeden says information was given to police -- after Hunter was arrested on child abuse charges last month -- that the 5-year-old's body was thrown in the trash. Breeden would only say the information was given to police through investigative leads and through Silent Witness.

Trash from the location where police suspect Jhessye was dumped is taken to the Butterfield Landfill south of the Valley. Detectives will now determine whether to search the landfill, a decision they'll base on -- among other variables -- the likelihood that they'll be able to find the body.

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Mesa Police Department

Sophia Vargas contacted her family over the weekend.

​A Mesa woman was found safe over the weekend after being missing for nearly a week.

Mesa police say Sophia Vargas, 28, contacted her family on Saturday. She's apparently OK, according to Mesa Detective Steve Berry.

Vargas left her house about 8 p.m. Monday night, when she told her cousin she was going to meet friends she met on the Internet.

About 11 that night, Vargas sent her cousin a text message saying she was drinking and felt nauseous. Until Saturday, that was the last time anyone in her family had heard from her.

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Mesa PD

Sophia Vargas

​A Mesa woman has been missing since Monday, when she told family members she was going out to meet some friends she met on the Internet.

According to the Mesa Police Department, Sophia Vargas, 28, left her house about 8 p.m. Monday night, when she told her cousin she was going to meet her cyber friends.

About 11 p.m., Vargas sent her cousin a text message saying she was drinking and felt nauseous. She hasn't been heard from since.

Vargas failed to show up at her job, and hasn't attended school since Monday. Police say there's been no activity on her cell phone since she last text messaged her cousin.


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