MESA, AZ (CBS5) -
CBS 5 News has just learned that Jerice Hunter, the mother of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley, has been arrested in connection to her daughter's disappearance.
Hunter's family told CBS 5 News that Hunter was arrested in Mesa on Thursday.
We do not know at this time what charges she faces.
Soon after October 2011 when Hunter reported Jhessye missing, police announced that Hunter was the main focus in her daughter's disappearance.
Police and the FBI searched Hunter's home six weeks after Jhessye was reported missing looking for clues in the girl's disappearance.
Police believe Hunter kept Jhessye in the closet and tortured her. One of Jhessye's older sisters told police the closet where Jhessye was kept, "looked like a grave and smelled like dead people."
Hunter was arrested for child abuse the day the search warrant was served, but no charges were ever filed and she was released.
In June, investigators ended their landfill search for Jhessye that began on Feb. 6. Investigators said they were unable to recover any evidence from the Butterfield Landfill, where they believed Jhessye Shockley's body or evidence leading to her body might be found.
Glendale police have just announced they are holding a news conference this afternoon in regards to the investigation.
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