The Associated Press is reporting the arrest of the mother of a missing 5-year-old Arizona girl on child-abuse charges that are "directly related" to the girl.

Police said during a news conference on Monday that they do not expect to find Jhessye Shockley alive, following the arrest of her mother, Jerice Hunter. Investigators described Hunter as the number one focus.

"They told me they were going to get me, and now they're doing it, like they said," Hunter said after questioning the commissioner.

Hunter previously told The Associated Press she had nothing to do with Jhessye's disappearance and was highly critical of the department's investigation.

Glendale police Sgt. Brent Coombs said at the news conference that new information in the past few days led police to serve another search warrant on Hunter's Glendale apartment and arrest her Monday. He wouldn't elaborate.

He also said Hunter has not cooperated with investigators who have been trying to set up a lie-detector test with her.

Coombs added the reward offered for information leading to Jhessye has been raised to $25,000.

"I'd like to make it very clear that this is by no means the end to this investigation," Coombs said. "Our investigators will continue to work diligently to locate Jhessye. This is just a step down that investigative path towards that final conclusion."

We hope that the police get to the bottom of Jhessye’s disappearance. Too often, children of color go missing and police spend too little time investigating the case. It seems as if investigators have been working hard to determine what happened to Jhessye Shockley.

Read more at the Associated Press.

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