An Arizona mother was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday for the death of her five-year-old daughter whose body was never found.
Jerice Hunter, 41, was convicted in April of first-degree murder and child abuse in the death of Jhessye Shockley.
Prosecutors said Hunter had a friend give her a ride to a neighboring city so she could dump a suitcase containing the body in a trash bin before telling authorities the child was missing in 2011.
Sentenced: Jerice Hunter (pictured left in court in March), 41, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday for the death of her 5-year-old daughter, Jhessye Shockley (right), who went missing in 2011
No emotion: Hunter, pictured here in March, showed no reaction when she was sentenced and has maintained her innocence throughout the trial
Prosecutors said the girl was beaten, neglected, deprived of food and water, and confined to a closet before her body was dumped.
She was never found, even though officers picked through 9,500 tons of garbage at landfills.
Hunter showed no reaction when a Maricopa County Superior Court judge read the sentence of natural life in prison for the murder count and a consecutive 20-year prison term for child abuse.
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ShareBefore she was sentenced, Hunter asked the judge for leniency.
'I know I've been made out to be a horrible person and a monster of a mother,' Hunter said. 'I've been convicted of a horrible crime, which I most definitely did not commit.'
Hunter has maintained her innocence since Glendale police identified her as a suspect about a month after her daughter disappeared. Her lawyers said there was no proof the girl was dead.
Gone too young: Prosecutors said Jhessye was beaten, neglected, deprived of food and water, and confined to a closet before her body was dumped
Recovery mission: 280 officers sifted through more than 9,500 tons of trash from early February to late June at a Phoenix land-fill site, but Jhessye's remains were never found
She reported Jhessye missing in October 2011. Police say the mother told them she left Jhessye with the girl's older siblings while she ran errands, and returned to the family's Glendale apartment to find the child gone.
About 100 police officers who fanned across Hunter's neighborhood knocked on doors and stopped motorists to see if they knew anything about the disappearance. An Amber alert was issued.
A 96-day search of a landfill ended without finding Jhessye's remains.
Authorities say Hunter was arrested after inconsistencies with her account were mounting and after witnesses came forward.
Defense attorney Candice Shoemaker said Jhessye's teacher and a Child Protective Services agent who investigated the family did not notice any signs of abuse.
The lawyer also said none of Hunter's other children had shown signs of abuse at the time.
Hunter was arrested in 2005 with her then-husband on child abuse charges in California.
She pleaded no contest to corporal punishment and served about four years in prison before she was released on parole in 2010.
Criminal record: Hunter (left) was arrested in October 2005 with then-husband, George Shockley, (right) for child abuse in California
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