by Jim Cross/KTAR (October 14th, 2011 @ 9:13am)
The Unified Command Center is set up in Glendale. (Jim Cross/KTAR)
The reason the Amber Alert was canceled was not disclosed. The Department of Public Safety reported that the Amber Alert had been canceled.
Police took down their command post where Jahessye Shockley went missing Tuesday night. Detectives have searched dumpsters and pools, but came up empty handed with any new evidence.
More than 100 state, local and federal officers were involved in the hunt for the girl who vanished between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday after her mother left her with three siblings and went to run an errand. Police believed the girl wandered off, possibly out the front door of her Glendale apartment.
Glendale Police Sgt. Brent Coombs said Friday that investigators were following up on all reported sightings.
"We're operating off about a couple dozen tips so far since we put the tip line up," Coombs said. "They are coming in. They are coming in from as far away as northern Arizona."
Police said their most solid tip was a report that a woman was seen putting a child matching Jahessaye's description into a black car, possibly a Chevrolet Malibu, near the girl's home about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. However, the witness who reported seeing that did not get a license plate of the vehicle, and police acknowledged they were not positive that Jahessaye had been kidnapped.
But, Coombs said as more and more time passes, it became more clear that the girl had "interacted" with someone.
"We think that someone within this area will be able to give us that key component that we're missing to help us solve this -- today," said Coombs.
Searchers were out all night in the area of 45th Avenue and Glendale, where Jahessye Shockley vanished Tuesday evening. By Thursday morning, the search area had doubled to three square miles -- between 35th and 51st Avenues, Glendale Avenue to Bethany Home Road.
Coombs said, "State and local, federal entities, people from the southern parts of Arizona, the northern parts of Arizona, a lot of people are helping us."
An Amber Alert in the case was initially issued Wednesday at 10:00 a.m.
