The girl’s father does not live with the family and there were no fights between the parents over custody, said Glendale police officer Tracey Breeden.
Jahessye’s mother, Jerice Hunter, declined to speak to The Associated Press but told KNXV-TV that she just wants her daughter back.
“She’s somebody’s child — mine,” Hunter said through tears. “Please bring my child home.”
About 100 police officers and volunteers working in teams of four with police dogs were blanketing the area within three miles of the girl’s home. They knocked on doors, passed out flyers with the girl’s picture and combed through shrubbery and trash bins.
“We’re searching everything you can imagine,” Breeden said, adding that a one-mile radius around the home has all but been cleared. “We went over it and we went over it again.”