( CNN ) -- Arizona authorities on Monday arrested the mother of a 5-year-old girl last seen more than a month ago , a police sergeant said . Jerice Hunter was `` placed under arrest for child abuse directly related to her daughter , Jhessye Shockley , '' Glendale Police Sgt . Brent Coombs told reporters . `` Our investigators are still working diligently to locate Jhessye , '' he said . `` This is a step down that path . '' None of the leads about the girl 's whereabouts has panned out , Coombs said . But he did say that information about her mother , Hunter , proved to `` have substance to the investigation ( and ) have proven to be accurate , as far as we can tell . '' Jhessye allegedly wandered out of her Glendale home on October 11 , unnoticed by her 13- , 9- and 6-year-old siblings who were supposed to be watching her . Her mother contacted police , saying she did so after she could n't find her daughter when she returned home from an errand . The siblings were later interviewed separately by experts and have maintained they do not know what happened to Jhessye , Coombs said previously . Soon after reporting the girl missing , Hunter pleaded for the public 's help . `` Please bring my baby back . ... Her safe return is all I want , '' Hunter said last month . `` She belongs to this family . ... She 's somebody 's child . Mine . Please bring my child home . '' Since then , Hunter has `` not been cooperative with respect to a polygraph '' test , which police asked her to take , Coombs said Monday . He described Hunter as the `` lone focus '' in the investigation . Still , he did not rule out that others might be involved . `` We 're not so shortsighted to think that there may not have been an additional person or persons who may ... have helped , '' Coombs said . The reward for information leading to Jhessye , as well as to those responsible for her disappearance , has increased to $ 25,000 , Coombs said Monday . Jhessye is described as a black female about 3 feet 5 inches tall , 55 pounds , with black hair in a ponytail and brown eyes . She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt , blue jean shorts and pink sandals . Given the time that has passed , the police sergeant conceded , `` We do not believe that it will be likely that we will find Jhessye alive . ''
Jhessye Shockley was reported missing on October 11 in Glendale , Arizona . Her mother has said the girl wandered away while at home with her siblings . She earlier pleaded in the media , `` Please bring my baby back '' The mother is accused of `` child abuse directly related to her daughter , '' police say .