Shaniya Davis - killed by her mother Antoinette Davis

5-Year-Old Shaniya Davis Missing; Foul Play Suspected

November 11, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WRAL) Cumberland County authorities say foul play is suspected in the disappearance of Shaniya Nicole Davis. The 5-year-old girl went missing from her home, 1116-A Sleepy Hollow Drive in Fayetteville, Tuesday morning.



An Amber Alert was initiated for Shaniya just before noon, Lt. David Sportsman said.

Police responded to the home around 6:50 a.m., and Shaniya's mother told officers that she last saw her daughter at 5:30 a.m. The mother’s boyfriend and her sister, along with an infant and Shaniya's 7-year-old brother were also in the home when the girl went missing.

“There is definitely something not right about the situation. Foul play is suspected,” Fayetteville police spokeswoman Theresa Chance said Tuesday evening.

It is unclear how the child left the home.

"The circumstances surrounding her disappearance are very odd. A 5-year-old usually... [is] not awake at 5:30 a.m. normally, and they just wouldn't leave their home," Chance said. "If she would have wandered out of her home, she would be around here somewhere."

Chance said the family has a history with the Department of Social Services.

"There have been major DSS issues with this family – who has custody, switching back and forth," Chance said.

Chance said it's unknown whether the child's disappearance is related to those issues. Police said Shaniya's father flew in from out of state Tuesday afternoon and was talking to investigators.

VIDEO COURTESY OF CBS AFFILIATE WRAL

"We're treating this as a child in danger, with the information we have," Chance said.

Chance said police have been called to the home before. This summer, officers served a search warrant at the home and found a variety of drugs inside.

The family was not allowed inside the home Tuesday evening after it was deemed a health hazard due to extensive sewage leaks, authorities said.
Police K-9s, firefighters and sheriff's deputies searched the area throughout the day Tuesday.

“We are searching for her and hoping to find her alive, but we just don't know at this point,” Chance said.

Chance noted that search dogs did not pick up Shaniya's scent, which they would have if the child was wandering around outside.

Shaniya is described as 3 feet tall and 40 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt with pink underwear. She is thin and has a scar on her foot.

Fayetteville police say three registered sex offenders live in the neighborhood. Chance said the offenders, along with everyone else in the neighborhood, have been interviewed.

The sex offenders are not considered suspects, Chance said.

Anyone with information is urged to call Fayetteville police at 910-433-1856.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/11/crimesider/entry5614023.shtml

http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2009/11/10/950973

A missing African-American female child. Not everyone's cup of tea in these modern times of selective and conspicious compassion but a missing child, nevertheless.

Blanket believed to be missing girl's found in trash can

Posted: Today at 1:32 p.m.
Updated: 35 minutes ago

Fayetteville police battled the rain Wednesday as they continued to search for a 5-year-old girl who disappeared from her home early Tuesday.

Investigators recovered a blanket that might belong to Shaniya Nicole Davis from a neighbor's garbage can. The neighbor, Andrea Moore, said police told her the blanket belonged to the missing girl.

Antoinette Davis said she put Shaniya on the couch in their home, at 1116-A Sleepy Hollow Drive in Fayetteville, at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. When she went to check on her daughter about an hour later, the girl was missing, Davis told police.

An Amber Alert was initiated for Shaniya several hours later.

Moore said she was awakened by noises outside her home at about 3 a.m. Tuesday.

"It sounded like somebody was beating," she said.

She went back to sleep but was awakened later by police saying they were confiscating her trash can because it contained evidence in the disappearance of her young neighbor.

"Every time I think about it, it upsets me," she said. "The idea that this baby was missing is bad in itself, but actually feeling like I had something to do with it, that's pretty hard to deal with, this evidence being in my trash can."

Moore said she has no idea how the blanket got into her garbage can. She said police told her it was covered in feces and that feces was also found on the back porch of Davis' home.

The Davis family wasn't allowed to return to the home Tuesday because officials deemed it a health hazard due to extensive sewage leaks.

Police are looking at surveillance video of anyone who left the Sleepy Hollow Mobile Home Park early Tuesday, Moore said.

"I hope that she's found alive. I don't know what to think about this," she said. "From what I've heard and how the situation happened, it doesn't add up to me. I don't know what happened to her. I don't know what happened at the house."

Police said Tuesday that they suspected foul play in the case, noting that they doubted the child would have walked off on her own at that time of day.

Police dogs searched the neighborhood and some nearby woods late Tuesday and didn't pick up Shaniya's scent. Investigators said the dogs would have picked up her trail if she had been walking around the area.

"This case is definitely priority," said Sgt. Tracey Bass-Caine of the Fayetteville Police Department. "Anytime you have a child of this age (missing) or a child where the circumstances (of her disappearance) are questionable, then of course this takes precedence."

Bass-Caine said the rain that started falling across central North Carolina late Tuesday and continued Wednesday was hindering the search effort. Evidence in the case could be washed away, she said.

"We had to close down the extensive search we were doing (Tuesday night) because of the inclement weather," she said.

Antoinette Davis spent much of Tuesday and Wednesday at police headquarters answering questions. Shaniya's father flew in from out of state Tuesday afternoon and also spoke with investigators.

Police spokeswoman Theresa Chance said the family has a history with the Department of Social Services as far as custody of Shaniya and other children in the house.

Chance said police also have been called to the home before. Officers served a search warrant at the home over the summer and found various illegal drugs inside.

Neighbors said they remain hopeful for Shaniya's return.

"It's just shocking that's she's even gone," Crystal Greer said. "A lot of people have been wondering, 'Where is she? Who took her? How could she just up and disappear like that?' We're all praying she comes home and she's safe."

Shaniya is described as 3 feet tall and 40 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt with pink underwear. She is thin and has a scar on her foot.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6397519/

Police: Man admitted kidnapping missing NC girl

By ALYSIA PATTERSON (AP) – 1 day ago

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina man has admitted to kidnapping a 5-year-old girl, authorities said Friday, but investigators still have not found the child more than three days after she disappeared from a mobile home park.



But the attorney for Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, said Friday that his client would plead not guilty to kidnapping Shaniya Davis. Fayetteville Police Department spokeswoman Theresa Chance said McNeill admitted taking the girl.

McNeill was charged with kidnapping while authorities dropped charges against another man, Clarence Coe, who was initially arrested in the case.

"We're hoping we find her alive," Chance said at a news conference. "We found Mr. McNeill, and Miss Davis was not with him."

McNeill had a first court appearance Friday. Attorney Allen Rogers said he only spoke briefly with his client, adding that he did not know what connection McNeill may have had with Shaniya or her mother. He also did not comment on the child's whereabouts.

Surveillance footage showed McNeill carrying Shaniya into a hotel room on Tuesday morning, when she was reported missing from a mobile home park. A hotel worker called police to report seeing a child matching Shaniya's description, but by the time police got there, McNeill had left.

Investigators used police dogs but could not pick up the child's scent during a search of the neighborhood. They found a blanket that may have belonged to the girl in a garbage can outside a neighbor's home.

Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, made a tearful appeal Thursday for his daughter's safe return.

"Shaniya, if you're listening to daddy, I miss you so much, honey," he said. "I'm waiting for you. I'm not going to give up. You don't give up either, honey."

McNeill's next court date is Dec. 2.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gw47YRAXLmLUQ69FzCcPLZpmX2SwD9BUUG280

Mother of missing 5-year-old NC girl charged

(AP) – 3 hours ago

The mother of a 5-year-old girl who disappeared in North Carolina was charged Saturday with human trafficking and other offenses, though authorities said they still did not know the girl's whereabouts.



Antoinette Nicole Davis, the mother of Shaniya (shuh-'NY-uh) Davis, faces a child abuse charge involving prostitution as well as filing a false police report, according to a news release from the Fayetteville Police Department. The release did not say whether the charges were related to her daughter's disappearance. Telephone messages and an e-mail left for police were not immediately returned.

Shaniya's mother reported the girl missing Tuesday morning from a mobile home community in Fayetteville, and authorities began searching nearby wooded areas. The following day a man described as Davis' boyfriend was arrested in the kidnapping but later released.

Police then said a worker spotted a child matching Shaniya's description at a Sanford hotel about 40 miles from Fayetteville on Tuesday. Authorities reviewed surveillance video and, after speaking with family members, confirmed the child's identity.

Surveillance footage showed Mario Andrette McNeill carrying Shaniya into a hotel room, and he was arrested and charged with kidnapping Friday.

Authorities have said McNeill admitted to taking the girl, though his attorney says he will plead not guilty to the charge. They have not said if McNeill and Davis knew each other.

An official at the Cumberland County Detention Center said Davis was still being booked and it was unclear whether she had an attorney. Her first court appearance would likely be Monday.

Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, told The Associated Press he raised his daughter for several years but last month decided to let her stay with her mother. He said Davis struggled financially over the years, but she recently obtained a job and her own place, so Lockhart decided to give her a chance to raise their daughter.

"I should've never let her go over there," he said Saturday night.

Lockhart said police have not told him whether they are any closer to finding his daughter.

"I just want her to come back safe my friend," he said. "I love her very much and I hope she is OK."

He described his relationship with Davis as a "one-night stand" and said he and Davis never argued about him raising Shaniya.

"Shaniya is a precious young lady and she is special," Lockhart said.

Lockhart said he did not know McNeill.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gw47YRAXLmLUQ69FzCcPLZpmX2SwD9BVO4R84

Whereabouts of N.C. Girl Still a Mystery

Girl, 5, sold into prostitution by her own mother hunted by U.S. police

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1227989/Race-time-year-old-girl-sold-prostitution-mother.html#ixzz0WzYW87gv

Police searching for body of missing N.C. girl

Authorities in North Carolina say they are searching along a highway for the body of a 5-year-old girl missing for a week.

Fayetteville Police spokeswoman Theresa Chance said Monday officers are searching based on "reliable information" that indicates the body of the girl may have been dumped there.

Police had previously said they hoped they would find her alive. Her mother reported her missing last Tuesday.

USA TODAY does not name victims of alleged sex crimes.

About 200 searchers fanned across several miles southeast of Sanford on Monday.

The girl's mother, 25-year-old Antoinette Davis, has been charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse and is accused of offering her daughter for prostitution. Police have also charged 29-year old Mario Andrette McNeill, who was seen in surveillance footage carrying the girl into a hotel.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-11-16-missing-nc-girl_N.htm

From SKY NEWS

Missing Girl: Mum On Child Trafficker Charge

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Missing-Shaniya-Davis-Child-Trafficking-Antoinette-Nicole-Davis-Accused-Over-North-Carolina-Girl/Article/200911315454566

Poor little thing. It doesn't sound too good for her

heatbreaking, it really is.
poor Shaniya.

I've just read the news on Sky, about this little one's body being found. How can the term "mother," apply to that woman who sold her own daughter into sexual abuse? I have no way of understanding what makes people so sick and heartless. Bye bye little Shaniya. We didn't know you, but go with love.

What a tragic outcome for this little girl caused by her own Mother. Words fail me

This week in UK it has been reported that the calls to Childline, from children being abused, has risen tenfold that the abusers are women. What on earth is going on?