Antoinette Davis, mother of Shaniya, Arrested for Human Trafficking!/ Next court date Feb 18th

Mother Arrested in Missing Girl

FAYETTEVILLE, NC (WTVD) -- Police in Fayetteville say they've arrested the mother of a missing 5-year-old who's the focus of a nationwide Amber Alert.
Shaniya Davis has been missing since Tuesday.
Late Saturday night, Fayetteville police Sgt. John Somerindyke announced in a news release that Antoinette Davis has been charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse, prostitution, filing a false police report, and resisting, delaying, or obstructing police.

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Human trafficking? I'm livid! Let's hope this innocent little girl is found alive.

Mother of Missing 5-Year-Old NC Girl Charged

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 14, 2009

Filed at 9:43 p.m. ET

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- Authorities say the mother of a 5-year-old girl who disappeared in central North Carolina has been charged with human trafficking and other offenses.

The Fayetteville Police Department said in a news release Saturday night that the girl's mother, Antoinette Nicole Davis, also faced child abuse and filing a false police report charges, but did not say whether they were related to the girl's disappearance.

Authorities say they still do not know where Shaniya Davis is.

Authorities have said Mario Andrette McNeill has admitted to kidnapping the girl, though his attorney says he will plead not guilty to the charge.

Surveillance footage showed McNeill carrying Shaniya into a hotel room on Tuesday morning, when she was reported missing from a mobile home park.

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I knew this mother was up to no good. Thank you., Holly Hawk for this news. Was she selling Sanyia? OMG!!!!

Wrap - They haven't said yet. There is very little info out there. Police would not confirm if the trafficking related to Shainya's case.

This just in:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
11/14/2009
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.

Excerpt from article with further details:

"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.

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I have a feeling she was "sold" in the Durham, NC area. Mario McNeil does admit to the kidnapping and he drove her 36 miles to Sanford, stopped at a Comfort in for about an hour and left. I think Mario decided to cash in on what he planned to traffic in Durham which is another 40 miles in the same direction. The reason I suspect this is because he has a facebook account with 99% of his friends in Durham, even though he listed an address in Fayetteville. He had some friends with the Davis name but not Antoinette or Clarence Coe.

From the Archer Pelican...
Human Trafficking 101 -- Durham County Department of Social Services
1 April 2009
Free Workshop: Human Trafficking 101

Two excerpts from article:
"Baltimore police closed down a brothel that used Mexican women imported into the country through Durham. We cannot ignore this issue locally."

"North Carolina has been identified as among the eight most common destination states for human trafficking, due in part to its location along I-85 and I-95."

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This is just horrible!!!!!!!!!! Holly, do you think she was sold for sex? She is only 5, correct?? OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Her father must be absolutely beside himself!!

I wondered WHY I never saw the mom on NG. I had wondered about her almost from the beginning.

I pray she has not been harmed or is dead!! This is just heartbreaking!

Mother arrested in missing girl case
Updated at 10:33 PM today
Antoinette Davis is charged in her daughter Shaniya's disappearance.

FAYETEVILLE, NC (WTVD) -- Police in Fayetteville say they've arrested the mother of a missing 5-year-old who's the focus of a nationwide Amber Alert.

Shaniya Davis has been missing since Tuesday.

Late Saturday night, Fayetteville police Sgt. John Somerindyke announced in a news release that Antoinette Davis has been charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse, prostitution, filing a false police report, and resisting, delaying, or obstructing police.



Somerindyke says detectives have not found the little girl.

The news came after the arrest Friday of 29-year-old Mario Andrette McNeill in the case. Police said McNeill was taken into custody after they got a tip from a hotel in Sanford that he had been there with Davis. Sanford is about 40 miles north of Fayetteville. Detectives said surveillance video at the Comfort Inn showed the man carrying the girl towards an elevator at 6:11 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Fayetteville police spokeperson Theresa Chance said McNeill turned himself in Thursday night and has been questioned. She said he admitted to taking Davis.

Davis' father pleaded at a Thursday night news conference for his daughter's safe return.

"Shaniya, if you are listening to daddy ... I miss you so much ... I'm not going to give up," Bradley Lockhart said.

Thursday, the Fayetteville Police Department had announced another arrest in the case. Clarence Coe, 30, of Brookwood Avenue in Fayetteville was charged with first-degree kidnapping after a witness told investigators they saw him leaving the mobile home park where Davis lives with her in his car.

But at Friday's news conference, Chance said there is new evidence that shows Coe was not involved, and said he was released.

"I'm not an idiot, I'm not stupid, but I feel like I was violated," Coe said. "The whole time I told the detectives I wasn't guilty, they came and talked to my family, they said my family was lying."

When ABC11 Eyewitness News asked Coe what he thought happened to Davis he said he did not know.

"I've been asked that by 13 detectives and everybody, I don't know and I tell you like I told the detectives, I don't think the mother had anything to do with it," he said. "Do I feel there might have been some negligence somewhere, yes I do."

Coe says Antionette Davis, the child's mother, was his girlfriend and he says he wasn't at the mobile home when the child disappeared.

"Every day I was there the little girl was never in the living room," Coe said. "Every night when I slept there the little girl was never in the living room, so all I can say is educated people figure it out."

Meanwhile, officials say McNeill has an extensive criminal background. An ABC11 check of his record turned up convictions for selling illegal drugs, assault, shooting into an occupied home, and more.

He was arraigned on first-degree kidnapping charges Friday and was ordered held on $100,000 bond. His lawyer said he would enter a not guilty plea.

Anyone having any information on the current whereabouts of Shaniya Davis is urged to contact the Fayetteville Police Department at (910) 433-1856. To leave an anonymous tip, call Crime Stoppers at (910) 483-8477.

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Published: 12:56 AM, Sun Nov 15, 2009
Mother faces charges in girl's disappearance
By John Ramsey
Staff writer

Bradley Lockhart pleads for return of his missing daughter
Police arrest kidnapping suspect
Grandmother of missing girl reacts to daughter's arrest

The mother of a missing 5-year-old girl was charged Saturday with allowing her daughter to be taken "with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude," according to police and arrest paperwork.

Shaniya Davis has been missing since Tuesday morning, when her mother reported she was abducted from her home in Sleepy Hollow Mobile Home Park off Murchison Road.

Shaniya's mother, Antoinette Nicole Davis, 25, was charged at 9:12 p.m. Saturday with human trafficking, felony child abuse - prostitution, filing a false police report, and resisting, delaying or obstructing justice.

The search for Shaniya Davis continues. Asked if police think the girl is still alive, Fayetteville police Sgt. John Somerindyke said, "We sure hope so."

According to arrest documents, Davis "knowingly provide(d) Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude" and she "permit(ted) an act of prostitution."

Police have not charged anyone with molesting Shaniya, but said the investigation is ongoing.

The man accused of taking her, Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, turned himself in Friday. Police said he admitted to kidnapping the child.

Investigators reviewed the timeline Davis had originally given them and found several inconsistencies, Somerindyke said.

Antoinette Davis had reported her daughter missing at 6:53a.m. Tuesday. She told police that she had last seen the child at 5:30 a.m. Meanwhile, police have said, surveillance video at an unnamed Sanford hotel showed McNeill carrying Shaniya to a room at about 6:11 a.m. that day.

A hotel worker called police after recognizing Shaniya's description, according to police. Shaniya and the man were at the hotel for about an hour, police said.

Ann Summers, Antoinette's mother and Shaniya's grandmother, was standing outside the police station downtown shortly after Antoinette was charged. Summers said she doesn't believe her daughter is involved.

"I know my daughter ain't had nothing to do with her child's disappearance," said Summers, who begged for Shaniya's safe return. "Bring my baby home."

Shaniya had been living with her mother for about three weeks before her disappearance, according to her father, Bradley Lockhart.

Lockhart said Friday that Shaniya had lived with him for the past three or four years. He said he let the child go to live with her mother because Antoinette Davis had found a place to live and had held a job for six months.

"I just wanted her to be a mother," he said. "She was never part of her life."

Lockhart told the Associated Press that 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."

The girl's parents had never married. Police have said Lockhart has been ruled out as a suspect.

Somerindyke said Saturday that Antoinette Davis's initial report had prompted the arrest of Clarence D. Coe on Wednesday.

Coe, 30, was charged with first-degree kidnapping. Police said then that witnesses had seen Coe drive out of the park with Shaniya on Tuesday. The charges against Coe were dropped after McNeill turned himself in.

Saturday, standing in his front yard off Ramsey Street, Coe said he plans to take legal action against the Fayetteville Police Department.

Coe said police wrongfully accused him and ignored a tip about McNeill before Coe was charged.

"They came after the easy target instead," said Coe, who said he was at his house when Shaniya went missing. "I was here the whole time."

Coe said he and Shaniya's mother, Antoinette Davis, were in a relationship and that Davis is pregnant with his child. He said Shaniya, though not his biological daughter, called him "daddy" and was wearing his other daughter's clothes when she was kidnapped.

Coe said he's had trouble getting a job because he's a convicted felon. He said that having a kidnapping charge added to his record, regardless of it having been dropped, will make finding work impossible.

Coe said he doesn't know McNeill, nor what his motive may have been.

The case has turned into a nationwide search for Shaniya, involving the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service. Fayetteville police say they've received hundreds of tips, and Shaniya's pictures have aired on national television shows.

But the search has been fruitless thus far.

"We still have no idea as to the whereabouts of Shaniya," Somerindyke said Saturday night.

Anyone with information about the girl is asked to call 433-1585.

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OMG, she is pregnant and barely knew her daughter!

Even though Antoinette's mother, Ann Summers, claims that Antoinette is a good mother, some people behind the scenes could not disagree more.

In an earlier story posted surrounding missing Shaniya Davis, an unknown woman left a chilling comment. The woman claimed that she knew Antoinette Nicole Davis. She also claimed that Antoinette handed over her daughter to McNeill due to owing him money amongst additional details that matched that of Antoinette's arrest. The woman claimed that McNeill is the actual owner of Antoinette's trailer, but this has not been confirmed. No true identity or confirmation, therefore, one can only call this speculation.

The woman left the comment yesterday afternoon. Antoinette was arrested late this afternoon.

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Antoinette Nicole Davis, mother of missing Shaniya Davis, arrested and charged
November 15, 2:00 AMRaleigh Headlines ExaminerLoretta Arnold

Antoinette Nicole Davis, arrested and charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse, prostitution, filing a false police report, resisting, delaying, and obstructing a police officer, has been placed inside of the Cumberland County Detention Center. Bond is set for $51,000.

Antoinette Davis is the mother of Shaniya Davis, the 5-year-old missing girl in North Carolina.

Antoinette claimed a couple of days ago that Clarence Coe had connections to her daughter's disappearance. Clarence Coe was arrested one day, released the next. Coe was innocent. Locals were very surprised at Coe's arrest since Clarence Coe, to them, seemed more interested in the missing 5-year-old than Antoinette. Also, the neighbors noted that the mother was seen with Clarence Coe at her trailer.

Clarence Coe, as seen in this Wral.com video, is very upset against the police for placing him under arrest. His words are understandable.

On Friday Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, was arrested for abducting Shaniya Davis from her home of 1116-A Sleepy Hallow Drive. Mario McNeill and Shaniya Davis were spotted together at a Sanford hotel on Tuesday at 6:11 a.m. as seen in the video surveillance.

Shaniya has been missing since Tuesday morning. Antoinette claimed that Shaniya was placed on a couch at 5:30 a.m., but when the mother came back to check on her she was gone.

Did anyone see it coming?

Even though Antoinette's mother, Ann Summers, claims that Antoinette is a good mother, some people behind the scenes could not disagree more.

In an earlier story posted surrounding missing Shaniya Davis, an unknown woman left a chilling comment. The woman claimed that she knew Antoinette Nicole Davis. She also claimed that Antoinette handed over her daughter to McNeill due to owing him money amongst additional details that matched that of Antoinette's arrest. The woman claimed that McNeill is the actual owner of Antoinette's trailer, but this has not been confirmed. No true identity or confirmation, therefore, one can only call this speculation.

The woman left the comment yesterday afternoon. Antoinette was arrested late this afternoon.

Shaniya Davis has been missing since Tuesday. North Carolina is pulling together in the Shaniya Davis search. Fayetteville citizens and those in surrounding areas are passing along the description in hopes that Shaniya will be found. Raleigh residents are also keeping their eyes open for Shaniya Davis.

5-year-old Shaniya Davis is 3 feet tall, 40 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, thin with a scar on her foot. She was last seen wearing a blue t-shirt and pink underwear.

Anyone with any information surrounding the case of missing Shaniya Davis please contact the Fayetteville Police Department at (910) 433-1856 or Crime Stoppers at (910) 483-8477.

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This just gets more and more twisted!!!

Dispicable.

Hard to comprehend. Just cannot imagine doing this to your own Daughter, your baby that was inside of you. Over money?? Drug debts??? The drugs won?? The desire to stay messed up won out over the love of a daughter? Sick.

I'm reading articles on human trafficking in NC and it is a big business to import women from foreign countries to work as prostitutes, but I am not finding much info on abduction of local girls. The Charlotte, NC FBI has a unit that specializes in human trafficking. I hope the Fayetteville PD coordinates them to try and track down Shaniya.

Mother Antoinette will appear in court today. I dread her getting a public defender who tells her to keep quiet. That should never be permitted when a little girl is missing! I also think torture should be legal in these situations if someone holds information on a kidnapped child's whereabouts!

Antoinette is not a Mom. Mothers do not sell their children. Shaniya living conditions in that mobile home was less then satisfactory. Why in the world if Shaniya father had custody would he let her go live with that monster?

He said on the local news that it was financial or some crap.

This is just sickening. I guess though my biggest question is ( I havnt seen it asked yet) if the have video of him entering the hotel elevator, then dont they have a video of anyone with her leaving the elevator or the building??? They knew that they came in, so didnt they pay special attention to her leaving and who with??

There wasnt enough time for him to move the child
from the motel or hotel. If he did wouldnt he be on a video showing he left? So many people especially here in L.A. talk about making prostitution legal and this is why Im totally against it - because so many women are literally sexual slaves and also teenagers too and maybe even younger. Absolute do NOT support legalization of prostitution in your state for these reasons. The subjugation of women is becoming more common. We need to harshly penalize all pimps,
madams and yes mothers and fathers for this crime
and it will help to stop it - 25 years mandatory sentence is what I say. I wish I lived in NC when they try this woman as Id love to be one her jurors. I believe the child could be alive - I just cannot figure out how he got her out of the hotel without being seen.

I just re-read the article again. Now Im wondering if this guy Mario wasnt "delivering" the child to someone at the hotel. Thats why he left alone.

artgal16 wrote:There wasnt enough time for him to move the child
from the motel or hotel. If he did wouldnt he be on a video showing he left? So many people especially here in L.A. talk about making prostitution legal and this is why Im totally against it - because so many women are literally sexual slaves and also teenagers too and maybe even younger. Absolute do NOT support legalization of prostitution in your state for these reasons. The subjugation of women is becoming more common. We need to harshly penalize all pimps,
madams and yes mothers and fathers for this crime
and it will help to stop it - 25 years mandatory sentence is what I say. I wish I lived in NC when they try this woman as Id love to be one her jurors. I believe the child could be alive - I just cannot figure out how he got her out of the hotel without being seen.

precisely my question....... you want to know exactly what I want to know. someone at that hotel KNOWS something I am sure of it.

Fayetteville police confirmed Sunday that they were searching on the ground for a missing 5-year-old girl between Fayetteville and Sanford. Witnesses told ABC11 Eyewitness News they saw officers near Walker Road off Highway 87 in the Sanford area.

Sanford is about 40 miles north of Fayetteville. Police did not say if they were looking for a body or if they hoped to find Shaniya Davis alive.

News of the search came a day after Shaniya's mother Antoinette Davis, 25, was charged in her disappearance Tuesday.

Davis is charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse, prostitution, filing a false police report, and resisting, delaying, or obstructing police.

On Friday, 29-year-old Mario Andrette McNeill was also charged in the case. Police said McNeill was taken into custody after they got a tip from a hotel in Sanford that he had been there with Davis the same morning her mother reported her missing. Detectives said surveillance video at the Comfort Inn showed the man carrying the girl towards an elevator at 6:11 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Fayetteville police spokesperson Theresa Chance said McNeill turned himself in Thursday night and has been questioned. She said he admitted to taking Davis.

McNeill has an extensive criminal background. An ABC11 check of his record turned up convictions for selling illegal drugs, assault, shooting into an occupied home, and more.

He was arraigned on first-degree kidnapping charges Friday and was ordered held on $100,000 bond. His lawyer said he would enter a not guilty plea.

Anyone having any information on the current whereabouts of Shaniya Davis is urged to contact the Fayetteville Police Department at (910) 433-1856. To leave an anonymous tip, call Crime Stoppers at (910) 483-8477.

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This story sickens me...How could her dad have given her to that woman?! He had to know what kind of person she is! I am just heartbroken...They should be allowed to waterboard that guy (or anything else) to get the info from him about where that little girl is!! He is just trash, and she is an innocent little girl...I bet there are some police officers that would like to be alone with him in a room!!

I agree, Lisette!! I would think they have offered him immunity if he tells who he gave her to, but it looks like this probably IS a trafficking ring and this idiot is more concerned with getting off'd if he tells the truth. Sickening!!!!!!!!!!

Father of Shaniya Davis begs for her return
November 15, 4:09 PMKnoxville Headlines ExaminerRachel Tobin

Bradley Lockhart, the father of missing five year old Shaniya Davis, is begging for the safe return of his daughter.

"Shaniya, if you are listening to Daddy, I miss you so much, I'm not going to give up," Lockhart said at a news conference Thursday.

Lockhart told the Associated Press that he has raised his daughter for the last several years, only allowing her to go live with her mother three weeks ago.

Shaniya's mother, Antoinette Davis, has been charged with child abuse involving prostitution, human trafficking, and filing a false police report. It is suspected that she knowingly provided her daughter to Mario Andrette McNeill in exchange for drugs or cash. She knowingly "provide(d) Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude” and she “permit(ted) an act of prostitution,” the arrest reports read.

Police had responded to Antoinette's home around 6:50 a.m. the morning of Shaniya's disappearance. They immediately suspected foul play was involved. “There is definitely something not right about the situation. Foul play is suspected,” Fayetteville police spokeswoman Theresa Chance said Tuesday.

Aside from the initial hotel surveillance tape that showed Mario Andrette McNeill carrying Shaniya into a local hotel, there has been no sign of the little girl. Poilce have begun searching nearby wooded areas.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
Fayetteville Police Department (North Carolina) 1-910-433-1911

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Just to think what is going to happen to this child sickens me. She could be some perv's little sex toy or worse, murdered by a sicko for fun after abusing her. May her mother rot in hell for all eternity.

And...you know what I don't like the fact that there is human excrement over her favorite blanket and on the rails leading down the stairs. Makes you wonder what when on that night b4 she was taken. This case sickens me.

cherylz wrote:And...you know what I don't like the fact that there is human excrement over her favorite blanket and on the rails leading down the stairs. Makes you wonder what when on that night b4 she was taken. This case sickens me.

Agreed, Cherylz. But, we do know she was alive after this took place at the trailer. God only knows the condition that poor child was in.

Just when you think you have heard it all!!!!!!!!

OMG, you think she may have been sodomized in the trailer?

On NG Friday Pm the psychologist said she didn't like the way the little girls legs looked as he was carrying her to the elevator. I only heard this at the end of the show. What did she mean?

Critter, who knows what went on b4 she was actually taken. When all other 5 year old girls were sound asleep at that hour, waiting to go to school the next day...God knows what this poor child endured.

I know Cheryl, no telling what her poor life was like.

The criminal profiler and body language expert said her legs (knees) were touching each other in a way that said to her she was not comfortable. I hope that makes sense.

Thanks Wrap.
So maybe we can assume she was in pain or they were just held that way by the man.

I've been gone all weekend and I was shocked when I saw this thread! This is so disgusting!! How could any mother do something this horrible to their own beautiful little girl?? It makes me sick!

cherylz wrote:Thanks Wrap.
So maybe we can assume she was in pain or they were just held that way by the man.

It was more like she was keeping her knees together in fear.



Yes, Janie..this is just sick!!!

More developments are coming to light in the case of missing five-year-old Shaniya Davis.
The Fayetteville girl’s been missing since Tuesday.
On Sunday police searched for her in Lee County.
Fayetteville police say they were following leads that prompted a ground search between Spring Lake and Sanford.
Investigators say Shaniya was last seen on a surveillance videotape taken from a hotel in Sanford.
A highway patrol helicopter helped out in the search.
Lee County sheriff’s deputies are focusing on a 26-mile stretch along Highway 87.



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There might not be any connection with the feces found on the blanket - the house was in unsafe condition
due to sewage problems - someone might have used the blanket to clean something up and then threw it out. At least I hope so. I hope they throw the book at her mother and this guy.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The search for a missing 5-year-old girl was suspended Sunday night due to darkness, but authorities will continue the search Monday morning.

A tip led investigators to search the N.C. Highway 87 corridor between Spring Lake and Sanford, about a 26-mile search area.

Shaniya Davis' mother, Antoinette Nicole Davis, has been charged with human trafficking and faces a child abuse charge involving prostitution. Shaniya Davis has been missing since Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Shaniya Davis was last seen when surveillance footage showed Mario Andrette McNeill carrying her into a hotel room. McNeill was arrested and charged with kidnapping Friday.

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True, Artgal, had not thought of that. That the blanket may have been used to clean up sewage. It was Shaniya's fav blanket, thrown away because they knew she was not coming back.
Her knees are held so tightly together they look like they have been glued. No telling what happened to her in her own home or in the car on the way to the motel.

If these children can just disappear like this with no trace, possibly they are being drugged and taken out of the state very fast. They need to lean on this Mario guy. He knows a lot IMO and they need to start expanding the search beyond where the child was last seen because right now I believe they are looking for a body when she might be alive and being transported
away from the State. I dont believe she is dead. I think she was delivered to someone else and that is why this Mario is pleading not-guilty - because he didnt do anything to the child, he just delivered her to someone else. Just my own theory of course!

A good theory at that~~!!

MSNBC reporting Shaniya may be dead. They have been searching in an area where there was a "reliable" tip that the child's body was dumped there. I dont know about people like this rotting in hell, I can only hope that their life on earth becomes that so they can live it every day.

oh no, let me turn on my local, North Carolina news.

The news shows them searching in a secluded area in Sanford.They have cadaver dogs with LE. Sanford is the town where the hotel was located. Nice area, lots of golf and rural areas.

Why would her father give that 'mother" a chance to have this beautiful girl as her daughter? He must have known what she was like. He brought Shaniya up for most of her little life. She looked cared for in her pics. Why was he even w/ a woman like that anyway? Her mug shot looked like she was a hardened drug addict-IMO. Makes me sick.

I was following the search yesterday. I don't have any links, but from news video clips and articles from reliable sources the location focussed on is 7 miles south of the Comfort Inn in Sanford, on Watkins Rd which veers off Hwy 87, then re-enters that hwy. In the area of Watkins & Sharpe yesterday they sealed off the area with crime scene tape while they searched wooded and swampy areas; however, by sundown they had not found her. The search will continue today. I still hold out hope that little Shaniya is still alive, as we really know nothing about the tip and/or evidence that led LE to this area. I feel like this case will be the last straw for so many of us before screaming out putting a stop to these horrid crimes against children!

I dont believe anything these low-lifes
say - and if they know anything they have to be low-lifes with the same connections. I have this belief
she is still alive - I dont know why. I guess because I choose to believe it until they find her.

MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE EXCHANGE

Published: November 24, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE
The state of North Carolina is reviewing what kind of contact the Cumberland County Department of Social Services had with Antoinette Davis and her children, The Fayetteville Observer reported.

The announcement, made by the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force on Monday, comes a little more than a week after police arrested Davis and charged her with human trafficking and child abuse by prostitution.

Two days after her arrest, on Nov. 16, the body of her daughter, 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, was found off a rural road south of Sanford. She died of asphyxiation, according to preliminary reports.

Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape and kidnapping in Shaniya's death.

Police, Davis' family members and DSS have declined to say what kind of involvement the agency had with Antoinette Davis and her family.

One of Shaniya's uncles, Michael Davis, has told reporters that DSS investigated Antoinette Davis in the past. He said DSS investigated Davis regarding her 7-year-old son. The uncle told reporters that DSS completed its investigation, and Antoinette Davis was allowed to keep her children.

On Friday, the director of the Cumberland County Department of Social Services released a statement saying the release of any information about the agency's involvement with the Davis family would jeopardize the state's ability to prosecute Davis and would hurt any current or future investigation.

"We are saddened about this tragedy, and we know the community has an interest regarding Social Services' connection to this family," Director Brenda Jackson said in an earlier statement. "However, any information regarding the agency's child protective services intervention with children and families in our community is confidential."

Tom Vitaglione, co-chairman of the state's Child Fatality Task Force, said state DSS officials have been in touch with local officials about a possible review of how the case was handled.

"This is a family that was already known to social service workers down there," Vitaglione said. "They are all very distraught about the whole thing."

Vitaglione said his task force will send a team to Fayetteville to look at when DSS first made contact with the family, what the status of the case was and if everything was done properly in terms of procedures.

The task force will work with the district attorney's office to determine the speed of their investigation so as not to interfere with the criminal case, Vitaglione said.

The Child Fatality Task Force is a division of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, which has oversight authority over all county DSS agencies.

Last week, Jackson said her agency was assisting law enforcement in the Shaniya Davis investigation but declined to comment as to what extent.

Police also would not say what role DSS was playing in the investigation.

"Everything is being looked at," police Capt. Charles Kimble said at a news conference last Thursday when asked about Social Services' involvement with the family.

Vitaglione said his task force also will take into consideration the effects this year's state and local budget cuts have had on social service agencies.

"Child protective service divisions have been hit particularly hard," Vitaglione said. "We have really not supported this with our dollars."

Jackson told the county DSS board at a regular meeting last week that her case workers had been working long hours this year and some weekends to help deal with the heavy workload.

About 70 positions at DSS remain unfilled, Jackson told the board, and roughly 30 of those are considered critical positions by the agency.

"Most of those vacancies are in child services and food and nutrition services," Jackson said.

The agency is awaiting the green light from the county manager to resume recruitment for those jobs.

Vitaglione said the task force was created by the N.C. General Assembly in 1991 to study the cause of death in childhood, particularly child abuse, which is why he often finds his team looking into different social services agencies.

Shaniya was reported missing from her home off Murchison Road on Nov. 10.

She had been raised by her father, Bradley Lockhart, over the past three or four years. Lockhart has said he let Shaniya stay with Antoinette Davis last month after it appeared Davis had a job and a place to stay.

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Another in a very, very long line of negligence in their "investigation". This seems to be national and not confined to one or two states. The caseworkers should serve prison time for their neglect.

Shaniya Davis: Mario McNeill "ain't nothing but a maggot" according to girl's grandmother
November 24, 5:23 AMHigh Profile Crime ExaminerCorey Mitchell

Shaniya Davis's aunt, Carey Lockhart-Davis, lashed out against alleged killer Mario McNeill
Shaniya Davis's aunt, Carey Lockhart-Davis, lashed out against alleged killer Mario McNeill
AP Photo/The Fayetteville Observer, Stephanie Bruce

Now that the dust has settled after the funeral of five-year-old Shaniya Davis, family members of the little girl have stepped forward to speak of the tragedy. One common thread is disgust for her accused killer, Mario McNeill.

Shaniya's aunt, Carey Lockhart-Davis, who appeared on Monday's CBS's "The Early Show," blasted the alleged killer and lashed out at the justice system that she believes coddles criminals. "We have a lot of people … [who have] lost their jobs, who don't have health care, even children that are in homes don't get three square meals a day. But this man sits with guards protecting him, he's receiving free medical, free meals."

During the interview, Lockhart-Davis stated she was "agitated" with McNeill and that she is appalled at the treatment he is receiving. "It disgusts me. It bothers me a lot. And that's something I just don't understand." She was referencing the fact that millions of law-abiding American citizens do not have health care coverage yet criminals, such as McNeill, are protected by guards and receive full medical coverage.

Shaniya Davis's grandmother, Ann Summers, who is the mother of Antoinette Davis, also spoke ill of her daughter's boyfriend, McNeill. According to CBS, Summers said of the accused killer, "To me, he ain't nothing but a maggot. He's going to get what comes to him."

Summers, however, defended her daughter and Shaniya's mother, Antoinette Davis. "She did not harm her kids. I was there, I should know," she declared. Davis has been charged with human trafficking and child abuse through prostitution.

-Read Mario McNeill's arrest warrant.

-Read Antoinette Davis's arrest warrant.

-Listen to Antoinette Davis's 911 call.



Corey Mitchell is a critically acclaimed Los Angeles Times best-selling author of several true crime books including DEAD AND BURIED, PURE MURDER, and HOLLYWOOD DEATH SCENES. He is also the founder of the premier true crime website, In Cold Blog, executive producer for a new true crime television series, and a former Hollywood crime expert and blogger for the Discovery Channel. He can be reached at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

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Shaniya Davis's aunt, Carey Lockhart-Davis lashes out against criminal justice system

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Slain girl's mother moved to women's prison in Raleigh
Antoinette Davis in court

Posted: Today at 4:50 p.m.
Updated: Today at 5:01 p.m.

Raleigh, N.C. — The mother of a slain 5-year-old Fayetteville girl was transferred Tuesday from the Cumberland County Detention Center to the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, authorities said.

Antoinette Nicole Davis, 25, has been charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse–prostitution, filing a false police report and obstructing a police investigation in the disappearance of her daughter, Shaniya Nicole Davis.

Shaniya was reported missing from her home on Nov. 10. Her body was found in a patch of kudzu off a rural road near the Lee-Harnett County line six days later.

She died of asphyxiation, according to preliminary autopsy results.

Arrest warrants state that Davis "did knowingly provide Shaniya with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude" and "did permit an act of prostitution with Shaniya."

Davis hasn't been charged in the girl's death.

Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, of 2613 Pine Springs Drive, has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape of a child and first-degree kidnapping in the case. Police have characterized him as a family acquaintance.

Davis was being held in a safe-keeping cell away from the general prison population in Raleigh, according to state Department of Correction spokesman Keith Acree.

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