Shaniya Davis body found dead on side of road in NC/Prosecutors will seek death penalty in Shaniya Davis murder!!

Waiting for charges to be filed. Had to put something in here!!

Shaniya Davis Picked Up In Front Of Home According To Search Warrant
Matt McKinney Created: 11/19/2009 8:01:26 AM Updated: 11/19/2009 8:14:45 AM

Fayetteville, NC -- A search warrant says a man charged with kidnapping a 5-year-old North Carolina girl picked her up in front of her home and drove her to the hotel where she was last seen alive.

Multiple media reported the search warrant reveals that 29-year-old Mario McNeill told police he took Shaniya Davis from her home in a Fayetteville mobile home park to the Sanford hotel last week.

The girl's body was found Monday off a road near Sanford in Lee County.

Antoinette Davis is charged with trafficking her daughter and child abuse involving prostitution.

Arrest warrant for Antoinette Davis

Police say they collected hair and fibers, clothes, and a straw from McNeill's 1997 Mitsubishi Galant.

Arrest warrant for Mario Andrette McNeill

Police said Wednesday no additional charges will be filed until jurisdiction questions are resolved.

An autopsy has been performed by a cause of death has not yet been released.

Click on this link to read the arrest warrant for McNeill and Davis.

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Antoinette Davis, the mother of kidnap/murder victim Shaniya Davis, may have owed Mario Andrette McNeill money for drugs.

Nancy Grace reports "The life of five year old Shaniya was worth nothing more to her mother than payment on drug debt."

Shaniya Davis was taken from her home last Tuesday. Shaniya was seen on a hotel surveillance tape with Mario McNeill. A week later, young Shaniya's body was found about 100 feet from the side of a road.

New reports are also showing that McNeill was out on probation from a multiple shooting, including shooting someone in the face. He was given 40-50 months probation on the shooting charges. A couple months after being put on probation, he violated his probation due to possession of drugs, and was put in prison. He was released in 2006.

Shaniya's brother, Byron Coleman, also spoke with Nancy Grace, saying that his father took very well care of his sister. He says that his family is having a very hard time with her death. Coleman says that he hasn't heard anything about when the police will release Shaniya's body, or what the cause of death was.

Please see video's here:

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Disgusting. Was this her plan from the very start? To use her child as commodity? makes you wonder if the child was sold for big money by Mario to one of these sick you know whats, that raped her in that motel room. A child can bleed to death from vaginal/rectal tearing.

Critter, so you don't think it was Mario that raped/killed her? What do you know about others in the motel room. I have been following this case to a certain extent but have not heard that.

CritterFan1 wrote:Disgusting. Was this her plan from the very start? To use her child as commodity? makes you wonder if the child was sold for big money by Mario to one of these sick you know whats, that raped her in that motel room. A child can bleed to death from vaginal/rectal tearing.

I thought the same thing, Critter, but was too timid to actually post about it. Another cause of death could be suffocation. To even think about how this little innocent died upsets me greatly.

I think they will charge the mother for accessory, also for Human Trafficking. During the press conference, they indicated that the mother's charges could be upgraded.

Note: Threads regarding McNeill or the "mother", Antioinette, are located in the Lounge.

In about one week or so, McNeill and Antoinette will be moved to The Accused.

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Looks like her story will be on "48 Hours" Saturday.

thx, did not know that, will set the DVR!!

I don't understand the scenario here----the neighbor hearing all that commotion outside in the middle of the night and the feces on the outside of the home. Seems to me some crime had been committed right there on the premises before the child was taken to the hotel. She may have been raped there or there may have been a fight with the mother. I simply cannot grasp the complete scenario of this kidnapping.

TR, the fact that she was never seen outside of the trailer and kept in the bedroom sends off my warning flags. This angel HAD already been abused sexually in some way previously or else you would have never have had the body language in the hotel picture. the pressed together knees...that child was in protection mode. Something had to have been done to her vagina previously, not just in the car driving from the trailer to the hotel. What do you think?

I think that Shaniya did not like living with her "mother" and raised some hell wanting her aunt to come and get her. I think that Shaniya also saw her "mother's" lifestyle w/drugs and said she would tell her father and aunt and Antoinette told that McNeill idiot to get rid of her. I think he did NOT kidnap her, but took her at the "mother's" request. I also think the "mother" had a debt to McNeill for drugs and told him she could do with Shaniya what he wanted as a way to pay back the debt.

Even typing these words makes me sick!!

very valid points, I agree, Shaniya was NOT kidnapped, she was traded/sold, not kidnapped.

Wrapitup wrote:I think that Shaniya did not like living with her "mother" and raised some hell wanting her aunt to come and get her. I think that Shaniya also saw her "mother's" lifestyle w/drugs and said she would tell her father and aunt and Antoinette told that McNeill idiot to get rid of her. I think he did NOT kidnap her, but took her at the "mother's" request. I also think the "mother" had a debt to McNeill for drugs and told him she could do with Shaniya what he wanted as a way to pay back the debt.

Even typing these words makes me sick!!

I had not thought of that, but after reading your post that has to be it.

Shaniya Davis funeral live stream:

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I was thinking this morning about Shaniya and the fact that when the mom first refused to return her to the aunt that the mom only had TWO sets of clothes. Ok, Shaniya was never enrolled in school, bet money there are no receipts for new clothes, I really think this was premeditated from the start, that Antoinette owed mario rent or drug money and saw Shaniya has her ticket to zero debt and a continued flow of drugs. That poor baby in her womb. I am so sick thinking what Shaniya endured in that trailer for that month. Sick beyond words.

I agree. And the Aunt spoke out on CBS This Morning. Would love to know what everyone thinks of her statements:

Nov. 23, 2009
Shaniya Davis' Aunt Lashes Out at System
Carey Lockhart-Davis Says It's "Disgusting" That 5-Year-Old's Alleged Killer Gets Cared for By State

(CBS/AP) A day after laying Shaniya Davis to rest, the 5-year-old girl's aunt blasted the justice system for providing her alleged rapist and murderer with a better quality of life than many Americans have.

"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," Carey Lockhart-Davis said on CBS' "The Early Show" Monday.

Mario McNeill has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child. Authorities say Davis was strangled to death.

The 29-year-old McNeill was charged previously with kidnapping, with authorities saying he took Davis from her Fayetteville home. Her body was found Monday in thick underbrush off a rural North Carolina road after searchers spent nearly a week looking for her.

The girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, is charged with trafficking her daughter and child abuse involving prostitution.

More coverage of the Shaniya Davis case from Crimsider:

Shaniya Davis: "Angel" Found Dead
Vigils for Shaniya Davis
Aunt Says Antoinette Davis Was "Neglectful"
Antoinette Davis Pregnant Again

On Sunday, family members gathered for an emotional funeral service that even drew hundreds of strangers from around the country. A visibly distraught Lockhart-Davis, who helped raise Shaniya with the girl's father, Bradley Lockhart, said the experience has been "overwhelming."

"I spent a lot of special times with Shaniya and it's heartbreaking."

Lockhart-Davis said she's had to take down pictures of her niece because the reminders are too difficult for her and her family to bear.

"My children don't want to be home because that's an emptiness in here without her laughter."

Lockhart-Davis said she's "agitated" that McNeill, who is in custody under suicide watch, is now under state care.

"It disgusts me," she told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "It bothers me a lot. And that's something I just don't understand."

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I think what Lockhart-Davis needs to understand is that it all begins with the fact that Antoinette handed Shaniya to this freak. I say give em BOTH What about Antoinette? She is getting the same care as McNeill.

Had Antoinette not handed her over.....Shaniya could still be alive today.

And she takes down Shaniya's pictures? I don't get that. WTH?

Guilt, pure guilt is why she took down the pictures, she knew she should have done something when one week prior to the disappearance Antoinette told the aunt that she would never see Shaniya again. I would have gone to that trailer and taken her away myself, LE or no LE!!

As a non-custodial guardian, she has claimed that she had no legal rights to take the child from one of her parents. Afterall, had she done so, she would have been the one sitting in jail for kidnapping, correct? No one would have known that she would have thus saved the child's life, but the law would not have been on her side. JMO

True, she had no legal rights, still if some nut job mother told me I would NEVER see my niece again, I would go get the child and worry about the implications of my actions later. This poor little thing needed an advocate.

From what I've seen out of dead beat parents, the mom would not of cared if the aunt had taken her as long as mom got to keep the child support. That and any other benefits she may have been receiving for Shaniya.

Good point, ocean.

Thanks TerryRose. I like your avatar!!

Ocean, it was time for an update---the old one really did look like me (about 30 years ago, that is). The new one looks more like me now. :lol!:

TerryRose wrote:Ocean, it was time for an update---the old one really did look like me (about 30 years ago, that is). The new one looks more like me now. :lol!:

I don't believe it. You are probably one of those who age extremely gracefully!!! stripper

Cumberland County DSS denies requests for information regarding Shaniya Davis
November 24, 1:59 PM
Surry County CPS ExaminerLisa Nixon

The Cumberland County Department of Social Services is declining to release any information of their involvement with Shaniya Davis and her family.

A press release was issued November 20th by Cumberland County DSS that stated the following:


Department of Social Services’ Statement On Davis Information Requests

FAYETTEVILLE, NC – The Cumberland County Department of Social Services has received numerous requests to release information regarding any connection the department has to Shaniya Davis and her family.

In response, the department is releasing the following statement explaining why those requests for information will be denied:

The Cumberland County Department of Social Services, through our County Attorney’s Office, consulted with the District Attorney’s Office of the 12th Prosecutorial District, in accordance with North Carolina General Statute §7B-2902(d).

The District Attorney has concluded pursuant to North Carolina General Statute §7B-2902(d)(3) and (5) that the release of any information at this time is likely to jeopardize the State’s ability to prosecute the defendant and also is likely to undermine an ongoing or future criminal investigation.

As a result, we will deny any request related to the release of information in the child fatality of Shaniya Davis.

“We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the family and the community,” said Director Brenda Jackson. “Our focus continues to be on assisting law enforcement in any way possible.”



Why the District Attorney feels that releasing information about Cumberland County’s involvement with Shaniya’s family would affect their case is a mystery.

Obviously, if there is something so vitality important in those records that it could affect prosecution or effect a trial, then the question must be asked, could Shaniya’a death have been prevented? Did Cumberland County drop the ball in this case and allow Shaniya to fall through the gaping holes of our broken CPS system.

When, if ever, will those reports be released to the public?

And when they are released how will the public know that information is actually what occurred in Shaniya’s case?

WRAL.com reported that a state child fatality review team will look into any contact the Cumberland County DSS had with the family of Shaniya Davis before the 5-year-old was kidnapped and killed. That report will then become part of the public record.

The state child fatality review team is made up of various professionals, but finding a list of the members is proving difficult.

According to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, The Child Fatality Task Force was created in 1991 by the General Assembly to study the cause of death in childhood and to develop a system for the multidisciplinary review of child deaths. The impetus for creating the Task Force was to address the problem of child abuse, which is responsible for about 60 deaths in North Carolina each year, but the focus of the Task Force quickly expanded to include the other 97 percent of child deaths as well. Contact: Division of Public Health, Children and Youth, 919-707-5626.

A call to this number will inform you that the position of Director of the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force is currently vacant. So who is in charge?

Many questions remain unanswered in this case, but one answer is apparent, transparency and accountability are needed in our Child Protective Services departments. Without them even if mistakes are made by DSS they will go unnoticed and hidden from the public because of the laws they are able to hide behind.

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I couldn't agree more. Did CPS drop the ball? I would say YES, Yes and yes. In fact, everyone dropped the ball starting with the father and all the way down the line.

Why did the aunt drop Shaniya off at a home with sewage under the trailer. Couldn't she smell it? LE wouldn't even let anyone back in the home because it was unsafe. The trailer was a pig sty, according to LE. I don't buy that the father and aunt weren't aware. The blame starts with the father and the aunt IMO.

BJ in OR wrote:Why did the aunt drop Shaniya off at a home with sewage under the trailer. Couldn't she smell it? LE wouldn't even let anyone back in the home because it was unsafe. The trailer was a pig sty, according to LE. I don't buy that the father and aunt weren't aware. The blame starts with the father and the aunt IMO.

BJ I get the same feeling every time I see the father on television. I don't know how long it had been since he had seen Shaniya, but it had been four weeks since the aunt had seen her. Four weeks is a long time to go without seeing your 5 year old child for me anyway.

I wonder how many kids this man has and by how many different women. I hope we get to hear from some of the other women he has had children with.

Published: 07:55 PM, Tue Nov 24, 2009
Shaniya investigation continues; Davis moved to Raleigh prison
By Nick Needham
Staff writer

A week after discovering the body of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, police say they are still following multiple leads in the case.

Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine said Tuesday that tips continue to come in anonymously to the task force assigned to the case.

"There are a plethora of leads that we're following up on," Bergamine said.

About 20 people are assigned to the task force, Bergamine said. They are working hand and glove with the District Attorney's Office.

When asked if there were any new suspects in the case, Bergamine said several teams continue to work leads every day, and the case is ongoing.

On Tuesday, Shaniya's mother, Antoinette Davis, was transferred to the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women in Raleigh for safekeeping.

Debbie Tanna, a spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, said Davis was moved to make sure she wasn't harmed by herself or others.

"She is pregnant, so special precautions had to be taken," Tanna said.

Davis is charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse involving prostitution. Her bail was set at $51,000.

Shaniya's body was found Nov. 16 off Walker Road in Sanford. She was reported missing by her mother from their home off Murchison Road on Nov. 10.

Mario Andrette McNeill, 29 - an acquaintance of Davis' - is charged with first-degree murder, rape and kidnapping in Shaniya's case.

McNeill was transferred from the Cumberland County Detention Center to a safekeeping unit at Central Prison in Raleigh last week until his court date Dec. 9.

Bergamine said Tuesday it was too early to comment on what role the Department of Social Services had with the Davis family.

A state task force from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services announced this week it will review any involvement the county DSS agency had with Antoinette Davis and her children.

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I completely agree with both of you, BJ & Oceanwatch. "Daddy" (I sound like NG) said he had not seen Shaniya since Oct 2. Not sure about the Aunt. How could they not worry?

Jeanne said in another post that she thinks Shaniya's "parents" were "getting it on" and wonders who is the father of Antoinette's baby. Maybe she has a point and he just let everything slide allowing his "unit" to do the talking for him. The sister..I guess she just listened to her brother..but I got the distinct impression that Aunt Carrie was the only one that really cared and took care of that poor little girl. She would have been a beautiful woman. It is just so sad. This case has really hit me hard.

by oceanwatch Today at 9:05 pm I wonder how many kids this man has and by how many different women.

Brad Lockhart has 5 children with 3 different women. Shaniya was the result of a one night stand. Friends and family had offered to take Shaniya and Brad declined. They felt that she wasn't being cared for properly.

That Coe person that was first arrested for the kidnapping of Shaniya is the father of Antoinette's unborn child.

I had heard that but who really knows, right?

That is what the local, news states, also.

Thanks BJ and Critter. Something isn't right with him and I can't put my finger on what it is...yet.

Something isn't right w/Coe? I agree. But really, as far as Antoinette's pregnancy, who really knows who the father is? I wonder, where is her 7 year old son? Who is his father?

Where is the sister, who was living in the trailer with Antoinette, whose boyfriend was/is McNeill? So many questions!

I have been very upset at the lack of updates and the many postponments, along with the bail, and not notifying us where the new baby is now.
THIS IS THE HUSH CASE IMHO and it infuriates me that a child can be abused dso badly and the system can make so little of it.
AND WHY? because the father is a s. bag. and the mother is a a S. bag too. SO NOBOODY IS OUT THER LOOKING OUT FOR SHANIYA.

I just read this article and it only confirms my beliefs.Cumberland DSS awaits results of investigation
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I have it posted, Songline. Look under Shaniya Davis in the search panel, top right of the home page and you will see it.

I feel the same way!!

Wrapitup wrote:I have it posted, Songline. Look under Shaniya Davis in the search panel, top right of the home page and you will see it.

I feel the same way!!

Still learning to navigate here, sorry, but I could not find it. I hope it is OK that I posted it here.

no worries!

songline wrote:

Wrapitup wrote:I have it posted, Songline. Look under Shaniya Davis in the search panel, top right of the home page and you will see it.

I feel the same way!!

Still learning to navigate here, sorry, but I could not find it. I hope it is OK that I posted it here.

Love that search section, it takes us right where we want to go. Have you noticed "Today's Active Topics?? I usually check there first to see what has gone on since I last logged off. There is also the area that says posts since your last visit..that is a cool place to get started also!!~!! As BJ says, when in doubt, Go Home. You can always start over searching by going home, top left. Glad you are here...with your cat.

Wrapitup wrote:no worries!

THANK YOU,
I Will be back to review everything you just gave me, I have to go to time warner now.
My remote went out. need a new one. lol

Sorry, I'm a bit late in posting this!

Sun Nov 07, 2010

One year later: Will there be justice for Shaniya?

Five-year-old Shaniya Davis had barely begun to live when she was raped and strangled and her body dumped on the side of a road near the Harnett-Lee county line in November 2009.

But the ramifications of her horrific death continue to reverberate in the community and in the agencies that investigated her case.

A year later, the fallout continues.

Cumberland County's Department of Social Services, accused of not cooperating with police in the tension-filled days immediately after Shaniya's disappearance, was the subject of an investigation sought by District Attorney Ed Grannis.

The investigation came to a close in September, and Grannis has decided not to prosecute DSS officials on charges of obstruction of justice.

But the circumstances surrounding Shaniya's death have led to the resignation of Chet Oehme, chairman of the Social Services Board, and continue to shine a spotlight on Social Services Director Brenda Reid Jackson, who has been at the center of a firestorm of criticism.

Cumberland County commissioners are now considering replacing Oehme with one of their own in an effort to provide better oversight.

A year after Shaniya's death, one big question remains: Can Social Services, Fayetteville police, the Board of Commissioners and the District Attorney's Office put aside their differences and work together?

At 6:53 a.m. on Nov. 10, Antoniette Davis called Fayetteville police to say her daughter, Shaniya, was missing from her home in Sleepy Hollow Mobile Home Park.

An Amber Alert went out just after noon for Shaniya, who had last been seen wearing a blue sleep shirt and pink panties.

Davis and her 7-year-old son spent that afternoon at the police station, answering investigators' questions.

Two days later, police released surveillance video, taken the morning Shaniya was reported missing, showing a man holding her in his arms in front of an elevator at a Sanford hotel. The video was time-stamped 6:11 a.m.

The man in the video was identified as Mario Andrette McNeill, who turned himself in to police Nov. 13 and was charged with kidnapping.

The next day, Shaniya's mother was charged with human trafficking and prostituting her child, filing a false police report and obstructing justice.

The search continued for Shaniya as law enforcement and dozens of volunteers combed the woods and swamps in the area of southern Lee and northern Harnett counties.

The search ended about 1 p.m. Nov. 16, when Shaniya's body was found among the thick kudzu vines that covered woods off N.C. 87 near Carolina Trace.

On Nov. 20, McNeill was charged with raping and murdering Shaniya.

Shaniya was buried in Fayetteville Memorial Cemetery on Nov. 22 after a funeral attended by nearly 2,000 people.

By then, the case had become a national story on television news channels. That's how NBA star Shaquille O'Neal learned of Shaniya's death. He paid for her funeral.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week after Shaniya's abduction, Social Services Director Brenda Reid Jackson met with homicide investigators at the District Attorney's Office to review what her department knew about Antoniette Davis and her children.

The exact nature of the department's relationship with Davis' family still isn't known. Jackson has used state privacy statutes to keep records of the case out of public view.

But one of Shaniya's uncles, Michael Davis, told reporters that, before Shaniya's death, the DSS investigated her mother concerning her 7-year-old son.

Shortly after Shaniya died, the co-chairman of a state task force on child fatalities said a team would be sent to Fayetteville to find out when the DSS first made contact with the family, the status of that case at the time of the killing, and whether proper procedures were followed.

Last week, almost a year later, a spokesman for the state task force said no date has been set for the beginning of that review.

Little else about how Social Services handled the case had become public, either, until Grannis held a rare news conference in September.

During the conference, Grannis said police repeatedly had to go to court to force Jackson to give up DSS records that he said eventually proved useful to the murder investigation.

Even with the court orders, Grannis said, the DSS held back records.The first indication of that came within a day of Shaniya's disappearance.

A police detective was told by a DSS employee dealing with Shaniya's brother that "law enforcement is not getting everything, that they are not being told everything and that there is more to this," Grannis said at his news conference.

After police figured out that an initial batch of records was incomplete and the county supplied a second batch, a DSS employee told a detective that she was being forced to delete all e-mails related to Shaniya's case, Grannis said.

Grannis decided not to prosecute DSS officials for obstructing justice because, he said, the e-mails weren't destroyed but printed out and slipped into case files before they were deleted.

That maneuver, Grannis said, was motivated by Jackson's desire to keep the e-mails away from reporters, who might obtain them under the state public records law. Everything in DSS case files usually is considered a state secret.

Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine brought the DSS foot-dragging to the attention of Grannis.

In December, Grannis requested that the SBI look into the county's cooperation with the murder investigation.

The SBI investigation cast a shadow over the DSS for months.

Jackson wrote Grannis in March, seeking an update on what the SBI had found. When Grannis ignored the letter, the county Social Services Board sent another one in August.

Jackson, who had been briefed on the SBI's preliminary results by a bureau agent, believed the DSS would be cleared.

Grannis finally responded to the DSS letters in September.

Instead of exonerating the DSS, however, Grannis told Oehme, then the Social Services Board chairman, that he was dissatisfied with the SBI report. Grannis asked Sheriff Moose Butler to take a second look at the report.

Butler's internal-affairs investigators spent less than two weeks on the case.

On Sept. 30, Grannis called his news conference at Butler's office.

"To say we were not happy with the quality of the SBI report would be an understatement," Grannis told reporters. "In my 40 years, I've never seen anything from the SBI that bothered me this much."

Grannis, who is retiring at the end of the year, recounted how an SBI agent told his aides that Jackson said a Fayetteville police officer attempted to break into the DSS building on Ramsey Street. She later changed that account, saying a newspaper reporter had tried to break in, Grannis said.

The district attorney was skeptical. The Social Services Board later issued a statement in which Jackson "unequivocally" denied saying any such thing. "This incident never occurred," the statement read.

On Oct. 8, the board called Jackson in for a closed-door chat. Emerging from the private meeting, the board issued a statement of support for Jackson. It noted she now is meeting regularly with Bergamine, the police chief.

A few days after the board's statement, Oehme submitted his resignation, effective immediately.

Last week, Oehme said he wasn't interested in talking about Shaniya's case in any depth.

"I feel that Social Services did what they were supposed to do," Oehme said. "And we're just waiting for the outcome of the perpetrator and the mother."

Shaniya's father, Bradley Wayne Lockhart, still is angry at how DSS handled the investigation.

"I'm angry with DSS for withholding information that could have prevented all this," Lockhart said in a telephone interview from Georgia, where he now lives.

Lockhart said no one from DSS contacted him after police searched Davis' home in July and found drugs.

"Why couldn't they call me and tell me they had raided the house and she (Davis) was under investigation?" Lockhart said.

He said he also was upset that Oehme referred to him as a "deadbeat" in his October resignation letter.

But Lockhart said he isn't dwelling on his anger. Instead, he's trying to channel it into something positive.

"We can spend most of our time finding fault and pointing fingers, but unless we find the root cause and change it, we won't fix the problem," he said.

Asked if DSS could have done more to prevent Shaniya's death, Grannis replied: "I don't think you can say that."

He drew a parallel with the 2009 murder of Eve Carson, the UNC student-body president who was slain during a robbery in 2008. One of the men accused in Carson's death was on parole at the time.

"I think DSS has a monumental task trying to deal with a lot of broken situations," Grannis said. "They certainly don't fix them all, and I don't think the rest of us can."

A year after Shaniya's death, her mother and McNeill have yet to be indicted.

Antoniette Davis remains out of jail on $51,000 bail.

Davis was pregnant when she was arrested. She has since given birth, and the child has been put in foster care, a source close to the family said.

McNeill is being held at Central Prison in Raleigh for safekeeping until his trial. No date has been set.

Grannis said the case is in good hands, with a trio of proven deputy assistants to handle the prosecution.

Bergamine would not speak about Shaniya's case or the department's relationship with Social Services. But he did issue a statement through department spokesman Dan Grubb.

"Unfortunately," the statement read, "Police Department personnel cannot comment regarding an ongoing investigation, but we trust and expect that the Fayetteville Police Department and the Department of Social Services will work together in a professional manner as need arises without regard to any individual case."

In an e-mail last week, Jackson said DSS and police lawyers have begun to work together on court orders for records.

She added: "We continue to extend heartfelt sympathy to the family of Shaniya Davis and our community which was affected by this tragedy."

Shaniya's father has started Shaniya Speaks, a nonprofit group that works to raise awareness of sexual crimes against children.

The group's name represents what Lockhart said he is trying to be: his daughter's voice.

He plans to attend a memorial service, sponsored by the organization, on Nov. 16 in the parking lot of the Family Dollar store on Murchison Road.

Grannis said he hopes the case serves as a lesson about cooperation between agencies in any investigation involving a child.

"I think we saw in this case how important that can be," Grannis said. "You would like to think that with everything that occurred in this child's case, there will be more of an effort in that regard."

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It sounds like a lot of mistakes were made by DSS officials, and there was a cover-up of incriminating documents! How they could get away with this astounds me!! At least the chairman of Social Services (Chet Oehme) resigned, and hopefully they have all learned a lesson from this tragic death. However, if I were Shaniya's father, I would be suing DSS for their incompetence! If they had been doing their job properly, Shaniya would still be alive today!!

The only "bright" spots are that Antoinette's new baby is in foster care, Andretti is in prison awaiting trial (hopefully he will be given the DP), and Shaniya's father has started an organization (Shaniya Speaks) to help this from happening again to another child! I continue to pray for Justice for Shaniya!!

Rainbow, thank you for the above post. It answered a lot of questions; particularly that Antionette's new baby is NOT with her and is in foster care.

I find it extremely hard to believe that Shaniya's father didn't have a clue about what was going on in her mother's home. That home was found to be disgusting. And, "the monster" was living in that trailer also as was Antionette's sister, and her 7 year old son. IF Shaniya's father had researched into that trailer before assuming it was ok to drop Shaniya off there for an uncertain amount of time, Shaniya would be alive today. I have zero respect for her father..who traveled all the time and Shaniya was usually left with her Aunt..the dad's sister anyway. He says DSS did NOT inform him of what was going on over there. It looks like to me, they weren't informing anyone. They are despicable!!!

IMHO, EVERYONE dropped the ball and that poor little girl was subjected to prostitution, drugs, being sexually molested and God only knows what else.

No way in hell would I drop of my grandsons in a home with people I do not know for them to stay there indefinitely. The father should have been proactive and ran a background check on all living in that home before leaving his beautiful, precious daughter. MOO.

Wrapitup wrote:IMHO, EVERYONE dropped the ball and that poor little girl was subjected to prostitution, drugs, being sexually molested and God only knows what else.

I agree!!

I agree that the father is a Scuzbucket too.
but why does he get leniency? I assume he is hooked up in Iraq with some top folks because he works in the oil field. Some sits do not allow any postings about him t all that may be negative. HA? it's not right. this man had to know. what is worse, the authorities are dragging their feet, Sadly I fear that justice will not be served to the full extent of the law :(

Songline, I am assuming you mean some sites. LOL. No biggee. I got what you meant. Why wouldn't any site allow a person to speak their mind in a respectful way? WTH??

I agree. Skuzbucket fits this "father". At the memorial, he said that God took Shaniya for a reason. Malarkey I say. He took her because Bradley boy dropped off his precious daughter to that whore house without checking it out first. And, just HOW long was he planning on leaving her in that hell hole?

I don't know what to make of her father - he seemed genuinely grief-stricken after Shaniya's death. He also seemed to be caring for her quite well (as she looks beautiful & happy in that picture of her on the home page). However, I do agree that he must have realized that this "mother" of hers was not fit to care for her & that the home was a mess! I just don't understand... I am just glad that she is forever safe from all of them!!

I also wanted to add that ALL of the cases we cover on here of missing & abused & murdered children are heartbreaking! However, Shaniya Davis & Zahra Baker are the two cases that really touched me the most.

They were two angels that were brutally abused & murdered by the people who were supposed to be caring for them, and protecting them! It's just not fair & I truly hope that we see justice one day for both Shaniya & Zahra (and all the children).

I would like to know HOW and WHY the judge Allowed Antionette to be released from jail, and WHEN is that monster's trial?? Never?? Both of the names you mentioned, Rainbow, are from NC. I hate to say this and I hope I don't offend anyone, but I have never seen such a lack of police protection in my life. Also, the DSS should not even be in existence there. They dropped the ball horribly on Both of these cases.