Search warrants in Shaniya Davis case unsealed; phone had explicit photos

Published: 12:29 AM, Thu Jan 28, 2010

By Drew Brooks
Staff writer

Police investigating the disappearance of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis found explicit pictures of a child on a phone belonging to the suspect in the child's murder, according to unsealed court documents.

Mario Andrette McNeil's phone was seized by police after his arrest Nov. 19, the warrants say. The Fayetteville man is charged with kidnapping, raping and murdering Shaniya.

Search warrants in the case were unsealed this week by a Cumberland County Superior Court judge. According to an affidavit attached to one warrant, Detective Jason Sondergaard "observed photographs of a sexually explicit nature and some of the photographs appeared to be that of a female juvenile under 10 years of age."

The warrant says Sondergaard contacted a doctor who specializes in developmental and forensics pediatrics to help identify the approximate age of the girl in the photographs. A precise age could not be determined..

But the doctor confirmed that the explicit photos were of a young black girl.

Shaniya, who was black, was reported missing by her mother, who lived in a trailer park off Murchison Road. Video footage from a Sanford motel showed McNeil carrying the child into the motel on the morning she disappeared. Shaniya's body was later found in woods near Sanford. Her mother has been charged with human trafficking and child abuse involving prostitution.

Senior Resident Superior Court Judge E. Lynn Johnson ordered nine search warrants unsealed Monday. The documents had been sealed since mid-November at the request of Fayetteville police, who thought the information could compromise the investigation.

The warrants covered searches of cameras and computers belonging to McNeil and Shaniya's mother, Antoniette Davis, along with searches of McNeil's home, two cell phones, a GPS system and two searches of Davis' trailer on Sleepy Hollow Drive.

Davis, 25, and McNeil, 29, are being held in a state prison in Raleigh until their trials.
Brother's statement

In an affidavit for another search warrant, written by Detective Terrance Phillips, investigators say they interviewed Shaniya's 7-year-old brother the day Shaniya was reported missing.

The child told detectives that he saw a black man with dreadlocks whom he did not recognize inside the home. He said he heard loud stomping noises, then went to sleep.

The affidavit says none of the adults in the residence mentioned the man with dreadlocks. McNeil, who was not linked to the case until the surveillance video was uncovered at the Sanford motel, had dreadlocks at the time of his arrest.

According to the warrants, investigators seized numerous items, including computer data from the various electronics; clothing that could fit a young child; soil samples; a plastic straw; and swabbings from a 1997 Mitsubishi Galant belonging to McNeil.

A report from an autopsy on Shaniya's body concluded that her injuries were consistent with a sexual assault. The report, by the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, lists asphyxiation as the likely cause of death.

A medical examiner's notes say Davis "reportedly owed money to McNeil and offered the daughter in exchange for forgiveness of her debt."

The State Bureau of Investigation is involved with the case at the request of District Attorney Ed Grannis. Grannis asked the SBI to look into record-keeping at the Cumberland County Department of Social Services, which had been involved with Antoniette Davis and her children before Shaniya's death.

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I cannot fathom a mother that would "sell" her child , especially knowing the child would likely be harmed. As my dad used to say about child molesters..."give me a short rope and a tall tree". This should go for anyone perpetrating or knowingly allowing harm to come to a child.

that makes me so sick. Yes a short rope and a tall tree.