Shaniya Davis Found Dead; Mother Charged With Trafficking
The body of missing 5-year-old Shaniya Nicole Davis was recovered Monday afternoon, Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine said.
Shaniya’s body was discovered early Monday afternoon about 100 feet off a wooded road southeast of Sanford in central North Carolina, bringing a week-long search to a sad end.
Fayetteville police charged Shaniya’s mother Antoinette Nicole Davis, 25, on Saturday with charges including human trafficking, child abuse involving prostitution, filing a false police report and resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer.
According to arrest documents cited by The Fayetteville Observer, Davis “knowingly provide(d) Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude” and she “permit(ted) an act of prostitution.”
Authorities also charged Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, with kidnapping after they said he was seen in surveillance footage carrying Shaniya at a Sanford hotel. Authorities said McNeill admitted taking the girl, though his attorney said he will plead not guilty.
Update: McNeill Charged with Rape and Murder of Shaniya Davis
