5 Year Old Found Dead

The body of Shaniya Davis, the 5-year-old little girl who had been missing since last Tuesday, was found on Monday, November 16.

Shaniya’s body was found southeast of Sanford in central North Carolina. Her mother, Antoinette Davis, has already been charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse. Davis had offered her daughter for prostitution.

According to a new report by the Associated Press issued earlier on November 16 authorities searched for the girl’s body that they at first thought might be found alive.

Shaniya Davis had been missing since Tuesday, November 10, and the most recent search took place earlier on November 16, according to Fayetteville, North Carolina police.

Another person who has been charged with kidnapping in this case is Mario Andrette McNeil, 29, who was seen carrying Shaniya in a hotel’s surveillance camera.

Police have not stated whether or not Davis and McNeil know each other, and said that Davis doesn’t yet have an attorney.

Syd Severe of Raleigh was one of the many volunteers who helped in the search for Shaniya. He told reporters that he didn’t believe in the death penalty, but those responsible for Shaniya’s death deserved it.

Shaniya’s father, Bradley Lockhart, had raised the little girl for several years but decided last month to allow her to go live with her mother.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33945506/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Shaniya Davis

Antoinette Davis, mother of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis found dead today near Sanford, North Carolina, will face charges.

The USA Today details the initial charges expected to be filed, as well as information on an accomplice who will be charged:

Antoinette Davis, 25 is charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse. An accomplice, Andrette McNeill, 29, will face kidnapping charges. He was seen on surveillance footage carrying Shaniya at a Sanford hotel. As a result, another man who was arrested last week has been freed.

Antoinette Davis, sometimes referred to as Antoinette Nicole Davis, reported her daughter Shaniya Davis missing Tuesday morning, leading to an extensive search led by the Fayetteville, North Carolina, police.

Bradley Lockhart Shaniya

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Bradley Lockhart, father of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, appeared with his sister Carey Lockhart-Davis on CBS’ “Early Show” Monday to beg for the girl’s safe return.

PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead

But their tearful plea was in vain; After a massive, nearly week-long search effort, Shaniya Davis was found dead Monday afternoon in Sanford, N.C., about 30 miles from her Fayetteville home. Sanford is 42 miles south west of Raleigh.

“Drop her off at Wal-Mart, anywhere, I don’t care – just so somebody can find her and bring her back to the people that love her,” her father Bradley Lockhart said Monday morning, hours before police found his daughter’s body.

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“She’s a precious, little angel, full of joy,” he said. “A little reserved when you first meet her, but once she gets to know you, she just runs around, plays and won’t leave you alone.”

“I just ask that, at this time, please just let her go,” said Shaniya’s aunt, Carey Lockhart-Davis. “She doesn’t deserve this. Have a kind heart.”

PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead

Bradley Lockhart and his sister, who live out of state, cared for the girl until last month, when she went to live with her mother. Antoinette Davis had worked to get her life together and had been working for at least six months and gotten a place of her own, Bradley Lockhart said.

“I should’ve never let her go over there,” he told The Associated Press on Saturday.

“She had asked if she could be a mother, and I felt she was sincere in asking, and I figured to give her a chance,” he said.

But according to police Antoinette Davis had not gotten her life back together and sold her daughter into sexual slavery. Her arrest documents say that she “knowingly provide[d] Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude” and she “permit[ted] an act of prostitution.”

Antoinette Davis was scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon.

Another man, Mario Andrette McNeill, has been charged with kidnapping in the case. He was seen last Tuesday in a hotel surveillance video carrying Shaniya Davis towards an elevator in a Comfort Suites hotel in Sanford.

Police have not yet commented on whether the charges against Antoinette Davis and Mario Andrette McNeill will be amended to include murder. The relationship, if any, between Antoinette Davis and Mario Andrette McNeill is unclear at this time.