November 20, 2009 8:37 AM

Shaniya Davis Asphyxiation: 5-Year-Old Raped, Strangled by Mario Andrette McNeill, Say Police

By
Neil Katz
Topics
Daily Blotter
(AP Photo)
Photo: Shaniya Davis, 5.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (CBS/AP) If police have it right, 5-year-old Shaniya Davis was raped, strangled to death, then dumped off a rural North Carolina road near a pile of deer carcasses in trash bags.

PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis' Vigil

The man who they say is at the center of the horrible crime is Mario Andrette McNeill, who was seen on a hotel video surveillance tape carrying Shaniya, Tuesday Nov. 10, the day she went missing.

(AP Photo)
Photo: Mario Andrette McNeill.

PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis' Vigil

McNeill is expected in court Friday, a day after authorities revealed what they believed happened to her in her final days.

Authorities said Thursday that Shaniya Davis was sexually assaulted and asphyxiated before her body was dumped off a rural road. Mario McNeill is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child, Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine told reporters at a news conference.

(CBS/Family Photo)
Photo: Shaniya Davis.

PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis' Vigil

Earlier in the week, authorities said McNeill admitted taking the girl, but Bergamine did not say whether McNeill admitted to the child's death.

A search warrant says McNeill picked the girl up in front of her home and drove her more than 30 miles to a hotel in Sanford, N.C., about 40 miles from Raleigh, where she was last seen alive. Surveillance video captured McNeill carrying the girl in the building.

"It is our sincere hope that the Davis family may now begin to put this horrific event behind them and begin the healing process," Bergamine said at the news conference.

McNeill's lawyer, Allen Rogers, did not immediately respond to a message left at his office after hours.

The girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, is charged with trafficking her daughter and child abuse involving prostitution. Bergamine said Thursday night that no new charges have been filed against Davis.

Police issued the warrant containing the new charges against McNeill after they collected hair and fibers, clothes, and a straw from his 1997 Mitsubishi Galant.

MEDIA
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis' Vigil

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
November 18, 2009 - Shaniya Davis' Little Body Found Near Deer Carcasses in Trash
November 18, 2009 - Police: No New Charges for Shaniya Davis' Death ...For Now
November 18, 2009 - Shaniya Davis' Aunt Says Mother, Antoinette Davis, was "Neglectful" Before Child's Murder
November 17, 2009 - Shaniya Davis Vigil: Tearful Father Bradley Lockhart Prays, "She's Right There With You"
November 17, 2009 - Antoinette Davis, Mom Accused of Selling Shaniya Davis as Sex Slave, is Pregnant Again
November 17, 2009 - Shaniya Davis, Fallen "Angel" Remembered In Pictures
November 16, 2009 - Mario Andrette McNeill: Things May Get Much Worse for Man Charged With Kidnapping Shaniya Davis
November 16, 2009 - Shaniya Davis Found Dead; Mother Turned Little Girl Into Sex Slave, Say Police
November 16, 2009 - Bradley Lockhart, Shaniya Davis' Father, Pled For Girl's Return in Vain
November 16, 2009 - Shaniya Davis Found Dead; Mother Turned Little Girl Into Sex Slave, Say Police
November 16, 2009 - Shaniya Davis Not Found: Cops Fear Missing Child is Dead, Search Focuses on Body
November 16, 2009 - Shaniya Davis: Missing 5-Year-Old Seen in Horrifying Hotel Video
November 16, 2009 - Shaniya Davis Missing: Mother Arrested for Human Trafficking, Putting Daughter in "Sexual Servitude"
November 11, 2009 - 5-Year-Old Shaniya Davis Missing; Foul Play Suspected


Add a Comment
by veeg41 November 29, 2009 9:20 PM EST
I can't even began to express the word that I feel for these2 animals who destroyed a community and a nation preying upon the inosense of a beautiful angel it is heartbreaking to turn on your television and see such inosense ripped away by the hands of these two monsters there is absolutly nothing human about these two and nor should they be treated like human they say they have to take special steps 2 protect her in prison well who protected shaniya from these two gutter rats they should both be put 2death but tortured first.
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by chrishazzoo November 20, 2009 2:06 PM EST
When I was getting a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology, I had a professor who asked me how I would treat/counsel a child molester or child killer. I told him I would refer him/her out to someone who WOULD treat them, I couldn't do it, I know my limits. He gave me crap about my answer, saying I have to put personal feelings aside and be able to treat everyone. There is no way in heck I would ever be able to sit in front of either this man or this woman and attempt to empathize with their "issues".
Reply to this comment
by GodfearingGirl November 21, 2009 12:59 AM EST
I too was getting my Master's in Professional Counseling and we were asked the same question. I explained that I wouldn't counsel or treat of "Human Being" (and I use that very loosely)that defiles children or women (if they are lucky to live). That includes child molesters and pedophiles!! I am a Christian, and I struggle with that everyday of forgiving those who can without remorse, forethought, concern, conscience, consideration do another person this way, especially young innocent children!! The mother is just as bad! Her punishment SHOULD be as harsh as his. But what did we learn in class? Usually, people like HIM are often times done in the same (if not similar) as children. I keep wanting to hate people like him who do crimes such as these, and it doesn't matter what ethnicity (because they come in all colors). I think what needs to be changed are liberals and the way they think in allowing people like him to either sit in prison and enjoy the comforts of what prison offers, or drastically cut down the YEARS these animals sit on deathrow, while the families suffer, and give them a couple of weeks after handing down the sentence! This would cut down on horrendous crimes, such as this one.
by GodfearingGirl November 21, 2009 5:35 PM EST
Regarding legacyABQ2 comment: When you are standing before God being judged on judgment day why don't you ask God yourself "Where was he when that little girl was being raped and killed." And you will get the answer straight from God's mouth!
by rencl November 20, 2009 2:05 PM EST
I am just sick over this. I can't believe people can be so cruel. There are so many why's to ask. Why was she sent there? why was her mothers heart so cold? why did that monster have to kill her and do unbearable things to her?I can't get those pictures of her with him in the hotel out of my head. I hope they pay dearly and have to wake up every day being reminded of what they did to her. Rest in peace sweetheart....
Reply to this comment
by DawnDreton November 20, 2009 1:23 PM EST
Unfortunately shkai, there are a LOT of women who have pushed that built-in nurturing instinct so far away from themselves and have become soley motivated by greed, the love of money, and selfishness that looking out for the best of the child is darkly overshadowed by the prospect of a paycheck. Many women have children not because they want to care for them, but so they can get the benefits given to them by sympathizers and lovers of the innocence in a child. It disgusts me that a lot of women are like this when so many good women who would selflessly love and care for a child have a hard time conceiving. Women like Antoinette Davis and other women who use men to get pregnant and children to manipulate and trample over anyone elses' life just to have their way don't even deserve to have their reproductive organs. Hearing about things like this will take a person who is normally one of the most meek, mild, humble and gentle individuals you could know and turn them into a murderous, revengeful, justice-seeking aggressors.
Reply to this comment
by allwander November 20, 2009 11:33 AM EST
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

words cannot begin to describe how i feel about this. the baby....that beautiful baby. i want to do SOMETHING! how can we live like this? how can we let THIS HAPPEN! NOTHING can make this right again! the new goes from this story to x-mas trees or how to lose weight easier.......how can we care when this is happening to babies? SOMEONE must have suspected this,and did nothing. there is NO greater evil than to do these things to a baby!
i have seen comments trying to turn this into birth control,or race,or religion issues. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? trying to use a sweet baby's torture and death to make a point? the point is,it HAS to be stopped!!
that little girl probably loved cartoons,and candy,and pretty things just like all our little girls! only she was getting them between jons! waking up in fear and pain instead of love and saftey....I CAN'T STAND IT!

if any one can tell me how to help stop it, i would greatly appreciate it. clubs,organizations,donations,vigalantes....whatever. i know nothing is going to stop it for good,but i am willing to help try.
Reply to this comment
by shkai November 20, 2009 10:34 AM EST
how can you call yourself a mother and a man and does something so evil to a child.as a mother myself i could never imagine doing something so hurtful,and evil to my children they look to us to protect them not to hurt them.you should have that baby and then they should take him/her to loving and caring family that love that child .
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