Shaniya Davis Murder Case: 20 Investigators Still Working Details of North Carolina Tragedy

By: Ryan Smith
Topics: Daily Blotter

(Family Photo/WRAL-TV)

Photo: Shaniya Davis.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.(CBS/AP) A team of about 20 people continues to investigate the rape and slaying of Shaniya Davis, a 5-year-old girl who was allegedly sold into sexual slavery by her mother before she was murdered.

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

"There are a plethora of leads that we're following up on," said Chief Tom Bergamine of the Fayetteville police department, which is leading the probe.

(AP/City of Fayetteville Police Dept)

Photo: Antoinette Nicole Davis' mug shot provided by Fayetteville Police Department.

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

"It's very important as we prepare the case for the district attorney's office that we cover everything that's possible."

The girl was reported missing by her mother two weeks ago on Nov. 10. Police said she was raped and killed the same day.

Her mother, Antoinette Davis, 25, is charged with trafficking her daughter and child abuse involving prostitution.

(AP Photo/Fayetteville Police Dept)

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by Wildwood1966 March 23, 2010 4:53 PM EDT: I am at a lost for words - I can not believe here n Fayetteville Georgia I never heard this story b/4 today - that poor child - and that beautiful picture of her - how could you share a body with someone for 9 mos and then destroy her? God ha a very special angel - and did I read the mother is p.g. again? Please get that child away from her immediately she does not have a heart and deserves to die in the most horrible way God Bless Shanuya; Reply to this comment


by blaylockde February 16, 2010 1:51 PM EST: This case is taking far to long in bringing justice to this special forsaken little angel. Why isnt there more being done? We never hear any updates or more charges commencing on the mother who put her baby in arms way for her own self gratification.Prosecuters should be puting this case forward as quickly as possible before evidence is lost or forgotten with time.I know the whole country was heart broken with the murder of this innocent child and is anxiously awaiting updated news on the charges and trial of the two people responsible for this hieness crime.; Reply to this comment


by ThaSweetHart December 5, 2009 12:57 AM EST: Ritaatira, I heard the same AIDS story from two different people. And then I saw a link to an article on an AIDS website that someone posted in the comments section of an article about Shaniya on the FO site that suggests that Clarence Coe has it also. He probably gave it to Antoinette and then she gave it to Mario. But I read that Mario dated Antoinette's sister...which means that this b-tch has absolutely no regard for family whatsoever if, in addition to allowing her child to be suffer the ultimate violation, she was f--king her sister's man.; Reply to this comment

by Ritaatira November 30, 2009 7:23 AM EST

Antoinette Davis and Mario McNeill are both infected with HIV. I am from NC and have relatives that work for the state. The media is not releasing this information but the truth of the matter is that Davis supposedly infected McNeill with HIV, I guess this was his way of getting revenge on her by raping and killing her child. She was also drug addicted and McNeill was her drug dealer.

The two of them together should just do taxpayers a favor, they already have HIV, they are both on suicide watch, so they should be allowed to be placed in isolation but have access to ropes, or whatever they need to assist them to complete their wishes.

What happened to Shaniya Davis was really horrible. It is disgusting and she did not deserve this. Her mother should not be allowed to have children again and McNeill should be placed in a cell with all HIV prisoners so he can get infected over and over again and left there to rot away. I dont consider these people as human beings.

As for Bradley Lockhart, he made wrong decisions which led to his daughter's fate. He should have used better judgement about Antoinette Davis. I guess he also has to live with making these decisions.

There are a lot of unanswered questions in this case. The schools didnt alert anyone about Shaniya not being in school, how McNeill was able to take her from the home? What did McNeill tell officers when he turned himself in? The media only says what it wants to say, but the whole story is sounds like a lot of pieces of the picture are missing.

Poor Shaniya Davis, Ive never heard of anything like this before. This world is getting worser. People are ruining their lives behind drugs, sex, and prostitution. What is this world really coming to?????

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by MyChildrenRMyLife December 8, 2009 1:20 AM EST: Thank you CBS.com for allowing Ritaatira to tell some part of the truth. I tried to share similar information with Nancy Grace's blogspot and they would not post the information that I provided. I am also from NC, Fayetteville, specifically. People who know these people....the Davis', the Lockharts, etc., they talk and reveal what they know to be true. The root of this situation is drug addiction and many of these people involved in this case have proven themselves to be no better than animals who have no morality nor do they possess the qualities that make them a higher species. Many of the problems of this world are related to sexual deviancy and the failure of humans to use their sexual organs responsibly. Shaniya Davis and every other living child deserves to be protected and valued and nurtured. This poor child did not stand a chance.

Antoinette Davis may not be the monster she is made out to be, but just may be the one who made a mistake because she was not in her right mind. As for Bradley Lockhart, he is suspect as well for more reasons than one. Further, his grief appears very pretentious for who would have the energy or the strength to confer with the media or the masses if their beloved child had been destroyed in such a manner?


by LS9969 November 28, 2009 10:20 AM EST: i feel the same i sit and think about what she was thinking and how she must have thought where are the people that love me and why are they letting this monster do this to me, i can't imagine the horrible pain and fear she had to be feeling, how do you describe justice for what they did to this child, death by injection doesn't even begin to account for it,they deserve a horrible and painful death, and if her father put her in this situation without making sure she was safe, why did he not call her, he could have got her a prepaid cell phone at least he could have called her and said is things okay i guess some people don't think ahead maybe he had good reason i don't know but everyone needs to wake up and think these are our children so don't take chances,it is a parents job to protect them and god knows if you fail theres no second chance because YOU CAN"T REPLACE THEM, shaniya you are constantly in my thoughts so rest in peace you are gods perfect angel now; Reply to this comment


by dmackay67 November 27, 2009 6:42 PM EST: I have been haunted by this story of Shaniya Davis. The day it came out in the news, I was at home for lunch reading it online and I had to call in sick for the rest of the day. I was physically sick. I have woken up every night thinking about it. I've cried everday. The photo of that animal carrying her in some motel with her little hand on his shoulder gives me a knot in my belly and I just want to be sick. I really don't understand the decision of her father to give her back to the "mother" not much more than an egg donor actually. He has to live with that for the rest of his life.; Reply to this comment

by rencl November 26, 2009 5:06 PM EST

I have been consumed by this. I have cried everyday since they found her. There are so many questions ! My eyes popped open at 4am again this morning thinking of her in that bastards arms.. with more questions in my head. Why did the hotel employee's not try and stop him? Were the police notified when they were leaving the hotel or when they got there? How did that scum leave with her before the police made it to the hotel? I'm not blaming the police and if it wasn't for the hotel clerk they might still be looking for Shinaya and have no one in custody...but still. No matter what the answers nothing will bring her back, yet I still want to know everything possible was done to try and save her. My sadness for her family is turning to anger as well. *** were they even THINKING of leaving her there with that sick evil woman! That beautiful girl ...I can't even go on.

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by spicypink November 26, 2009 8:16 PM EST: Me too. I can't go on. I too was up at 4am and the first thing I saw was Shaniya. I am crying now. Society has failed her. There are no more morals. I will not rest until Mario McNeill dies by lethal injection. I just keep telling myself that at least she is no longer suffering.

by corbinonline November 26, 2009 12:03 AM EST

Just like many of you this story keeps me up at night. There is no punishment in our country that is fitting for McNeil and Davis. I really can't comment on whether this was racially motivated, but I do believe this mother resented her own child. I also believe this to be a case of premeditation as this monster of a mother planned and plotted on how she was going to get her next fix. So disturbing that there are humans among us that are capable of such evilness. It gets worse and worse, Casey Anthony, Misty Croslin and Antoinette Davis..They are all guilty and the death penalty doesn't work for me. My good friends daughter, 9 years old was kidnapped walking home from school 4 blocks. She was raped and sodomized for 14 hours. The man was a parolee that was on a work release program. Thanks to the community and the police he was captured and she was rescued. They sentenced him to chemical castration and 130 years in prison. As it turned out because he was not on death row they sent him to general population and he was murdered by the other inmates as a result of his crime. Death Penalty is too cush, send um to population where they cannot defend their crime. I am on pin and needles waiting for the premeditated murder charge to come for Antoinette Davis. The comfort we have now is that our precious angel Shaniya is home......

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by spicypink November 26, 2009 8:18 PM EST: I cried after I read about your friend's daughter. What can we do to protect our children. I plead to Congress and the White House to pass a law that is an automatic death sentence to those who hurt children.


by fjsmith81 November 25, 2009 11:07 PM EST: After I first heard this story I really didn't think anything of it. I thought they would find the little girl safely and all would be well with her world. I continued to follow the story because she looks just like my little four year old girl, who is also biracial. But when I saw that they found her body dumped like she was a piece of trash, I lost it. I cried for hours the day that I found out. I still cry because when I look at my daughter I think of that little girl. I think about how she was ripped from the family and home that she had known for so long, to be dumped with an evil, filthy and selfish person that should have sold her own body if she wanted to get high. I think of how scared that little girl was being snatched from her bed so early in the morning. I think of how she screamed at the top of her lungs because of the pain that she experienced when that monster raped and tortured her for that hour. I think of how she must have been crying hysterically when it was over. I think about how she was spent her last moments afraid, killed, and then dumped alongside a road as if she was trash. No one deserves that, let alone a child. I wish her dad would stop crying because he is just as culpuble as the mother and that monster. Think about it dummy, if a mother just willingly let's you raise her daughter for five years she is not a mother at all. I don't know any mother that would just willingly let the father raise her own child that she carried for nine months. Call it selfish, but I am a mother, and I definitely would not let that happen. Bradley Lockhart, if I ever saw you I would spit in your face because you are trash. I know why he gave her away, because she didn't fit into his new perfect mold of a family. He said that God let this happen for a reason. Don't you say God let this happen, because God did not do this, her father did this, her mother did this, that monster did this to this little girl. God had nothing to do with it.

The only question that I have for the woman that gave birth to Shaniya, because she is not a mother, and that sick monster is why haven't the correctional officers accidentally released you into general population for two hours? I know there are some criminals in prison just dying to get their hands on them. Did anyone see his face when the judge was talking to him? He was slightly smiling like he was proud of what he did. He'll pay.

I am in the reverse situation. My daughter's father wanted to keep her for the summer by himself, I wouldn't do it, and then he dropped it down to a week, and I told him that I might consider it when she's ten. Now, the age increased to eighteen, and if he wants to do it before then he will have to talk to my lawyer about that. This just reassures me that evilness comes in all shapes and sizes, it doesn't matter if they are a father or a mother. Evil people will do whatever, and that will not change anything.; Reply to this comment

by momto4qts November 25, 2009 11:00 PM EST

In His arms you'll rest tonight
basking in His love and light
safe and sound without a fear
No more tears, and nor a care
Only love and light to share
your time in life was not very long
But there in Heaven you now belong
No one to hurt you, no darkness around
You will be cherished and nurtured
with love all around

Carried softly by angels with wings,
they are there to guide you and
tell you things..

You will hear of the purpose your life had on earth
how you touched so many souls with the miracle of your birth

You will hear how your death changed so many lives
Many couldn't keep the tears from their eyes

Rest in peace on fluffy clouds, surrounded by angels
surrounded by light and love, forever little Shaniya

I am so sorry the people who were supposed to love and protect you, failed you. You precious child, you deseerved better

For the low life scum bags who like to use and buy kids for their own sick desires...life is so short on earth, time goes fast. What you do here in this life you will pay dearly for in all eternity. An eternity in Hell must not be a very comfortable place.Think about it.

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