Search Continues for Missing N.C. Girl

(AP)  Authorities acted on a tip Sunday and searched a wide area in south-central North Carolina trying to find a 5-year-old girl reported missing by her mother, who has been charged with human trafficking and child abuse involving prostitution.

Capt. Charles Kimble of the Fayetteville Police Department said several agencies spent the day looking for signs of Shaniya Davis between Spring Lake and Sanford, which are about 25 miles apart. Kimble would not elaborate on what information officers had received. They suspended the search at dark. The area included woods and some homes, police said.

"We're following up on a tip. It seems to be good, so we're out there looking," Kimble said.

The N.C. Highway Patrol sent a helicopter to aid in the search, Lt. Everett Clendenin said. Shaniya hasn't been seen since Tuesday, when a surveillance camera recorded the man charged in her kidnapping carrying the girl into a hotel room.

Earlier Sunday, authorities arrested Antoinette Nicole Davis, Shaniya's mother. The charges against Davis are related to her daughter's disappearance, said Theresa Chance, a spokeswoman for Fayetteville police.

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."

Shaniya had only been living with her mother since last month. Davis reported the girl missing Tuesday morning from a mobile home community in Fayetteville, and authorities began searching nearby wooded areas.

Camera footage showed Mario Andrette McNeill carrying Shaniya into a hotel room, and he was arrested and charged with kidnapping on Friday. A kidnapping charge against a man described as Davis' boyfriend was dropped.

Authorities have said McNeill admitted to taking the girl, though his attorney says he will plead not guilty to the charge. They have not said if McNeill and Davis knew each other.

Police said a hotel worked spotted a child matching Shaniya's description at the hotel in Sanford, about 40 miles from Fayetteville. Relatives helped confirm that the child on the recording was Shaniya.

Fayetteville police officer Brian Gainey said Davis did not have an attorney and was scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, told The Associated Press that he raised his daughter for several years but last month decided to let her stay with her mother.

"I should've never let her go over there," he said Saturday.

Lockhart said he did not know McNeill.

[bobkat258]

How very sad. Better that she's left this planet than live with what her own mother did to her.
I'm sorry for the relatives who loved this little angle.

[novembercarolina7]

Excuse me, but i have to say this. In regards to the story on little Shaniya, I am extremely glad that Pat Brown is a "profiler" and NOT a detective. She doesnt think Shaniya was taken for ill purposes? (sexual) Well, the mother was charged, and as for Shaniya appearing to not be upset....I hate to point out, why is a five year not walking on her own, and dont you think this monster probably threatened her not to do anything to escape??? I won't be graphic but unfortunately, you can draw conclusions....lets hope and pray that these conclusions are not the case. God bless little Shaniya.

[Brokennews]

Interesting scenario.

If these people know where / who they gave the little girl to and are refusing to talk, would anybody go along with water-boarding these people to keep this little girl from spending her childhood as a sex slave?? (Or worse)

[aj-nc]

even wild animals take beter care of there babys,this women is not fit to be a mother,her actions are not human,let's pray that little shaniya is found soon in good health.

[riadiva]

what the hell ....this crazy *****...to the father why would you take her over there,you said it was a one night stand ..so you dont know who this woman really is.. if she loved her(daughter) she never would have left her with you for five yrs....I hope she is alive but she will need some serious care from now on..child rape is an unspeakable act oh my GOD I hope someone tells the police where she is .....this is horrible...please help find this child...lets pray for her return very soon.....

[tmittelstaed]

The father had probably been hammered on by the mother for the past several years to give her custody of her daughter back because she was looking for a meal ticket. I would bet money the mother never paid the father one dime of child support. All she wanted is the daughter so she could file for child support and sit around on her lazy a s s taking his money, and renting out her daughter to pedophiles for extra money.

[stryker54]

I really wish parents would quit harming their children. They should lock this witch up and throw awy the key. The mother is just plain evil. Her Dad is plain stupid.

[Deanna559]

It is incredible how a mother can be responsible for such insanity. Perhaps it wasn't really her who did it, but how could she allow for it to occur. Could she of not tooken better care of her own daughter? And Shaniya's father? How could he leave her to alone with her mother, which he does not even know? Ooh goodness.

[toldyouso21]

If this woman did anything to harm this child--no matter what her sentence --they should SPAY her and any other idiot female who fails to protect their own children. If she did sell her daughter or offer her out to pedaphiles (which is what human trafficking is all about) then even if little Shaniya is found alive, lock this crazy woman up and throw away the key--spay her on general principle.