Man Charged with Murder of Shaniya Davis

A man already accused of kidnapping a 5-year-old North Carolina girl faces new charges that he raped and asphyxiated her, police said Thursday.

Mario McNeill is being charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child, Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine told reporters at a news conference.

The 29-year-old McNeill was charged earlier this week with kidnapping, with authorities saying he took Shaniya Davis from her Fayetteville home. Her body was found Monday in thick underbrush off a rural North Carolina road after searchers spent nearly a week looking for her.

Bergamine gave few further details of the investigation Thursday. Earlier in the week, authorities said McNeill admitted taking the girl, but the chief did not say whether McNeill admitted to the child's death.

A search warrant says McNeill picked the girl up in front of the home and drove her to a hotel where she was last seen alive. Surveillance video captured McNeil 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.

More coverage of the Shaniya Davis case from Crimsider:
Shaniya Davis: "Angel" Found Dead
Vigils for Shaniya Davis
Aunt Says Antoinette Davis Was "Neglectful"
Antoinette Davis Pregnant Again

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 no new charges have been filed against Davis as of Thursday night.

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.

Authorities first arrested another man, but charges against him were dropped a day later when investigators tracked down McNeill after receiving a tip from a hotel employee.

[Savannah_01]

all of yall guys are right wen u heard about this angel it broke my heart it tore my heart up i wanted to kill him but i know god got something for them

[Savannah_01]

who would do such a horable thing to this ngel i am 13 going on 14 years old and i cry and pray for this angel every single day i wake up with paine every day so i know i that shaniyas family wakes up with panie every day but we all no that she's in a better place and we all love and miss her and i hope that i can met her someday i nlove you and miss you angel

[praisediva]

I am a single mother of two. My oldest is a boy (16) my youngest is a girl (15 months). I also was molested as a young child around Shaniya age. When I think of my little girl this story really saddens me. I love both of my children with every inch of me. Because of my past, I am really over protected of my children...especially my little girl. It is to the point where I don't keep my child around no man, not even her father without me. Every visit where ever she goes day care or any where, I check her. My family tells me that I am too over protetive, but this story tells me that I am not. I just couldn't imagine so one hurting a child. He is a grown man and to have a sexual feelings for a little girl that has not even develope into woman hood is nothing but the pure devil. Seeing her being carried into that hotel room is an outradge. Did anyone hear anything? I mean...how did he get away with that in hotel room. He did not rake her somewhere in the woods. He took her to a public place OMG! I am hurt by this like it was my child and quite frankly he should be killed, him and the mother both should be killed. I will pray for the father and his family because I know that this is really hard for them to deal with. I don't even have nothing else to say in the matter.

[michelle_s_2006]

I have faith that these two will get just what they deserve. Matthew 18:5-6 "And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."

[poorerobin]

How has this type of crime become commonplace? Does it have to do with the justice system? When we usually hear about this type of crime, the perpetrator has usually exhibited some kind of deviant behavior, been convicted, and comes out to repeat the same behavior. It is plain to see that these types of individuals can not be rehabilitated. And it is plain to see that without punishment to fit this crime--The Death Penalty--then these individuals will have a long history of repeat behavior. With that said, this could not have been the first time Shaniya's mother has put her child(ren) in a dangerous situation. This sex slave business, I would assume, is not something you can get into overnight. I do not know if people realize that this vile creature is pregnant again, and if I am not mistaken this woman has other children. I don't care about her excuses or her for that matter--I only care that the beautiful child gets justice--and that justice screams for the death penalty. Without the mother's complicit behaviour, this child would still be alive today. She is just as guilty as the man that took this child away from her home to her vicious death. I can not comprehend the last minutes' of this child's life--did she cry out for the mother that delivered her to the devil?--and I cannot simply understand how someone can defend this type of human filth. The murder and the murderess' days should be numbered! The justice system, child protective services, and the police failed this child when they knew the mother lived in a drug den. Only with Shaniya's tragic death will she receive justice--and that should be unequivocally death to the guilty parties. Only with Shaniya's tragic death should her other siblings by that vile creature she called "mother" be protected, as well as the unborn child she is carrying. It's time we put her excuses aside--the drug addiction, the improverished background, or whatever "poor pitiful me" excuse she gives--and strap her and McNeil to a gurney with a needle on the ready to stop the black hearts that took the life and innocence of a beautiful child--a child she helped create and then remorselessly gave away to the highest bidder.

[sjdavis227]

this is sthe first time i heard that she is having another child.What scum she doesn't desever to see this child take its first breath..like i said they need to let her carry to full term then give her a c-section and she should not be allowed to see this childs face..they should then 1 hour after the birth take her to town square and let the public stone her grimmy ass to death..give me a break poor me, he brainwashed me, screw that crap she knew what the hell she was doing, she said it was the drugs, i did drugs for 5 years and now in recovery and i never thought of selling my children nor my self for that matter...fry her ... and he should have his balls cut off and be left to bleed out a slow and painful death...

[777djw]

I have mixed feelings about all this. I was sexually abused by my father over 30 some years ago. He got away with mine but not my half brothers, that he was sent away for about 10 years. To this day, I have nothing to do with him. However, if he received the death penalty, he would not have the chance to be saved. The devil causes our weak human minds to do so many wrong things. However, when hearing about it being done to others and so young and then to have your life taken away afterwards, I want to join in on the same thought as others, bring back public punishment. Tie them to a post and be stoned to death after being in prison for a month with other inmates that would have fun torturing them. I don't know how mothers can let themself's get so weak minded to do or let be done to your child, such horror. Especially after bonding with them during the 9 months of labor.

[sjdavis227]

yes i know what u are saying i have five childern and here where i live in syr. new york we had a child about 20 months killed by her moms boyfriend and the mother also abused her own daughter, leaving her in the house alone for 10 hours a day with little food to eat, the mom stated to the cops last year this time when her daughter was killed that they often beat her with a metal rod for using the bathroom on her self i didn't know the family of this little girl but i wanted so badly to do something to go to jail here to get close enough to the mother to take her life. i know it sounds crazy but when you pour your heart and soul into your children and then u here of a no good scum bag(s) taking the life of a little angel who hasn't even had a chance to live makes me angry..this is why i think that pubilc punishment should come back, when public punisment was in use u did not see as many crimes like this...it still pains me to talk about how she lost her life...in loving mem..of this lil angel

[milli2420]

I just heard about this case and watched it for the first time. This is so disturbing. I can't believe this man could harm such an innocent young child. What bothers me more and I don't understand if he entered this hotel with the young child (seeing how she's dressed etc) how they allowed him to go in with no problem??? The video that is playing with him carrying her, is that afterwards?

[sjdavis227]

PERSONALY I FEEL AS IF SOMEONE HAS STOLEN A PIECE OF MY HEART AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THIS ANGEL..I KNOW IT'S HARD TO BELEIVE THAT A MOTHER COULD BE SO COLD HEARTED BUT SOME ARE. PEOPLE NEED TO BE SUPPORTING THIS MAN WHILE HE GRIEVES..BAD ENOUGH HE HAS TO FEEL LIKE HE HAS SIGNED HER DEATH WARRENT..I KNOW WHAT THEY SHOULD DO WITH THEM TWO SICK ....S THEY SHOULD MAKE THERE DEATH PUBILC DISPLAY..THEY SHOULD TIE THEM TO A POLE IN THE CENTER OF TOWN ON THEY SHOULD STONE THAT ROTTEN SO CALLED MOTHER TO DEATH FIVE TIMES OVER, AND THE SCUM BAG WHO TOOK HER LIFE SHOULD HAVE HIS BALLS CUT OF AND BE LEFT TO BLEED OUT A SLOW DEATH...I AM A MOTHER OF FIVE CHILDREN AND FOR ME THIS IS NOT ENOUGH JUSTICE I FEEL AS IF THEY SHOULD MAKE MORE PUBILC DISPLAYS WITH SCUM'S LIKE THIS SO THAT PEOPLE WHO EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THIS TO ANOTHER ANGEL WILL THINK TWICE..

[Dgunner]

Let me have them for a couple of weeks and when i am finished. I would gladly send a copy on dvd for 2.95 shipping and handling.

[SAMTORRES66]

I can't wait to see this Mother F#@ker executed...

[Thisismyopinion]

Has anyone ever soon the movies "HOSTEL" and "HOSTEL 2" written and directed by Eli Roth? If so, then you will know what I am talking about, if not then you got to go rent it. Both the pum-scum Mother and that piece of horse's dung thug needs to be sent to the Hostel and let those psychopaths in there just have at it in the worse kind of way, except they should be just tortured over and over and over. That poor beautiful little baby girl did not deserve what that vile punk did to her and may that precious little girl rest in peace. My thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones and not that poor pathetic excuse of a mother who intentionaly put her child in harm's way.