Shaniya Davis Dad Defends Giving Girl to Mom Now Charged with Selling Her as Sex Slave
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (CBS/AP) Bradley Lockhart, the father of Shaniya Davis, the North Carolina girl who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in early November, said he made the best decision he could at the time when he let the girl live with her mother, who has since been charged with prostituting her own daughter.
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis' Vigil
Lockhart said during a Tuesday interview on NBC's "Today" show that he regrets how the decision turned out, but thought he was making the right choice for the daughter he had raised himself.
"We obviously make decisions in life that sometimes have repercussions or adverse situations that drift from our decision. We just have to continue to believe in God and hope that our decisions are the correct ones," he said.
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis' Vigil
Lockhart said he last saw his daughter in early October as he left for an out-of-state work assignment. The girl moved in with her mother Antoinette Davis, 25, about a week later after initially staying with Lockhart's sister, he said.
The father said he spoke to Davis after she reported the girl missing Nov. 10. Police said she was killed the same day.
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis' Vigil
Lockhart said he hasn't spoken to Davis since she was charged last week with human trafficking and child abuse by prostitution of her daughter.
Mario McNeill, an acquaintance of Davis, is charged with murder, rape and kidnapping.
Authorities in Cumberland County said Tuesday that Davis had been moved from the county jail to the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women in Raleigh.
Lockhart said he didn't think he missed any warning signs that Shaniya would be at risk if he accepted Davis's request to help raise the girl. He has said Davis struggled financially over the years, but she had recently gotten a job and her own place.
"I don't think I really missed any (signs). Of course there's always speculation. There's always things you could look at and say, well maybe, maybe not," Lockhart said.
The North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force will review contacts the Cumberland County Department of Social Services had with Davis, who also has a 7-year-old son, The Fayetteville Observer reported Tuesday.
"This is a family that was already known to social service workers down there," task force co-chairman Tom Vitaglione said. "They are all very distraught about the whole thing."
The task force is charged with investigating every child death in the state, said Kevin Kelley a spokesman for the state's child welfare services. It will not begin looking into the Davis case until all criminal actions have been resolved or until a year after Shaniya's death, whichever comes later, Kelley said.
The task force will look at when local social services workers first contacted the family, the status of the case and whether proper procedures were followed, Vitaglione said. Investigators also will consider the impact of state and local budget cuts on social service agencies, he said.
"Child protective service divisions have been hit particularly hard," Vitaglione said.
PICTURES
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis Found Dead
PICTURES: Shaniya Davis' Vigil
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