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What happened
A five year old girl, Shaniya Davis, was reported missing on November 10th (Tuesday), 2009. Her mother was the one who reported that she had been abducted. Originally, her mother Antionette Davis had accused her boyfriend, Clarence D. Cole, of kidnapping Shaniya, and he was arrested and charged with kidnapping on Wednesday 11th, 2009. However, on Friday, November 13th, 2009, a man named Mario Andrette McNeil turned himself into police with a confession of kidnapping Shaniya. Police found survellience of McNeil with Shaniya taking her into a Stanford hotel at 6:11am, which is a two hour drive from Fayetteville, NC where she is from (this showed an inconsistency in the timing that her mother reported). At 9:12pm Staurday, November 14th, police charged Antionette Davis, Shaniya's mother, with human trafficking, felony child abuse, prostitution, filing a false police report, and resisting, obstructing or delaying justice. On Monday afternoon, November 16th, Shanyia was found dead on the side of highway 87 in North Carolina. The official cause of death was asphyxiation and autopsy results show that she was also raped. Further investigation showed that Shaniya's mother allegedly sold her into prostitution for monetary gain with the knowledge that she would be used for sex. Her father has suggested that the motive behind selling Shaniya was to pay off a drug debt. The case is ongoing and neither Antoinette or McNeil have been prosecuted yet. Both of their trail dates are set for late January, 2010.
Response and intervention
The police originally conducted an intense search for Shaniya after she had been reported missing, and arrested the boyfriend of Antionette Davis. After Mario Andrette McNeil turned himself in, he was released and the police charged both Antionette Davis and McNeil. McNeil was charged with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape and first-degree murder. Currently, the police are investigating the North Carolina Social Services agency that placed Shaniya back in the care of her mother, after they had lived apart for most of her life. Shaniya was raised by her father from ages 2-5, and had only recently returned to the care of her mother after Davis had obtained a steady job. The victim was raped and murdered a week after she was trafficked. Her funeral was held on November 23rd, 2009. The story hit national news outlets as soon as Shaniya was reported missing and followed the case closely until her death and autopsy report came out. Information about the case can be found at the following websites: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/15/crimesider/entry5313008.shtml http://www.examiner.com/x-17800-Raleigh-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m12d9-Shaniya-Davis-Update--Mario-McNeill-Dec-9-court-appearance Shaniya's father also appeared on Oprah after his daughter's death, and on CBS's Early Show while she was missing. A representative from the Fayetteville police confirms the charges.