Dead 5-year-old Shaniya Davis’ mom Antoinette Davis is pregnant

November 17, 2009 by Baby Chums
Filed under: News

The mother of murdered 5-year-old Shaniya Davis is pregnant. Cumberland County Jail officials said for that reason, Antoinette Davis, 25, was being held separately from the rest of the prison inmates.

This shocking news comes just a day after volunteers found the body of the missing girl near Highway 87 south and Walker Road in North Carolina after the second day of a massive scale search.

Arrest papers quoted by the Fayetteville Observer said the mother “knowingly provide[d] Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude” and “permit[ted] an act of prostitution”.

Davis showed no emotion during a court appearance in Fayetteville Monday afternoon and she entered no plea to the charges.

Davis was last seen alive at a Comfort Suites hotel in Sanford last week - the same morning her mother reported her missing from her Fayetteville home. Police say a surveillance video from the hotel showed the child with Mario Andrette McNeill, 29.

McNeill turned himself in Thursday night and police say he confessed to taking the 5-year-old. However, McNeill’s attorney told reporters his client would plead not guilty.

McNeill remains in jail. Police have not announced any new charges in the girl’s death.

Video below shows the moment searchers found Shaniya’s body: