In a stunning twist, the story of missing 5-year-old Shaniya Davis took a dark turn Sunday when Antoinette Nicole Davis, the girl’s mother, was arrested, although the connection to her daughter’s disappearance is unknown. CNN reported that Antoinette Nicole Davis was arrested early Sunday morning by Fayetteville (North Carolina) Police and charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse, prostitution and filing a false police report. The arrest of Antoinette Nicole Davis is the third in the investigation, although the first arrest was found to be without supportable evidence and the man was released. But the arrest of a man seen carrying Shaniya Davis into a hotel stuck, especially when Mario Andrette McNeill told authorities Thursday that he took the girl.
The Fayetteville Police Department have been reticent with details in the case.
The whereabouts of Shaniya Davis are still unknown.
Shaniya Davis, according to her mother, who has now been discredited as a reliable source of information, went missing early Tuesday morning. Antoinette Nicole Davis said she had left the child on a sofa and returned about an hour later to find her missing. She notified Fayetteville Police at 6:53 a.m. that Shaniya Davis was missing.
Police found a blanket reportedly belonging to the child Wednesday and an Amber Alert was issued. A man named Clarence Coe was identified as a man seen leaving the trailer park where Shaniya Davis lived with the little girl in his car. He was arrested but was later released when police ascertained that he had had nothing to do with the 5-year-old girl’s disappearance.
Investigators came to that conclusion in part due to the arrest of Mario Andrette McNeill Thursday, who admitted to taking Shaniya Davis from her home. Investigators had tracked McNeill after identifying him as the man seen on video surveillance footage carrying Shaniya Davis into a Sanford, North Carolina, hotel. However, he would not divulge her whereabouts. An attorney for McNeill said Friday that his client would not admit to kidnapping the child. McNeill was charged with first-degree kidnapping Friday.
The arrest of Antoinette Nicole Davis may provide the answer as to why Mario Andrette McNeill would not admit to kidnapping. Charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse points to Davis perhaps being involved in the alleged sell of her 5-year-old child.
Loretta Arnold, writing for Examiner.com, may have got the tip that Antoinette Nicole Davis may have been involved in Shaniya Davis’ disappearance even before the Fayetteville Police. In the comments section of her article on the missing 5-year-old, a female claiming to be a neighbor of Davis’, wrote that Mario Andrette McNeill owned the trailer Antoinette Nicole Davis lived in and that Davis had parlayed her daughter to McNeill to pay off a drug debt. Although unconfirmed, the information may prove accurate once details of the investigation are released. Of course, that comment may be what led the police to ultimately arrest Antoinette Nicole Davis.
Anyone with information on Shaniya Davis’ whereabouts is urged to contact the Fayetteville Police at 910-433-1856.
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Sources:
CNN.com
Examiner.com
