Body confirmed to be missing girl

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A sad end to the search for missing girl

A little more than a week before Shaniya Davis vanished, her mother told Carey Lockhart, the aunt who helped raise the 5-year-old, that she'd never see Shaniya again.

Those words echoed in Lockhart's head Monday, hours before searchers pulled a body police think was Shaniya's from a thicket of kudzu along the border of Lee and Harnett counties.

"If I'd only known ... ," Lockhart said Monday, her voice trailing off into sobs. She had helped rear the girl since infancy.

Suspect charged in killing 5-year-old

Fayetteville police charged a 29-year-old man with first-degree murder Thursday in the death of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, the missing girl found under kudzu off a rural highway this week.

A medical examiner's preliminary report shows the girl was killed, her death caused by asphyxiation, said Police Chief Tom Bergamine. In addition to the murder charge, Mario McNeill is charged with first-degree rape of a child.

"It is our severe hope that the Davis family may be able to put this horrific event behind them and begin the healing process," Bergamine said.

Man charged with murder in death of missing girl

Fayetteville police charged a 29-year-old man with first-degree murder Thursday in the death of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, the missing girl found under the kudzu on a rural highway earlier this week.

A medical examiner's preliminary report shows the girl killed, her death caused by asphyxiation, said Police Chief Tom Bergamine. In addition to the murder charge, Mario McNeill is charged with first-degree rape of a child.

“It is our severe hope that the Davis family may be able to put this horrific event behind them and begin the healing process,” Bergamine said.

Questions rise after death of North Carolina child

A little more than a week before Shaniya Davis vanished, her mother told Carey Lockhart, the aunt who helped raise the 5-year-old, that she'd never see Shaniya again.

Those words echoed in Lockhart's head Monday, hours before searchers pulled a body that police think was Shaniya's from a thicket of kudzu along the border of Lee and Harnett counties.

"If I'd only known ... ," Lockhart said Monday, her voice trailing off into sobs. She had helped rear the girl since infancy.

Mother of missing 5-year-old charged

The mother of a missing 5-year-old girl was charged Saturday with human trafficking and other offenses, though authorities said they still did not know the girl's whereabouts.

Antoinette Nicole Davis, the mother of Shaniya Davis, faces a child abuse charge involving prostitution as well as a charge of filing a false police report, according to a news release from the Fayetteville Police Department. The release did not say whether the charges were related to her daughter's disappearance. Telephone messages left for police were not immediately returned.

An official at the Cumberland County Detention Center said Davis was still being booked, and it was unclear whether she had an attorney. Her first court appearance would likely be Monday.