2,000 go to funeral for 5-year-old Shaniya Davis

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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.

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.

Tip spurs search for girl

Authorities acted on a tip Sunday and searched a wide area in Eastern North Carolina trying to find a 5-year-old girl reported missing by her mother, who has been charged with human trafficking and child abuse involving prostitution.

Capt. Charles Kimble of the Fayetteville Police Department said several agencies spent the day looking for signs of Shaniya Davis between Spring Lake and Sanford, which are about 25 miles apart. Kimble would not elaborate on what information officers had received. They suspended the search at dark.

The N.C. Highway Patrol sent a helicopter to aid in the search, Lt. Everett Clendenin said. Shaniya hasn't been seen since Tuesday, when a surveillance camera recorded a man carrying the girl into a hotel room.

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.