CaptionA task force of about 20 people is working on investigating the rape and slaying of a 5-year-old girl, said the police chief whose department is leading the probe. The Fayetteville police department continues to receive tips about the death of Shaniya Davis two weeks ago, The Fayetteville Observer reported Wednesday. "There are a plethora of leads that we're following up on," Chief Tom Bergamine said. "It's very important as we prepare the case for the district attorney's office that we cover everything that's possible."
The girl was reported missing by her mother on Nov. 10. Police said she was killed the same day. Her mother, Antoinette Davis, 25, is charged with filing a false police report, trafficking her daughter and child abuse involving prostitution. Mario McNeill, 29, an acquaintance of Davis, is charged with murder, rape and kidnapping. Shaniya had gone to live with her mother just weeks earlier after spending most of her life being raised by her father, Bradley Lockhart, and her aunt, Carey Lockhart-Davis. Bergamine said it was still unclear to investigators why Shaniya was pulled out of school in October. Shaniya had been enrolled at Morganton Road Elementary School near the home of Lockhart-Davis.
McNeill was transferred last week from the Cumberland County Detention Center to a safekeeping unit at Central Prison in Raleigh until a court date Dec. 9. Antoinette Davis was moved Tuesday to a
state women's prison in Raleigh. "She is pregnant, so special precautions had to be taken," Cumberland County Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Tanna said.
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