SANFORD, N.C. — When 5-year-old Shaniya Davis of North Carolina went missing, suspicion turned to a man described as her mother's boyfriend. As he was let go, police targeted another man spotted on hotel surveillance footage holding the child. Then, authorities arrested the girl's mother and accused her of offering her daughter for prostitution.
The arrests offered a glimmer of hope Shaniya would be found alive, but searchers discovered the girl's body Monday off a rural road, nearly a week after her mother reported her missing from a mobile home park.
Hundreds of volunteers who helped look for Shaniya left the search area dejected, unable to bring her home to her father, 7-year-old brother and the dolls she so loved.
"I still feel kind of sick to my stomach," said Angela Jackson, 27, from nearby Sanford, who has a two-month-old daughter but searched for consecutive days.
Particularly disturbing were the accusations against Shaniya's mother, 25-year-old Antoinette Davis. Police charged Davis with human trafficking and felony child abuse, saying Shaniya was offered for sex.
Davis was calm and quiet during a court appearance. She provided one-word answers to the judge's questions. She requested a court-appointed attorney and did not enter a plea.
Her sister, Brenda Davis, 20, said she does not believe the charges.
"I don't believe she could hurt her children," said Brenda Davis, who spoke with her sister at the jail Sunday. Davis' aunt, Yvonne Mitchell, said the mother had two jobs and would never harm the child.
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