Additional Charges Forthcoming in Shaniya Davis Case

Watch full coverage on the Shaniya Davis case on HLN's "Nancy Grace" at 8 and 10 p.m. ET.

By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times

Police say additional charges are expected in connection with the death of five-year-old Shaniya Davis who was reported missing by her mother one week ago.

Those additional charges will be made public as soon as they are filed police said. Another media briefing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Shaniya's mother, Antoinette Nicole Davis, has been charged with human trafficking amongst other crimes along with Mario McNeil, the man seen on video footage from a local hotel carrying Shaniya. Police have accused Shaniya's mother of "prostituting her child," police spokeswoman Teresa Chance told the Associated Press.

Police have not been specific about the relationship between Davis and McNeil, but sources say McNeil once dated Davis' sister.

A body believed to be that of Davis was found Monday near a road in Sanford, which is about 30 miles northwest of Fayetteville. Shaniya had been staying with her mother during the last three weeks of her life.

Police have said they are awaiting positive identification of the body, which has been transported to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill for an autopsy and positive identification.

Last Tuesday, Davis reported Shaniya missing from her home in a mobile home park in Fayetteville, North Carolina. According to police, surveillance video from a hotel in Sanford shows Shaniya being carried to a hotel elevator by McNeill who has been charged with kidnapping.

"The investigation at this point indicates that Shaniya Davis was alive at the time she left the Sanford hotel," a police statement read.

Shaniya's half-sister, Cheyenne Lockhart, told HLN's "Nancy Grace" Monday that she found it difficult to believe Davis had treated her daughter so poorly.

"She seemed like the sweetest woman. She didn't come from much, but ... she had the sweetest voice, she had the sweetest personality, and especially toward me. I would never think that she would do anything like that," said Lockhart, who shared a father with Shaniya.