Murder charges filed in Shaniya Davis case, cops say asphyxiation

Fayetteville police have filed additional charges in the death of Shaniya Davis.

Mario Andrette McNeill has been charged with first degree murder and first degree rape of a child. McNeill has been in jail since Friday when he was charged with kidnapping the 5-year-old Davis.

The charges come after Fayettville Police Chief Tom Bergamine said a preliminary autopsy report shows that Shaniya died via asphyxiation.

Authorities, acting on what they called “reliable information,” found Shaniya’s body in a heavily wooded area off of a North Carolina highway on Monday. The girl was reported missing from her Fayetteville, NC mobile home park around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Her mother says she last saw the girl that morning around 5:30 a.m. Shaniya was seen shortly after at a hotel with McNeill, 29, who was arrested and according to police confessed to her kidnapping.

Authorities have also arrested the mother, who is reported to be pregnant, for human trafficking, child abuse involving prostitution and filing a false police report. Cops are also alleging that drugs were being sold out of her house.