Shaniya Davis Case: Man Arrested for Kidnapping 5-Year-Old Girl

Update: 11/16/09
The body of Shaniya Davis has been found along a North Carolina highway. No further details have been released.

Update: 11/15/09
Shaniya Davis' mother, Antoinette Nicole Davis, was arrested and charged authorities said Saturday night for human trafficking and other offenses. She has been accused of offering her daughter for prostitution. Antoinette says she doesn't know where her daughter is, but she was also charged with felony child abuse, prostitution and filing a false police report. Authorities still haven't been able to locate Shaniya.

Update: 11/14/09
Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, was arrested Friday for the kidnapping of Shaniya Davis. Investigators are still trying to determine McNeill's connection to Shaniya. Authorities were able to arrest McNeill because of footage found of him on a hotel surveillance video, where McNeill is seen carrying Shaniya.

McNeill has admitted to kidnapping the little girl, but after more than three days, Shaniya is still no where to be found. Shaniya has brown hair and weighs about 40 pounds. If you have any information about her, please contact the Fayetteville police at 910-433-1856.

Shaniya Davis is a 5-year-old girl who went missing from a Fayetteville, N.C., trailer park early Tuesday morning. Her mother reports last seeing her at 5:30 a.m. that morning, and foul play is suspected in her case. On Wednesday, at 11 p.m., police arrested Clarence Coe, 30, and charged him with first-degree kidnapping. Coe maintains his innocence, but police argue that this was not a random arrest.

The Shaniya Davis case has riveted the nation, with her adorable smile gracing the airwaves all across the country. The situation is made even more intriguing by the fact that the family has a history of problems with social service agencies, and their home has been condemned due to massive sewage leaks. Shaniya's neighborhood has three registered sex offenders, but none of them are considered suspects in the case.

Coe, the primary suspect, has a criminal record, including an April conviction of misdemeanor breaking and entering. He also has prior convictions for assault on a female, larceny, robbery, felony breaking and entering, and a multitude of other charges from the past eight years.

When it comes to the case of Shaniya Davis, these thoughts come to mind:

1) If you see child abuse in your community, make sure you report it: Many of us remain silent in the face of suffering and injustice. Personally, I believe in the idea that it takes a village to raise and protect a child. If you see a child in your neighborhood not getting what he or she needs, you may want to consider getting involved. It is clear that even before this incident, beautiful little Shaniya was not getting the love that she deserved, so she was a victim of a crime long before the kidnapping ever took place.

2) It is my hope that our nation can focus on missing black children on a regular basis: I was happy to see Nancy Grace giving more airtime to black kids. At the same time, it is tough for the media to get everyone focused on every kidnapping that takes place in America.

3) Children are regular victims of kidnapping, more so than adults: According to the FBI, 85 to 90 percent of those kidnapped each year are juveniles under the age of 18. According to the Amber Alert registry, a child goes missing every 40 seconds. That means that five children have been kidnapped during the time it took you to read this article. What's worse, up to 500,000 child abductions go unreported. Shaniya is, unfortunately, not the only one of her kind.

We will keep you posted on the Shaniya Davis case. We are all hoping and praying for the best. Although a suspect has been apprehended, the search is still on. If you have information on Shaniya or her whereabouts, please contact the Fayetteville police department at 910-433-1856.