Lawmen search woods near Sanford for 5-year-old Shaniya Davis
SANFORD — Investigators looking for 5-year-old Shaniya Davis have roped off a wooded road south of Sanford, where an intense search is underway.
Dozens of Fayetteville police officers, Lee County sheriff’s deputies, and other lawmen are scouring woods along Walker Road, which is across from Carolina Trace.
A Highway Patrol helicopter was at the scene earlier today. The area is heavily wooded and swampy.
Residents of the few houses along Walker Road said they helped lawmen in a search this morning.
Theresa Chance, a Fayetteville police spokeswoman, said local, state and federal authorities have been searching several sites between Fayetteville and Sanford today. Shaniya was last seen early Tuesday morning at a Sanford hotel, based on surveillance video.
Mario Andrette McNeill was seen carrying Shaniya into the hotel at 6:11 a.m. They were at the hotel for about an hour, police have said.
McNeill surrendered to police Friday and was charged with first-degree kidnapping. Police say he admitted kidnapping the child but didn’t know where she was now.
On Saturday night, police arrested Shaniya’s mother, Antoinette Davis, and accused her of human trafficking and felony child abuse involving prostitution. The 25-year-old mother also is charged with filing a false police report and interfering with the investigation. She’s in jail with bail set at $51,000.
Davis was not cooperating with detectives, according to arrest documents.
Davis works as a caregiver the Carolina Inn at Village Green, an assisted living facaility on Forsythe Drive, between Village Drive and Robeson Street.
http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2009/11/15/952445