She was five years old. Her mother owed a drug dealer $200.
On the morning of November 10, 2009, Antoinette Davis called police to report her 5-year-old daughter, Shaniya, missing from their mobile home in the Sleepy Hollow trailer park in Fayetteville, North Carolina. What followed was a six-day search that ended in one of the most disturbing child murder cases in the state's recent history.
Immediate Doubts
Police found Shaniya's blanket, soiled, discarded in a neighbor's trash can. Investigators were skeptical of the mother's account almost from the start — the family had a long history with North Carolina's child welfare agency, and a search of the home that summer had turned up illegal drugs. Antoinette's boyfriend was initially charged with kidnapping after being seen driving away from the trailer park, but his alibi checked out and the charges were dropped.
The Hotel Sighting
Later that same morning, a hotel employee 30 miles away in Sanford spotted a man carrying a child matching Shaniya's description. Police identified him as Mario McNeill, a local man with a serious criminal history, but he left with the girl before officers arrived. After a manhunt, McNeill turned himself in on November 13. During questioning, he told police Shaniya's family had handed her to him to settle a $200 debt her mother owed him.
The Search Ends
Shaniya's body was found six days after she went missing, discarded in a kudzu patch off a rural highway roughly 24 miles from the trailer park. An autopsy determined she had been sexually assaulted and died of asphyxiation. Both McNeill and Antoinette Davis were charged with first-degree murder, along with a range of related charges including human trafficking and sexual servitude of a minor.
Trial and Sentencing
Mario McNeill went to trial in the spring of 2013. He mounted no defense and instructed his attorneys not to make closing arguments. A jury deliberated less than an hour before convicting him of first-degree murder and related charges. He was sentenced to death.
Antoinette Davis entered an Alford plea later that year — a plea acknowledging enough evidence exists for conviction without a full admission of guilt — to second-degree murder, human trafficking, sexual servitude of a minor, and related charges, avoiding a first-degree murder trial that could have carried three consecutive life sentences. At sentencing, Judge Jim Ammons told her directly: “You had the opportunity, the means, to save Shaniya's life and you did not... You are not a good mother.” She was sentenced to roughly 17 to 21 years and is currently incarcerated at Anson Correctional Institution in North Carolina.
The Appeal
McNeill appealed his conviction, arguing his original defense attorneys had improperly disclosed the location of Shaniya's body to prosecutors without securing any benefit for him in return, and that this disclosure was used against him at trial. In 2018, the North Carolina Supreme Court rejected the appeal and upheld both his conviction and death sentence.
Why He's Still on Death Row
Despite that ruling, McNeill has not been executed. North Carolina has not carried out an execution in more than a decade, due to a series of ongoing legal challenges to the state's execution protocol — a moratorium that applies to death row inmates across the state, not specifically to McNeill's case.
Where Things Stand Now
Mario McNeill remains on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, with no execution date set. Antoinette Davis remains incarcerated, with a projected release date in 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Mario McNeill executed?
No. He remains on death row. North Carolina has not carried out any executions in over a decade due to ongoing legal challenges to its execution process.
How much time will Antoinette Davis serve?
She was sentenced to roughly 17 to 21 years and is projected for release in 2027.
Did Antoinette Davis face a murder charge?
She was initially charged with first-degree murder but entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder and related charges as part of a negotiated deal.
Was Shaniya ever found alive?
No. Her body was discovered six days after she was reported missing.