Anny Jacoby Announces: Project Safe Girls

ImaginePublicity

Anny Jacoby, Founder/President of Realistic Female Self-Defense Company, is announcing an exciting new division of her company.

The “Project Safe Girls” is being spearheaded by Anny Jacoby and Bethany Corbin, recently designated as Head Educational Director. This new, innovative program is being geared towards middle school age girls in an effort to provide them with information and training to boost their confidence and self-esteem as they approach their teenage and dating years.

The program will help the girls feel empowered with knowledge about dating violence, how to spot dangers, listening to their intuition and the basics of self-defense.

“Project Safe Girls” is kicking off their first session in January 2010. They will be holding educational and training sessions at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA in Chapel Hill, NC from January through May for middle and high school aged girls.

“Project Safe Girls seeks to empower girls through the teaching of self-defense. By providing a supportive and energetic environment, participants will gain confidence and improve self-esteem while learning the basics and importance of safety!” says Bethany Corbin.

For more information please contact:

Bethany Corbin

Head Educational Director

bethany@projectsafegirls.com

919-225-1421

Get Mad -- And Then Get Even!

Whenever an article is emailed to me or I receive an alert regarding a victim of an assault that used "self-defense" to ward off the assailant I find it imperative to post the published story. I always give kudos to all self-defense instructors because females need us - there are plenty of females to go around to train and teach. Hats off to Gabby for thinking and reacting, not becoming frozen in fear and thank you to Bonnie and Ronald Thiel for reaching out to their community with their WISE program (Women Initiating Safe Environments).

Self-defense classes teaching women how to protect themselves

By Ruth Fuller

Special to the Tribune

November 27, 2009

Gabby Parlier knew she was breaking the No. 1 rule she learned in her women's self-defense class when she walked home alone in the dark on a deserted highway.

Parlier, 18, said she heard her attacker running up behind her before he grabbed her and demanded money. He was armed with a knife, she said.

"I started screaming bloody murder," Parlier said of the attack earlier this month in Augusta, Ga. "There were no cars, so no one could hear me. I knew from my self-defense classes that I had to take him to the ground."

Parlier, who recently moved to Augusta from Johnsburg, credits her self-defense training at the Spring Grove FlyingDragons Martial Arts Academy and WISE, or Women Initiating Safe Environments, for saving her life.

Parlier's attacker punched her in the face and dragged her into the woods. She said she kicked him repeatedly and eventually freed herself and ran away.

"The kicking finally got him to stop and they were kicks I learned in class," she said. "That's what saved me."

Bonnie Thiel, owner and head instructor of the school where Parlier trained, said it's satisfying to know that she has helped someone like Parlier.

"It is my passion," she said. "If I can stop women from getting raped, that is what is important to me."

It's a woman's instinct to be a nurturer, but that makes her more susceptible to attacks, Thiel said. Women tend to be more trusting and afraid to hurt people's feelings, which can put them in dangerous situations, she said.

Thiel, 56, is assisted by her husband, Ronald, 59, who is the school's associate instructor.

Thiel has been teaching martial arts for more than 24 years. She began taking classes at age 31 after having four children.

"I needed to do something to get myself out," she said. "I was shy and afraid of my own shadow. I looked like a victim all of the time."

Not looking like a victim is key to not becoming one, Thiel said.

"It is the same as a lion going after the weakest in a pack of elk," she said. "An attacker will go after the weakest-looking woman."

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted every two minutes.

Alex Paiz, 16, of Round Lake, said she is taking Thiel's class so that she never becomes one of those statistics.

"It could happen to you whether you think so or not, so I want to be ready," she said.

Julie Kim, 38, wants to be able to better protect her twin 6-year-old daughters.

The Vernon Hills resident said she learned to be less timid in the class. Timidity is a trait that many women share, Thiel said.

Yelling out a loud, forceful "No!" gets attention, scares a would-be attacker and helps wake you up, Thiel said. The problem is, many women think they will look silly if they yell or cause a scene.

Thiel teaches women that to defend themselves against an attacker, they must be mad instead of scared.

"Anger outfights fear," she said. "Everyone will be in shock at first, but if you don't fight you may never go home, so you have to get angry."

At the end of the six-week class, which costs $99 for a total of 13 hours, the women get the opportunity to go one-on-one with Thiel's husband, who wears protective gear. They can kick, knee, punch and use their full strength to try to escape -- all in the dark.

"Women always think it's not going to happen to them, or 'I can fight back,' but you don't know until you are in that situation," Thiel said. "It's a mind-set after leaving here. The women are pumped and they are ready to go."

Parlier said she wasn't prepared for just how draining an attack would be.

"In the class you feel safe and they aren't hitting back," she said. "But I know the self-defense classes gave me the physical strength and the mental strength to fight back."

Shaniya Davis: Mother Antoinette Davis transferred while father Brad Lockhart discusses murder

On Tuesday, more developments in the Shaniya Davis murder case.

Antoinette Davis, Shaniya's mother, who has been charged with human trafficking and child abuse, was transferred for her own safety.

According to The Fayettville Observer, Davis was transferred from the Cumberland County Detention Center to the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women in Raleigh, North Carolina.

According to WRAL.com, special attention had to be paid to Davis. She "was being held in a safe-keeping cell away from the general prison population," according to state Department of Correction spokesman Keith Acree.

Debbie Tanna, a spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, stated that Davis "is pregnant, so special precautions had to be taken."

Also on Tuesday, Shaniya Davis's father, Bradley Lockhart, appeared in the studio with host Meredith Vieira on NBC's "Today" show to talk about the life and death of his daughter.

Lockhart spoke of the last time he saw his little girl before he left for an out-of-state business trip. He stated that she climbed up into his truck to kiss him goodbye and that they would see each other upon his return. Unfortunately, Lockhart would never see his daughter again.

Vieira pressed the issue as to whether or not Lockhart should have seen the signs that sending his daughter to her mother, Antoinette Davis, was the wrong move. "I don't think I really missed any (signs). Of course there's always speculation. There's always things you could look at and say, well maybe, maybe not," Lockhart said.

A pensive looking Lockhart added, "We obviously make decisions in life that sometimes have repercussions or adverse situations that drift from our decision. We just have to continue to believe in God and hope that our decisions are the correct ones."

-Read Antoinette Davis's arrest warrant.

-Listen to Antoinette Davis's 911 call.

-Read Mario McNeill's arrest warrant.

-Watch Brad Lockhart on NBC Today.

NBC TODAY Show: Shaniya's Dad: 'She Touched a Lot of People'

Susan Murphy-Milano - Can You Meet The Deadline?

URGENT - TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Can You Meet The Deadline?

Christopher Cooper raped and then murdered 9 month-old Monica Williams. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. On December 1, 2009, Christopher Cooper will appear before the Parole Board in Ohio asking to be released because "he so very remorseful for a crime committed" 30 years ago.


While he sits with his hand folded before the parole board, he is clean shaven, his nails sparkling and bright, looking like a shiny new penny, asking to be forgiven, hopeful the parole board will grant him a second chance.

We, this means you and I, have the opportunity to see that Christopher Cooper remains behind bars. I realize it is easier to email a request or a letter of protest, but, in this situation, a letter mailed with a stamp and a return address will have the impact needed to keep this man from being released on our city streets. Should he be released he may not be required to register as a sex offender as the crime happened 30 years ago. Regardless this man needs to remain in prison.

This week you will be with friends and family. Copying and paste this letter from thise blog (below) and set ip a little table near the food asking your guests before they fill a plate with food to take the letter, sign it, place it in the envelope, have the guest put their return address on the front and seal. Then place stamps on them and mail the next day at your local post office. On Sunday at church ask members to help you, hand them an evelope with the address, and a copy of the letter and ask them sign and mail it, be sure they put a return address on the envelope. Pass this on to the blogs you visit, facebook and twitter and enlist everyone''s help.

There is not a lot of time, Christopher Cooper will be before the parole Board on December 1, 2009.

Address Letter to: Ohio Board of Parole, Office of Victim Services

770 W. Broad Street

RE: Inmate Christopher Cooper A158707

Columbus, Ohio 43222. .

Remember each letter counts as one request regardless of the number of signatures on it. All letters need to be signed, dated, and include a return address on the envelope by Dec. 1, 2009

Letter: (also copy and paste the photo)


Ohio Board of Parole
Office of Victim Services
770 W. Board Street
Columbus, Ohio 43222

RE: Inmate Christopher Cooper #A158707

DATE: November ___, 2009

Dear Ohio Board of Parole:

I am writing to request that the Ohio Parole Board deny the release of Inmate Christopher Cooper who murdered and raped 9 month old Monica Williams in 1979.

Please deny parole for Christopher Cooper.

Sincerely,

________________


Again, picture from the blog of Monica Williams should also be included. And put a return address on the envelope.

NC Reviewing The DSS, Won’t Be The Last in Shaniya Davis’s Murder

As I have posted before…..many individuals, county offices, law enforcement and Shaniya’s school LEFT HER DOWN! Let alone “MOMMY DEAREST”, family members, irresponsible and ignorant friends of her mother’s and the list goes on. In my book, “they weren’t there for her and her well-being”; bottom-line.

Monday, November 23rd North Carolina has announced that “a state team of experts will examine any contact that the Cumberland County Department of Social Services had with the family.

Shaniya was SOLD aa a sex slave AT THE AGE OF FIVE YEARS OLD! by her poor excuse of a mother because SHE HAD A DRUG PROBLEM ALLEGEDLY OWED MONEY FOR SAME. She sold/turned her baby girl over for an alleged DRUG debt that she owed to Mario Andrette McNeill who has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape of a child and first-degree kidnapping. This poor excuse of a man DATED Shaniya’s aunt! Mommy Dearest has been charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse-prostitution, filing a false police report and obstructing a police investigation. Arrest warrants state that “DAVIS DID KNOWINGLY PROVIDE SHANIYA WITH THE INTENT THAT SHE BE HELD IN SEXUAL SERVITUDE” (A SEX SLAVE…..A FIVE YEAR OLD CHILD!) and “DID PERMIT AN ACT OF PROSTITUTION WITH SHANIYA” while in HER CUSTODY. If this woman escapes the death penalty many will personally not understand as Shaniya was in her custody and she knowingly knew what would happen to her child!

There are so many red flags, warning signs, bells and whistles in this sickening, senseless loss of Shaniya from so many respects. How in the hell did this happen?; “How could things have gotten to this?” Others MUST BE HELD accountable for their failures as many failed Shaniya.

1. DSS-I don’t care that she was able to maintain custody of her 7-year old child. Didn’t neighbors suspect anything “off” at this home? Didn’t the property manager sense that something was “fishy” at this home? Why didn’t anyone report to DSS and law enforcement of their “gut feelings”?
2. Shaniya’s school – her mother withdrew her from school and was any attempt to contact her father and/or her aunt as to her absences? I am a mother and if a child does not show up for school one day a phone call is made. For God’s sake………..Antoinette took Shaniya out of school if not immediately after her father handed her over to this MONSTER! Why didn’t the school notify her father/aunt, notify law enforcement, DSS and ultimately pay a physical visit to the home!? In my book…….this was irresponsible.
3. Neighbors and the property manager noticed heavier traffic to and from the home that Shaniya was living. What’s up with that? NOT THE NORM, WOULDN’T YOU THINK?

As for McNeill and Davis I hope that justice is served and that NC pushes for the death penalty of McNeill (for God’s sake with his rap sheet he shouldn’t even had been out on the damn street). As for Mommy Dearest………..she is just as guilty for her daughter’s murder as she was in her custody and she traded her as a SEX SLAVE for a drug debt! Mother’s like this…………..who needs enemies. An innocent child at the hands of this monster. I know that murder charges have not been filed but damn she deserves it.

And, I pray that all of the agencies, family members and Dad/Aunt are investigated as to their responsibilities as THEY ALL ULTIMATELY LEFT SHANIYA DOWN. They left her to fend for herself with NO DEFENSE. Shaniya didn’t have a chance in hell once Daddy turned her over to Mommy Dearest.

As for “DSS being overburdened and underfunded” shouldn’t ease their distress – they missed the boat BIG TIME ON THIS INNOCENT, SENSELESS DEATH of this sweet, innocent child.

It’s really a shame that an innocent life of a precious 5 year-old child had to be the WAKE UP CALL to all, including the public. SAD!

The statistics are alarming with homicides and more of innocent children. I personally have a hard time digesting that DSS agencies received 127,192 reports of child abuse and neglect statewide (NC), and workers were ONLY ABLE TO SUBSTANTIATE ABUSE OR NEGLECT IN LESS THAN 10% OF THE REPORTS. This in itself doesn’t smell or feel right to many of us.

I encourage NC’s Child Fatality Task Force in their endeavor from the team of experts. We plead with you to turn over every stone from EVERY angle.

Somer Thompson, Elizabeth Olten and Shaniya Davis – Angel Wings

Somer Thompson

In just a matter of a month the families and friends of Somer Thompson, Elizabeth Olten and Shaniya Davis have suffered losses beyond words. Our country and even the world has been riveted by the tragic abductions and deaths of the innocence of these beautiful little girls. These abductions and murders are so remote from each other – yet ending for each was the same, all three children have received their wings from our Spiritual Father.

The twists and turns of each case is outlandish – Elizabeth and Shaniya’s abductors and murderers have been found, arrested and charged but the community that Somer was a part of lives in fear on a daily basis as her assailant is still at large.

Elizabeth Olten

We will all sit and wait, glued to the media that will report any piece of information that may make any remote sense to all of us for the loss of these precious children.

Shaniya Davis

Please keep all families in your thoughts and prayers and please don’t forget all of the other children who are not high profile cases that have simply vanished or have received their wings prior to the girls.

To assist parents I would like to share some guidelines to help you to make your child/children more safe.

The first step in protecting your child from potential abductors is to know what you’re dealing with. Here are some important — and potentially surprising — facts about child abductions in the United States:

• Every 40 seconds in the United States, a child becomes missing or is abducted.
• In 2001, 840,279 people (adults and children) were reported missing to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The FBI estimates that 85 to 90 percent of those (roughly 750,000 people or 2,000 per day) reported missing were children. The vast majority of these cases are resolved within hours.
• Based on the identity of the perpetrator, there are three distinct types of kidnapping: kidnapping by a relative of the victim or “family kidnapping” (49 percent), kidnapping by an acquaintance of the victim or “acquaintance kidnapping” (27 percent), and kidnapping by a stranger to the victim or “stranger kidnapping” (24 percent).
• Family kidnapping is committed primarily by parents, involves a larger percentage of female perpetrators (43 percent) than other types of kidnapping offenses, occurs more frequently to children under 6, equally victimizes juveniles of both sexes, and most often originates in the home.
• Acquaintance kidnapping involves a comparatively high percentage of juvenile perpetrators, has the largest percentage of female and teenage victims, is more often associated with other crimes (especially sexual and physical assault), occurs at homes and residences, and has the highest percentage of injured victims.
• Stranger kidnapping victimizes more females than males, occurs primarily at outdoor locations, victimizes both teenagers and school-age children, is associated with sexual assaults in the case of girl victims and robberies in the case of boy victims (although not exclusively so), and is the type of kidnapping most likely to involve the use of a firearm.
• Only about one child out of each 10,000 missing children reported to the local police is not found alive. However, about 20 percent of the children reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in nonfamily abductions are not found alive.
• In 80 percent of abductions by strangers, the first contact between the child and the abductor occurs within a quarter mile of the child’s home.
• Most potential abductors grab their victims on the street or try to lure them into their vehicles.
• About 74 percent of the victims of nonfamily child abduction are girls.
• Acting quickly is critical. Seventy-four percent of abducted children who are ultimately murdered are dead within three hours of the abduction.
• One in five children 10 to 17 years old receive unwanted sexual solicitations online.
• In a 1998 study of parents’ worries by pediatricians at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, nearly three-quarters of parents said they feared their children might be abducted. One-third of parents said this was a frequent worry — a degree of fear greater than that held for any other concern, including car accidents, sports injuries, or drug addiction.

Sources: Federal Bureau of Investigation; National Crime Information Center; U.S. Justice Dept.; Vanished Children’s Alliance; Redbook, February 1998; State of Washington’s Office of the Attorney General; United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Juvenile Justice Bulletin, June 2000

IN MEMORY OF ALL OF THE CHILDREN THAT ARE MISSING OR HAVE RECEIVED THEIR WINGS………..

I am a tiny angel …
I’m smaller than your thumb;
I live in people pockets,
That’s where I have my fun.

I don’t suppose you’ve seen me,
I’m too tiny to detect;
Though I’m with you all the time,
I doubt we’ve ever met.

Before I was an Angel …
I was a fairy in a flower;
God, Himself, hand-picked me,
And gave me Angel power.

Now God has many Angels
That He trains in Angel pools;
We become His eyes, and ears, and hands …
We become His special tools.

And because God is so busy,
With way too much to do;
He said that my assignment
Was to keep close watch on you.

Then He tucked me in your pocket,
Blessing you with Angel care;
Saying I must never leave you,
And I vowed to stay right there!

~ Virginia Ellis ~
Copyright © 1999

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Three days after finding the body of 5-year-old Shaniya Nicole Davis in rural Lee County, Fayetteville police charged a family acquaintance Thursday in her death.

Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, of 2613 Pine Springs Drive, was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child. He surrendered to police last Friday after the release of hotel security video that appeared show to him carrying Shaniya on the morning of her disappearance.

He has been held in isolation at the Cumberland County Detention Center on a first-degree kidnapping charge since that time.

Antoinette Nicole Davis reported her daughter missing from their home, at 1116-A Sleepy Hollow Drive, Nov. 10.

In an affidavit for a warrant to search McNeill's 1997 Mitsubishi Galant, investigators said McNeill told them he picked Shaniya up in front of her home and drove her to the hotel. This IS NOT WHAT DAVIS TOLD THE DISPATCHER according to the tape of the 911 call to report Shaniya missing.

Davis, 25, was arrested Saturday and charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse–prostitution, filing a false police report and obstructing a police investigation. Arrest warrants state that Davis "did knowingly provide Shaniya with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude" (sexual slavery) and she "did permit an act of prostitution with Shaniya."

Despite the arrests, there was no word of Shaniya’s whereabouts until Sunday, when police said they had obtained reliable information that her body had been dumped in the woods off N.C. Highway 87 near the Lee-Harnett county line.

After extensive searches Sunday and Monday, volunteer searchers found her body about 100 feet off Walker Road on Monday afternoon.

Police Chief Tom Bergamine said a preliminary autopsy report shows Shaniya died of asphyxiation but testing has not yet been completed, a final autopsy report has not been released.

Since then, authorities have struggled to resolve jurisdictional questions over who would handle the murder case. Prosecutors must prove where the girl was killed to establish legal jurisdiction to prosecute someone on a murder charge.

Prosecutors in Cumberland and Lee counties met for four hours Wednesday to discuss the issue, and Fayetteville police and Cumberland County District Attorney Ed Grannis met again Thursday to discuss the case.

The Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office finally took the lead on the case, resulting in the murder charge against McNeill. Now we will wait to see if murder charges are brought against "Mommy Dearest", Shaniya was in her custody at the time of the murder and SHE MADE THE ARRANGEMENTS TO SURRENDER THIS BEAUTIFUL CHILD. As North Carolina carries the death penalty by lethal injection - "shoot" them both up!

Was girl payment for drug debt?

Investigators were trying to determine whether Davis might have given her daughter up to settle a drug debt, said Theresa Chance, spokeswoman for the Fayetteville Police Department.

“Lots of people are saying that, so it’s part of the investigation,” Chance said Thursday.

She declined to comment on whether Davis owed money to McNeill.

Funeral arrangements for Shaniya weren't complete Thursday.

Residents of the Sleepy Hollow Mobile Home Park where she lived with Davis planned a Thursday night prayer service to remember Shaniya.

JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL FOR SHANIYA.

Based on the following alleged information Shaniya Davis was failed by many:

• prior DSS documentation regarding Antoinette's 7 year-old son
  
• reports that the mother's home had been previously raided finding drugs and drug paraphernalia
  
• Shaniya's school system allegedly failed to report to authorities or notify her father that her mother removed her from school in October

RED FLAGS RIGHT AND LEFT WERE GOING UP TO BRING MUCH NEEDED ATTENTION TO SHANIYA'S LIFE OF HELL!

Elizabeth Smart Abductor Wanda Barzee Begs "Forgive Me" For 9-Month Rape Hell

Photo:Elizabeth Smart leaves federal court Oct. 1, 2009, in Salt Lake City.

SALT LAKE CITY (CBS/AP) Abducted from her bedroom at knifepoint when she was just 14, Elizabeth Smart was whisked away from her family to a campsite in the mountains above her Salt Lake City home in 2002.

While the whole world searched and prayed, Smart endured nine months of brutal rape and torture.

Now, seven years after it began, Wanda Barzee, one of the two defendants charged in the case, has pleaded guilty and begged forgiveness.

Photo: Wanda Barzee at a hearing Friday, Jan. 9, 2004, in Salt Lake City.

"I am so sorry, Elizabeth, for all the pain and suffering I have caused you and your family," Barzee, 64, said. "It is my hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me."

Smart, now 22 and preparing to serve a mission in Paris for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was not in court. But her father, Ed Smart, made a statement there.

Photo: Brian David Mitchell arrives at the Salt Lake City federal courthouse for a hearing Thursday, Oct. 1 2009, in Salt Lake City.

"I just hope that Wanda realizes what she did and that it was absolutely wrong and absolutely horrible," he said.

Barzee, who wore a black skirt and black flats, pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.

Sentencing for Barzee was set for May 19.

Photo: Elizabeth Smart poses with her parents, Lois and Ed, outside their home Thursday, March 13, 2003.

She could have faced a life sentence for the kidnapping charge and up to 15 years for the other count. However, under the plea deal, she is expected to receive 15 years in prison, with credit for about six years already served.

Barzee will be returned to the Utah State Hospital until her sentencing. She also will plead guilty in state court under the plea deal to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping and will cooperate in the case against her estranged husband, Brian David Mitchell.

Smart was recovered nine months after the abduction after a motorist saw her walking on a suburban street with Barzee and Mitchell.

Barzee's role in the alleged abduction has garnered less attention than Mitchell's.

At a hearing last month, Smart said that within hours of the abduction, Mitchell took her as a polygamous wife and then raped her. Smart said Barzee washed the teen's feet and dressed her in robes before the ceremony.

Barzee often became upset over Mitchell's relationship with Smart, but that sentiment would never last, Smart said.

State cases filed in March 2003 against Barzee and Mitchell have been stymied by rulings that both were incompetent for trial. Barzee and Mitchell were indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2008.

Barzee's plea comes a month after a Utah State Hospital report to a state judge said that 15 months of court-ordered treatments with anti-psychotic medications had restored her competency.

"No issues of competency will be raised in the federal court matter," Williams told The Associated Press on Monday.

Mitchell has also been found incompetent for trial in state court. A judge refused to order him to undergo forced medications.

On Nov. 30, Mitchell is scheduled for a 10-day competency hearing in his federal court case.

Prosecutors claim that a psychiatrist who evaluated Mitchell contends he is exaggerating or faking psychiatric symptoms to avoid prosecution.

Antoinette Davis, Mom Accused of Selling Shaniya Davis as Sex Slave, is Pregnant Again

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Antoinette Nicole Davis, the woman accused of selling her 5-year-old daughter, Shaniya Davis, into sexual slavery before the girl was murdered, has got an unnerving surprise. She's pregnant again and carrying the baby while sitting in a North Carolina prison and awaiting a potential trial.

Thus far, Antoinette Davis has been charged with human trafficking. Arrest documents said she "knowingly provide[d] Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude" and she "permit[ted] an act of prostitution." Fayetteville, N.C. police have not yet said if those charges will be amended to include murder.

Shaniya Davis was found dead Monday as searchers discovered the girl's body off a rural road in Sanford, N.C., around 30 miles from her Fayetteville home. The discovery brought a gruesome end to a week-long search carried about by hundreds of officers and volunteers. Antoinette Davis reported her daughter missing Nov. 10.

News of Antoinette Davis' pregnancy comes from her aunt, Leona Cromertie, who also said Sunday that her niece has a second child who is now seven.

Cromertie, who believes in her niece's innocence, says that Antoinette Davis, 25, was dating Clarence D. Coe at the time, the man whom Antoinette Davis initially accused of kidnapping Shaniya Davis, according to The Fayetteville Observer.

Police investigated Coe, but he was quickly let go as hotel surveillance video surfaced last Tuesday showing another man, Mario Andrette McNeill, carrying Shaniya Davis through a hallway of the Comfort Suites hotel in Sanford, N.C., about 40 minutes from Raleigh.

McNeill, 29, has so far been charged with kidnapping. Police claim he admitted taking the girl, but his lawyer, Allen Rogers, said he will plead not guilty. Either way, Fayetteville police said he was of no help in finding Shaniya Davis.

On Monday, Antoinette Davis was calm and quiet during a court appearance. She provided one-word answers to the judge's questions. She requested a court-appointed attorney and did not enter a plea.

Her sister, Brenda Davis, 20, said she does not believe the charges.

"I don't believe she could hurt her children," said Brenda Davis, who spoke with her sister at the jail Sunday. Antoinette Davis' aunt, Yvonne Mitchell, said the mother had two jobs and would never harm the child.

Fayetteville police spokeswoman Theresa Chance declined to talk about additional charges. She also wouldn't comment on a cause of death or the condition of Shaniya's body.

Antoinette Davis only recently took custody of Shaniya Davis, according to the child's father Bradley Lockhart, who said he raised her for the first four years of her life.

Lockhart described his relationship with Davis as a "one-night stand" and said he did not know McNeill.

Davis struggled financially over the years, but she recently got a job and her own place, so Lockhart said he decided to give her a chance with their daughter.

"I should've never let her go over there," he told The Associated Press on Saturday.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? What Should Happen to Antoinette Davis' unborn child?

Shaniya Davis - Precious Angel's body has been found.................

SANFORD, NC (WTVD) -- Police Monday found the body of missing 5-year-old who has been the focus of a nationwide Amber Alert .

The child's remains were located in an area bordered by Highway 87 south and Walker Road - just south of Sanford - during a second day of searching.

Fayetteville police spokesperson, Theresa Chance said the body of a child was located about 100 feet off the road. She said Shaniya Davis' family would be called on to make a positive identification. Another news conference was scheduled for later this afternoon.

Davis was last seen alive at a Comfort Suites hotel in Sanford last week - the same morning her mother reported her missing from her Fayetteville home. Police say a surveillance video from the hotel showed the child with 29-year-old Mario McNeill.

The area where police found Shaniya's body is about 7 miles from the hotel from where Shaniya was last seen on the video surveillance.

A Facebook page was set up Monday for people to leave messages for the family and talk about the tragedy.

At the time this alert was sent out - many stopped, shook our heads, shed tears going silent.

When a loved one is missing you always hold out hope that just perhaps someone may have the victim, come to their senses and release him/her to freedom. Unfortunately, statistics reveal quite the opposite. This is extremely troubling, confusing and leave all for a loss of words.

Children are totally innocent and they have no voice as to their safety and what parents may do to them. Shaniya was totally innocent and her death is a selfish act by individuals that have no remorse. Anyone that could or would harm an innocent child is truly scum. I know that so many advocates and parents have these same feelings, it is imperative to continue to bring attention to this epidemic - "human/child trafficking and child prostitution".

Every child wants/needs/deserves security and to be loved unconditionally. Children are a Gift from God. Children are totally innocent and anyone that harms a child deserves to be punished to the utmost.

Unfortunately, Shaniya's case is not unique in some respects, according to child advocates; but part of a social epidemic that authorities are addressing. For far too long in America, the attitude toward child trafficking has been that it’s terrible, but happens somewhere else. Guess what......it's happening right in our communities, streets, homes, cities/towns right here in the United States.

Shaniya is with our Lord and Savior. No more pain, no more tears.

Forever in our thoughts and prayers Shaniya. Finally at peace.

God saw you

God saw you getting tired.

So he wrapped his arms around you, and whispered, “come to me”.

You didn’t deserve what you went through, so he gave you rest.

God’s garden must be beautiful, he only takes the best.

And when found sleeping, so peaceful and free from pain

No one could wish you back to suffer again.

------unknown

In Loving Memory - Shaniya Davis

Human Trafficking of Children in the United States

GET THE FACTS

What Is Human Trafficking?

What Is the Extent of Human Trafficking in the United States ?

Contrary to a common assumption, human trafficking is not just a problem in other countries. Cases of human trafficking have been reported in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and some U.S. territories. Victims of human trafficking can be children or adults, U.S. citizens or foreign nationals, male or female.

According to U.S. government estimates, thousands of men, women, and children are trafficked to the United States for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. An unknown number of U.S. citizens and legal residents are trafficked within the country primarily for sexual servitude and, to a lesser extent, forced labor.

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Shaniya Davis...Police resume search Monday, 7am Walker Road, Hwy 87, Sanford, NC

SANFORD, NC (WTVD) -- Police said they will continue a search of the Highway 87 corridor from Spring Lake to Sanford Monday morning. Fayetteville police confirmed Sunday that they were searching on the ground for the missing 5-year-old girl. Chopper 11 footage showed dozens of officers and a Fayetteville forensics truck on the scene Sunday afternoon.

Officers were searching Sunday near Walker Road off Highway 87 in the Sanford area.

Sanford is about 40 miles north of Fayetteville. Police did not say if they were looking for a body or if they hoped to find Shaniya Davis alive.

Witnesses told ABC11 Eyewitness News they saw officers searching a ravine in that area at around 10 a.m, Sunday. A State Highway Patrol official confirms their helicopter also aided in the search.

News of the search came a day after Shaniya's mother Antoinette Davis, 25, was charged in her disappearance Tuesday.

Davis is charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse, prostitution, filing a false police report, and resisting, delaying, or obstructing police.

On Friday, 29-year-old Mario Andrette McNeill was also charged in the case. Police said McNeill was taken into custody after they got a tip from a hotel in Sanford that he had been there with Davis the same morning her mother reported her missing. Detectives said surveillance video at the Comfort Inn showed the man carrying the girl towards an elevator at 6:11 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Fayetteville police spokeperson Theresa Chance said McNeill turned himself in Thursday night and has been questioned. She said he admitted to taking Davis.

McNeill has an extensive criminal background. An ABC11 check of his record turned up convictions for selling illegal drugs, assault, shooting into an occupied home, and more.

He was arraigned on first-degree kidnapping charges Friday and was ordered held on $100,000 bond. His lawyer said he would enter a not guilty plea.

Anyone having any information on the current whereabouts of Shaniya Davis is urged to contact the Fayetteville Police Department at (910) 433-1856. To leave an anonymous tip, call Crime Stoppers at (910) 483-8477.

Please keep this beautiful little girl in your thoughts and prayers.