The body of five year-old Shaniya Davis was discovered this afternoon in the woods outside Fayetteville, NC.Shaniya had been missing for a week and when I first read about her story this morning, she was still only "missing". No body had been recovered and her father, Bradley Lockhart, was still pleading for someone to return her.
He wasn't with Shaniya's mother and he'd had custody of Shaniya for most of her life.
"She had asked if she could be a mother, and I felt that she was sincere in asking and I figured to give her a chance."
That chance turned into the mother, Antoinette Davis, being arrested and charged with, "human trafficking, felony child abuse involving prostitution, filing a false police report and interfering with the investigation." Yes, the police said Davis had offered her daughter up for prostitution.
There are so many horror stories in our world but this really made me pause. What kind of sick person offers their own child, a five year-old up for prostitution?
I immediately began to wonder if her mother was a drug addict? A mentally ill person? But even if that's the case, I thought to myself no, I know too many people who have had addiction and mental health issues.
Break into your house? Sure. Lie to you for money? Sure. Think ice cubes are talking? Yep. Prostitute themselves? Possibly.
But never once have they offered any kids, their own or anybody else's, up for prostitution. This story was beyond the comprehension of even my dysfunctional mind.
Offering your child up for prostitution means you are soulless. Pure evil. There's no need for a devil with a pitchfork when you have people on this earth doing stuff like this. No need for a 2012 disaster film when the crumbling of the world is all too evident in this story. Who does this?
Video surveillance was later reported of Shaniya being carried through a hotel hallway and waiting for an elevator. Being carried by a grown man. Again, I wonder, who does this to a child? Who shuts off their heart and soul long enough to do this?
This photo makes me want to throw up. It's the last known image of Shaniya alive.
A hotel employee called the police after recognizing Shaniya from media reports, and the man, Mario Andrette McNeill, was later arrested on charges of kidnapping but Shaniya was nowhere to be found.
After I read the story, I said a prayer that Shaniya didn't suffer for too long. I've sat through too many TV interviews with profilers and experts where they talk about how if the missing person isn't found within a few hours, the likelihood of them surviving drops significantly.
Apparently the police somehow knew they were looking for a body as well, and, tragically, defenseless Shaniya Davis' body was found this afternoon in the woods.
My immediate reaction was to think that stories like these are why I don't knock the death penalty too much. I've said before I feel like it should apply to rapists and child molesters - and now I'm going to add that it should apply to parents who prostitute their children out to other adults.
There is no atonement for something like this that doesn't involve being put to death. Life in prison does not make up for this child's death. Or any child's death.
Moments like these, I understand why they used to burn people at the stake. I'd love to put all parties involved in this child's death at the top of a stack of the driest wood possible. I'll empty some cans of something flammable just to guarantee ignition.
I have a feeling there are thousands of people out there who'd be willing to throw the first flaming torch on Shaniya's behalf.
