The Misery Machine - The Story of Shaniya Nicole Davis

Starting point is 00:00:00 Shanaya Nicole Davis was born June 14, 2004, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to parents Bradley Lockhart and Antoinette Davis. Shanaya was a happy, loving, and friendly little girl who was described as a good little helper around the house. She loved to play dress up and play with her Barbie dolls, but also loved the outdoors in riding her scooter. Pink and yellow were her favorite colors. Around the time of our story, she was a kindergarten student at Morganton Road Elementary.

Starting point is 00:00:30 school. Bradley had raised Shania with the help of his sister, Carrie Lockhart Davis. This was until 2009 when he agreed to let Shania stay with her mother because he felt that Antoinette was ready to be a mom again after overcoming financial problems. According to Bradley, quote, she had asked if she could be a mother, and I felt she was sincere in asking, and I figured to give her a chance, end quote. However, Shania's aunt Carrie felt differently. In fact, Carrie never got along with Antoinette because she felt that the mother neglected her kids. In September 2009, 5-year-old Shania moved in with her mother and her 7-year-old brother, Carl. The family lived in a trailer at the Sleepy Hollow trailer park that was rented by Antoinette's sister Brenda Davis.

Starting point is 00:01:19 The accommodations were cramped. Brenda, her boyfriend, Jerois Smith, and their children stayed in the backbed. room, while Antoinette and her children stayed in the front room with the trailer. Brenda had previously dated a man named Mario Andret McNeil who went by the name Mono. Now Mono had given Brenda money to use as a security deposit to move into her trailer at Sleepy Hollow. While they were together, he spent a lot of time in the trailer. He was familiar with Antoinette and her children. He also knew how to get inside even if the door was locked.

Starting point is 00:01:53 At the time of our story, Mono lived in the story. Mono lived with a woman named April Autry, who was the mother of his 18-month-old daughter. He lived with her on Washington Drive in Fayetteville. This was roughly a seven-minute drive south of the Sleepy Hollow trailer park. Despite living with the mother of his child, Mono still was talking with other women. On the evening of November 9th and continuing into the early morning hours of November 10th, Mono was having a one-man party. After using Coke and taking a couple shots of liquor,

Starting point is 00:02:25 he began, in his words, texting all the females in his phone. He tried to text Brenda, but her phone was turned off. So he moved on to another woman, Tysa McLean. Tysa, who also lived at the Sleepy Hollow Trailer Park, began exchanging text messages with Mono and agreed to invite him over to hook up. However, by the time he got there at 2.52 a.m., Tysa had fallen asleep and she didn't answer the door. By 306 a.m., Mono texted her good night, and a minute later, he resumed trying to get in contact with Brenda.

Starting point is 00:02:58 At around 5.30 a.m., Brenda woke up because she thought she heard the door open. She mentioned this to Jeroi, but neither went to check on what it was. They went back to sleep but were awoken a half an hour later by Antoinette, who came into the room and asked if they had seen Shania. They said they hadn't. Antoinette went outside to search for her daughter. While Antoinette was outside, Carl told Brenda and Geroi that Mono had been there the previous night. Dioroy asked Carl if he was sure about this, and he responded, yeah.

Starting point is 00:03:32 Brenda texted and called Mono, but he did not answer his phone. Dioroy then called April Autry and told him that Mono was not with her. Antoinette returned to the trailer and reported that she had knocked on all of the doors in Sleepy Hollow, but no one had seen Chenaya. Brenda told Antoinette to call the police, but Antoinette was hesitant to do so. Brenta and Choroi went outside and noticed that the stairs and railings

Starting point is 00:03:57 of the trailer contained feces that had not been there the night before. There was also what appeared to be illegible yellow writing scribbled within the feces on the railing. Shortly after 6 a.m. that same morning, Bono arrived at the comfort inn in suites in Sanford, North Carolina,

Starting point is 00:04:14 about an hour north of Fayetteville. He entered the hotel alone, provided identification, and checked into room 201 under his own name. There was video footage of the transaction because cameras operated continually throughout the hotel. Mono told the desk clerk Jacqueline Lee that he was traveling with his daughter to take her to her mother in Virginia. Video footage from hotel security cameras showed that after checking in, Mono returned to his vehicle in the back of the parking lot, and approximately 7,000. 7.16 a.m., where he remained for several minutes before coming back into the hotel, carrying a child covered up with a blue blanket.

Starting point is 00:04:57 Jacqueline observed Mono carrying the child on the video feed and noticed the texture of her hair, which Lee recalled when she saw an amber alert that was issued for Shania. Additionally, Seth Chambers, who was staying at the hotel during a business trip, passed Mono in the hallway near Room 201 at 624 a.m. and saw him carrying a child. At the hotel's morning shift change, Regina Bacani replaced Jacqueline at the front desk. During the shift change, Mono came to the breakfast area alone, got a banana, some juice, and a muffin, and took them back to his room. Jacqueline pointed him out to Regina and told her about the recent check-in. Hotel cameras showed Mono walking towards the breakfast.

Starting point is 00:05:43 stare at 636 a.m. and returning down the hall and into his room with food and drinking his hands. Back at Sleepy Hollow, Antoinette called the police at 6.52 a.m. at the urging of Brenda. Okay, ma'am, how can I help you? I woke up this morning and my daughter was not in this house. I don't know if she walked out. I don't know what's going on, but she's not here. How old is your daughter? And your door was not unlocked. That's what you're telling me. No, it was not unlocked. But I'm telling you she knows how to unlock it. I'm hoping that she did unlock and walk out.

Starting point is 00:06:18 About 10 minutes after Antoinette's phone call, the police arrived, began searching for Shanaya with search dogs, and started interviewing people. Fayetteville police officer Elizabeth Culver observed a substance that was later determined to be feces on both railings at the front porch. The substance was smooth like something had been poured on it, and Antoinette had a cooking pot in her hand when Officer Culver arrived. Apparently, Antoinette had poured water on the railings. In the trash can of Unit 1119, police found a blanket that Antoinette identified as hers and that Geroi recognized as having been in the living room of the trailer recently.

Starting point is 00:06:55 The blanket was a thick child's comforter-type blanket, and it had feces on it. Jennifer Slish, a forensic technician for the Fayetteville Police Department at the time, took the blanket into evidence to be processed. Officer Culver spoke with Antoinette, Brenda, Jeroi, and Carl at the scene. Carl seemed very distracted and would look at his aunt before responding. He said he remembered Shania coming to bed but did not remember her leaving the bedroom. Later in our story, Carl admitted that he had seen Mono at the trailer that morning. Because Antoinette and Brenda were consistently looking at their phones and texting, Officer Culver had difficulty getting them to focus on the questions being asked.

Starting point is 00:07:37 So her lieutenant agreed to take them downtown to be interviewed. Officer Culver and her partner Daniel Suggs went to the main office of the trailer park to view the security video footage to look for a child roaming around the trailer park or for vehicles coming into the area. At approximately 7.34 a.m., the video cameras at the Comfort Inn & Suite showed mono leaving room 201 and going to the elevator with a child. At 735, the video shows him exiting the side door of the hotel and walking down the sidewalk still carrying the little girl. Matthew Argyle, the hotel's maintenance worker at the time, appeared on the video one minute later. He was outside the side door picking up cigarette butts and trash when he saw Mono come out with a little girl on his shoulder. He had her covered, and Matthew believed that she was asleep. He said hello, Mono made eye contact with him before looking away without saying anything in response.

Starting point is 00:08:35 He just continued walking toward the parking lot. Matthew noticed something was amiss and he thus tried to observe Mono without making it obvious that he was doing so. Mono put the child in the right rear passenger side of his car, got into the driver's seat, and began smoking. Matthew continued to watch the man while acting like he was doing busy work because he just felt something was not right. Mono then drove to the pavilion at the front entrance and entered the hotel. He approached the front desk and asked Regina for his security deposit stating that he had to get back on the road to drive his daughter to Virginia to meet her mother. Security cameras showed Regina giving Mono the cash receipt to sign and return the deposit.

Starting point is 00:09:21 The housekeeper who later cleaned room 201 brought Regina one or two small, clear, open plastic packets with white residue that she had found in the room, which she believed to be Coke. Meanwhile, Matthew watched Mono leave the hotel, drive away in his car, and turn left onto the main road. Matthew did not act on his feeling that something was wrong until the following day when hotel staff saw an Amber Alert and called law enforcement. The hotel security cameras showed Mono leaving the front entrance and getting into his car at 740, after which the car turned left towards Highway 87. Phone records indicated that at approximately 749 that 7. same morning, Mono sent a text saying, hey, to Brenda, who was at the police station at the time.

Starting point is 00:10:08 She had texted Mono the same message at 653 after learning from Carl that he had been in the trailer the previous night. At approximately 822, cell phone tower ping showed Mono's phone to be near the intersection of Highway 87, Highway 24, and Highway 27 in an area known as Johnsonville and Barbecue. Between 833 and 9.48 a.m., Brenda and Mono exchanged a series of text messages. which will have on screen for you right now, regarding why he was at her trailer, which Mono denied. It ended with Brenda telling him not to text her anymore,

Starting point is 00:10:42 and Mono asking her why her boyfriend was messaging the mother of his child. Brenda did not tell law enforcement she was text messaging Mono while she was at the station because she didn't want to assume anything at that point. For the same reason, she did not immediately tell police what Carl had said about seeing Mono in the trailer. Regina Bacani finished her shift at the comfort inn and suites at 3 p.m. and reported back for the 7 a.m. shift change the following day. She and co-worker Jacqueline Lee then noticed an Amber Alert on the hotel's computer screen. Jacqueline thought the picture on the screen was that of the same child that she observed with the suspicious man the previous morning, and so she called the Amber Alert hotline.

Starting point is 00:11:24 Forensic technician Jennifer Slish responded to the call and processed room 201 for evidence. The hotel manager advised her that the bedding had not been changed, but the trash had been taken out and a towel had been removed before staff became aware of the situation. Two comforters from the beds in room 201 were among the evidence that she collected. Fayetteville Police Department Captain Charles Kimball was responsible for the logistics of trying to find Shania. Based on the video from the hotel, police believe Mono had been with Shania and that she was still alive. After obtaining Mono's cell phone number from his mother, the police gave the number to FBI's special agent Frank Brostrom, who began an analysis of his phone.

Starting point is 00:12:05 Agent Brostrom testified that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had already notified the FBI about the case. According to Agent Brostrom, when the FBI receives a notification of a missing child, agents immediately contact local law enforcement to offer assistance. Brostrom contacted Sergeant Chris Corseon of the Fayetteville Police Department, who quickly invited Brostrom to come and help with the search for Shania. Agent Brostrom arrived at Sleepy Hollow on the afternoon of November 10th. Mono's cell phone data was analyzed by Special Agent Michael Sutton of the FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team.

Starting point is 00:12:42 When Special Agent Sutton received the electronic information from Mono's cell phone, he performed an initial analysis, created some rough draft maps, provided Agent Brostrom with an initial search area in the Highway 87 area along Highway 27. Following the FBI's recommendation, police began searching for Shania in the area around Highway 87 from Spring Lake towards Sanford. Having received offers of assistance from volunteers and different law enforcement agencies, investigators mobilized a huge search and rescue effort. After the hotel video showing Mono with a child came to light, Brenda Davis and Jerois Smith told police that Carl had seen him at the trailer the night Shania disappeared.

Starting point is 00:13:25 Brenda had also seen Mono try to talk to Antoinette at their aunt's house. To which Antoinette responded, quote, I don't have shit to say to you. I just want to know where my mother effing babies at, end quote. Allegedly Mono said all right, jumped in his car and sped away. Brenda began to think Antoinette was lying about what she knew, and Brenda and Antoinette argued and did not speak after this. In the evening hours of November 12th, Brenda talked to the detectives once again,

Starting point is 00:13:54 told them about the text messages with Mono, and ultimately gave them her phone to take photos of these texts. That same day, police found Mono and he agreed to come to the station to speak with them. Police also located as Mitsubishi Galant, which was backed into a space of the Mount Sinai Apartments, away from his residence on Washington Drive. Police did a search of the vehicle's trunk and then had the car towed to the police department. The car was then processed for forensic evidence, which included taking

Starting point is 00:14:24 soil samples from the wheel wells and taking the brake and gas pedal covers for substance analysis. Beginning at around 9.30 p.m. on the evening of November 12th, several law enforcement officers interviewed Mono in an effort to find Shania. Although Shania had been missing for two days, officers were still hopeful of finding her alive. The officers did not hand her. handcuff Mono or place him under arrest, and they specifically informed him that the door to the interview room was unlocked and he was free to leave the room. He also had his cell phone on which he continued to receive messages and used during breaks in this interview. Mano admitted he was at Sleepy Hollow just after midnight on November 10th driving around in the Black Mitsubishi. But at

Starting point is 00:15:13 first he denied going to Brenda's trailer, denied seeing Shania or even knowing who she was. He denied having her in the vehicle and denied leaving the city limits or being in Sanford at a hotel. When police showed a photograph of himself at the hotel, Mano initially denied that it was him. When confronted with the information that the same person signed into the hotel, as Mario McNeil showing his identification and listing his home address, Mono suggested that maybe he had lost his ID. Mono then admitted that he had been at the hotel with Shania. About 54 minutes into the interview,

Starting point is 00:15:53 Mono began telling a story about receiving a text message, which he thought came from Brenda's phone, telling him to come to Sleepy Hollow to pick Shania up on the porch. He said he got Shania and took her to the hotel room, where he ingested Coke. According to Mono, while he was at the hotel, he got a call or text message from some unknown people, asking him to bring Shania to a dry-cleaning establishment at the corner of Country Club Drive

Starting point is 00:16:20 and Ramsey Street. Mono stated that he delivered Shania to these unnamed people, and that they were driving a gray Nissan Maxima. Agent Brostrom testified that the focus of the interview changed when Mono suddenly stated he was waiting to get a call to come and kill her. The interviewing officers tried to get him to expand on the statement, but he would not. The exchange of Changes on Mono's phone with Brenda did not pertain to picking up someone waiting on the porch, as Mono claimed during the interview. Rather, they were of the argument we highlighted earlier in the episode. There were no calls or text messages to Mono's phone from any unknown people.

Starting point is 00:17:01 The only messages during this time period were between Mono and Brenda's phones. At the end of the interview, Mono was arrested for the kidnapping of Shania. When police later viewed the videotape of the interview, they saw that when they left Mono alone in the interview room during a break, that he made the sign of a cross, took out a key, and got down on the floor and put the key into a wall electrical socket, and appeared to receive a jolt. Mono then took off his shoes and put the key back in the electrical socket again.

Starting point is 00:17:35 Meanwhile, police became suspicious of Antoinette's story after reviewing a timeline of the events leading up to Chenaya's disappearance. and she refused to cooperate with the investigation. She initially accused her boyfriend Clarence Coe of kidnapping Shania. Police investigated Coe, but he was quickly let go after their surveillance footage from the comfort inn and sweets was brought to light. Eventually, the mother confessed something horrific to investigators. She told them, quote,

Starting point is 00:18:02 I gave her to him to cover $200. He was only supposed to have sex, end quote. Yes, you heard that correctly. Bono previously lent Antoinette $200 to buy food and pay for a hotel room when she and her children were homeless. Some reports indicated that the debt was drug-related, but that is incorrect. In order to reimburse him for the debt, she pimped out her five-year-old daughter. To add insult to injury, Antoinette was pregnant again. She was arrested and charged with human trafficking and later released on a $51,000 bail.

Starting point is 00:18:39 A massive search for Shanaya was continuing. continuing along Highway 87. On the morning of November 13th, Fayetteville Police Department investigator Kimball met with then district attorney Ed Granis about several cases, including this one. The district attorney pulled him aside and told him that Alan Rogers,

Starting point is 00:18:57 a Fayetteville defense attorney, might have some information that could help them in this case and that he would be calling him. Attorney Rogers had accompanied Mono at his first appearance in the morning following his arrest on kidnapping charges, and it was in business.

Starting point is 00:19:12 Investigator Kimball's understanding that Alan Rogers was Mono's attorney. The following day, Investigator Kimball received a telephone call from another attorney, Coy Brewer. He said the information Kimball needed was to look for green porta potties on Highway 87. Based on the information that he received earlier that Alan Rogers would be calling, Investigator Kimball assumed after receiving the call from Coy Brewer that he and attorney Rogers were working together on the case. Police did look for green porterpotties along Highway 87 and saw numerous porterpotties along the road. Investigator Kimball told DA Granis that the information that he had received from Attorney Brewer was vague, and he suggested that he talked to Attorney Rogers. On November 15th,

Starting point is 00:20:00 Investigator Kimball called Alan Rogers and told him that the information he had received from Koi Brewer was somewhat vague. Rogers said he was traveling and would talk to his client when he returned to town. He later followed up with investigator Kimball and said police needed to look for where they killed Deer on Highway 87 between Spring Lake and Sanford. According to Kimball, Attorney Rogers stated in a subsequent phone call, let me talk to my guy, and then later called back to say they need to look in an area where hunters feel dressed deer after they killed them. Kimball called Alan Rogers once more to see if there were additional details. And Attorney Rogers told him, that's all my guy remembers.

Starting point is 00:20:44 Attorney Rogers would later contest in court that he never referred to Mano as my guy. Searchers did not locate Shania that day, and the search resumed the following morning. A Sanford company training canine officers from the Virgin Islands volunteered to assist in the search. Around 1 p.m. that day, one of the officers from the Virgin Islands and his training dog found Chenaya's body lying partially under a log in an area with deer carcasses near the intersection of Highway 87 and Walker Road. She was only wearing an adult-sized black sweatshirt and underwear when her body was found. On November 19, 2009, Manna was charged with first-degree homicide.

Starting point is 00:21:35 We got a tip. Somebody in the parking lot said that they had heard on the news or something that the guy admitted to, killing the young child and dumping her where there was deer carcasses and trash. We remember driving through here earlier and smelling something pretty nasty. So we came back to check it and sure enough there were deer carcasses and trash. And then some of the officers from the Virgin Islands went through here and actually saw her in there. And the dogs were showing a lot of interest. So we checked it out and confirmed.

Starting point is 00:22:03 And yet, it's terrible. It's not good news at all. It's terrible. I don't even know. I'm a little overwhelmed right now. So it's just a lot. I'm just, you know, I'm glad we're able to have. Glad we were able to help.

Starting point is 00:22:15 In 2010, it was announced that explicit images of a young girl were found on Monos' phone by Fayetteville Police Detective Jason Sondergarde. Detective Sondergarde consulted with a physician who specializes in forensic pediatrics to determine the age of the girl in the photos. But she could only confirm that the photos were of a young black girl. It is unclear whether the photos depicted Shania or not. On July 5, 2011, a Cumberland County grand jury indicted him for the father. following offenses, first-degree homicide, first-degree kidnapping, and several offenses related to the CA and SA of Shania. Mono-filed various pretrial motions, including to prevent the state from seeking the death penalty

Starting point is 00:23:00 pursuant to the North Carolina Racial Justice Act. He also motioned to suppress all statements he made to officers during his interview and claimed that in exchange for information regarding the location of Shania's body, the state had agreed not to seek the death penalty. All of his motions were thrown out, and it was found that there was no such agreement. Mono, and potentially Mono's lawyer, completely misunderstood the situation. On July 6, 2011, Antoinette Davis was re-arrested and charged with first-degree homicide in addition to the charges she had already stacked up.

Starting point is 00:23:39 She was denied bond on the homicide charge, and bonds totaling $1.5 million were set for all other charges. On April 8, 2013, Mano was offered a deal to plead guilty to first-degree homicide with a sentence of life imprisonment without parole in lieu of a possible death sentence. After considering the deal, Mano opted to turn it down and proceed to trial. At trial, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Thomas Clark testified that he conducted, the autopsy on Shania Davis on November 17, 2009. The autopsy identified a small bruise on the left side of Shania's face, injuries to her private area, and two abrasions on her upper thighs. Dr. Clark testified that abrasions are a scraping type of injury in which part or all of the outer layer of skin is removed by a blunt object, and that two linear abrasions at the

Starting point is 00:24:36 upper part of Shania's inner thighs matched the band of the underwear that she was wearing. Dr. Clark noted injuries consistent with essay and also collected several hairs that were found during external examination. Shania's lung showed edema, chronic bronchitis, and focal intra-alveolar hemorrhage. Dr. Clark concluded that the most likely cause of death was external airway obstruction or asphyxiation. Blood, hairs, and other bodily fluids were found on the swabs of Shania's body, her clothing, the blanket that was located in the garbage, and the bedding at the comfort in its sweets. DNA analysis linked these samples to both Mono and Shania.

Starting point is 00:25:23 Soil samples from the roadside near where Shania's body was found, as well as from the body recovery site, and from the gas pedal of Mono's Mitsubishi Galant all contain the same garnet soil compound. In addition, Mono's cell phone records placed him at the scene of the crime. On May 23, 2013, a jury found Mario, Mono, and Drette McNeil guilty of first-degree homicide based on malice, premeditation, and deliberation. The jury also found him guilty of all other remaining charges except for the essay of a child by an adult offender charge.

Starting point is 00:25:58 The trial court then held capital sentencing proceedings, during which, Shania's father and half-sister testified as impact witnesses. Shania's father, Bradley Lockhart, testified that he had met Shania's mother at a party and had been in a brief relationship with her, and had learned that Antoinette was pregnant only shortly before Shania's birth. For a little less than two years after Shania's birth, she lived with Antoinette and her family. Bradley had frequent contact with Shania and would pick her up every weekend for visits. Towards the end of 2006 or the beginning of 2007, Bradley bought a fairly large house in Fayetteville

Starting point is 00:26:37 and Shanaya moved in with him and his four other children. Shanaya had frequent contact with her mother during this time. She was very close with her father and the other children. The father shared that she enjoyed playing dress up and prancing around the house in her plastic heels, but was also a little bit of a tomboy and liked to play basketball with her little brother and ride her little scooter. Shania considered herself a singer and wanted to join the children's choir at the church they attended. Shania moved back to be with her mother in October of 2009. Even when he was out of town for work, Bradley talked to Shania on the phone four to five times a week.

Starting point is 00:27:16 He testified that Shania's death was one of the hardest things he had ever experienced, that it tears him up every day, and that he still finds it hard to sleep even after three and a half years. He said he suffered two collapsed lungs from the stress. He finds it hard to stay focused and function and questions if he could have done anything differently. Cheyenne Lockhart, Shania's 21-year-old half-sister, described her as her little mini-me who followed her around everywhere. She shared that Chenaya was bubbly and loved to tell jokes.

Starting point is 00:27:49 She was caring and would always tell them that she loved them. Shanaya's death was very painful to the young woman, and Cheyenne thought about her every day. day. On May 29, 2013, the jury returned a binding recommendation that Mono be sentenced to death. The trial court sentenced him to death for first-degree homicide into consecutive sentences of 705 to 886 months for all other charges. Mono immediately filed an appeal. On October 18, 2013, Antoinette Davis entered Alfred pleased to second-degree homicide, human trafficking, first-degree kidnapping, and several other charges related to the CA and

Starting point is 00:28:32 essay of her daughter. She was sentenced to between 210 and 261 months in prison, will be eligible for parole in 27. As part of a plea agreement, the first-degree essay charge was dismissed. An Alfred plea allows a defendant to plead guilty while maintaining his or her innocence because there is sufficient evidence to find him or her guilty. At her trial, she apologized to Shania's father Bradley Lockhart. She said, quote, I want to say I did the best I could with my children. I never said I was a perfect mother, but I was a good mother. I did what I had to to provide for them. I did what I had to to make sure they were all right. I didn't have help from anybody, end quote. Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons tersely disagreed.

Starting point is 00:29:25 He told Antoinette, quote, you could have saved your daughter's life, and you did not. You had the time, the opportunity, and the means to save Shani's life, and you did not. You are not a good mother. This did not have to happen, end quote. Judge Ammons ordered her to register as an offender for 30 years and suggested that she received psychological counseling while in prison. In response, Bradley stated that he still grieves for his daughter, but said he forgave Antoinette a long time ago, and knows that Shania did as well.

Starting point is 00:29:57 He told her, quote, maybe you can take this time and dig deep within you and help others by sharing your story, end quote. Shania's calling hours were held on November 21st, 2009, at Roger and Bree's funeral home. Her funeral service was held the following day at Manna Church with Reverend Johnny C. Davis officiating, and was attended by over 1,500. people. Another 500 people watched the service from an adjacent building, while several hundred more who were unable to secure a seat waited outside. Touched by Shania's story, basketball star Shaquille O'Neal offered to pay for her funeral. He stated, quote, what happened to her was tragic. I wanted her to have a funeral that would be as beautiful as she was, end quote. Shack learned about the little girl's death after watching Nancy Grace, quote, I was sitting at home watching it on the news and the story brought a tear to my eye,

Starting point is 00:30:47 end quote. The service opened with light piano music and broadcast on a large television screen above her tiny pink coffin were photos of Chenaya playing in the snow, showing off Christmas presents, and celebrating her birthday. Her kindergarten class served as her honorary pallbearers. She was laid to rest at Fayetteville Memorial Cemetery beneath a heart-shaped granite gravestone that bore the inscription, God's angel, called home. In a cruel twist of fate, Shanaya's older half-brother, Chavez Lockhart, who was also one of her pallbearers, was found dead after being shot to death on May 25, 2017. He was only 20 years old. Ultimately, he was buried next to his little sister. A family dealing with the unthinkable for a second time, the loss of a child.

Starting point is 00:31:39 Eight years after the body of five-year-old Shania Davis was found in Sanford, her older half-brother was shot and killed. Deputies in Hope County say 20-year-old Chavez Lockhart was shot Wednesday night and died at the hospital. CBS North Carolina's Amy Cutler has more from Rayford. It was around 9.30 Wednesday night when the Hope County Sheriff's Office was called to this trailer park off Mockingbird Road. Neighbors say they heard the gunshot when they came outside. They saw a car off the road. The driver had been shot. That's where they pulled him out at and then they pulled them up here. But this car went off down there.

Starting point is 00:32:14 Authorities rush that young man to the hospital. where he died. They've identified him as 20-year-old Chavez Lockhart, the half-brother of Shanaya Davis. Authorities confirming they share a father. The five-year-old's death made national headlines back in 2009. She was raped and murdered after her mother sold her to pay off a debt. I'm sorry about that. We came here to Fayetteville to the house where Lockhart lived. Family members too distraught to go on camera tell us he was a good guy with a lot of potential. Family members asking folks to keep them in their prayers as they grieve this second loss. Back in Rayford, neighbors weren't surprised. They love to be in and out, out of time. Authorities haven't said why Lockhart was at that

Starting point is 00:32:58 trailer park, but they're asking anyone with information to give them a call. It seems that tragedy has struck the Lockhart family multiple times. Chavez's mother, 28-year-old Vicki Sue Coleman Lockhart and her sister, 19-year-old Chanel Coleman, were killed in a home invasion that turned into a triple homicide. Along with David Lee Epps, the sisters were bound, gagged, and shot to death in 1998. In an interview with Oprah,

Starting point is 00:33:26 Bradley Lockhart said that he may speak with Antoinette one day, but not now. It's a quote, I just think that it's best that we let the justice system take its course. I try to keep my heart as pure as possible, and I'm sure one day I will be able to sit down and talk to her and try to understand

Starting point is 00:33:43 what was going through her mind, end quote. When asked what he'd like to see happen to Mono, Bradley said the outcome is not up to him. Quote, it's in the Lord's hands now, and the justice systems, and he's got to come to grips and repent for his actions. I know the grace of the Lord, and if he's sincere within his heart, he will be able to move forward with his guilt, end quote. Still Bradley hopes that Shania's story will help keep other children safe, he said, quote, there's so much to be said about that precious angel. As you can see from the outreach and just the vigils, she's definitely touched a lot of hearts

Starting point is 00:34:21 and she's dug deep inside a lot of people. I just hope that they've taken some of this joy that she's brought down to them, some of this hurt, and we can curb it from happening to another child. Get something in place to where the system benefits those who need help and quit walking away from it, end quote.

The Misery Machine - The Story of Shaniya Nicole Davis

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