SANFORD, N.C. (AP) — Authorities searched along a highway Monday for the body of a missing 5-year-old girl but said they still hoped they might find her alive.
Shaniya Davis has been missing since last Tuesday. Her mother, who reported her gone, is accused of offering her for prostitution, according to court documents and police.
About 200 searchers fanned across several miles southeast of Sanford on Monday based on "reliable information" that her body may have been dumped there, said Fayetteville Police spokeswoman Theresa Chance. Some walked along roads, ravines and fields while others drove on four-wheelers and a helicopter roamed above.
"The information we received was that her body was dumped, so at that point she would not be alive, she would be dead," Chance said.
Still, she said, investigators were not giving up on the possibility they might find Shaniya safe. They searched elsewhere and chased leads called in from as far away as Oregon.
"We're hoping that she's alive," Chance said.
Sanford resident Randall Fore, 40, joined the search as a volunteer Sunday, using his four-wheeler to traverse roads and woods. He continued helping Monday and said crews had only covered "a fraction" of the ground they would like to search.
"I've got a 4-year-old daughter," Fore said. "Any concerned parent would do the same. I'm doing everything I can."
Police were also chasing an unconfirmed tip that Shaniya was seen with a man driving a blue or smoky gray 1995 Toyota. State troopers were asked to be on the lookout, said Sgt. Jeff Gordon of the Highway Patrol.
Shaniya's mother, Antoinette Davis, 25, has been charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse, police said. Police also filed kidnapping charges against 29-year old Mario Andrette McNeill, who was seen in surveillance footage carrying Shaniya at a Sanford hotel.
Authorities have said McNeill admitted taking the girl, though his attorney said he will plead not guilty to the charge. Police have not said if McNeill and Davis knew each other.
Davis was scheduled to make a first appearance in court Monday afternoon and police said she did not yet have an attorney.
Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, said he raised his daughter for several years but last month decided to let her stay with her mother. He has pleaded for her safe return.
"I should've never let her go over there," he told The Associated Press on Saturday.
He said on CBS's "The Early Show" Monday that he remained hopeful someone would bring his daughter somewhere safe, such as a police station or hospital.
"They can drop her off at Walmart, I don't care," he said.
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