Courtesy: ABCNews / Associated Press

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The mother of a 5-year-old girl who disappeared in North Carolina was charged Saturday with human trafficking and other offenses, though authorities said they still did not know the girl's whereabouts.

Antoinette Nicole Davis, the mother of Shaniya (shuh-'NY-uh) Davis, faces a child abuse charge involving prostitution as well as filing a false police report, according to a news release from the Fayetteville Police Department. The release did not say whether the charges were related to her daughter's disappearance. Telephone messages and an e-mail left for police were not immediately returned.

Shaniya's mother reported the girl missing Tuesday morning from a mobile home community in Fayetteville, and authorities began searching nearby wooded areas. The following day a man described as Davis' boyfriend was arrested in the kidnapping but later released.

Police then said a worker spotted a child matching Shaniya's description at a Sanford hotel about 40 miles from Fayetteville on Tuesday. Authorities reviewed surveillance video and, after speaking with family members, confirmed the child's identity.

Surveillance footage showed Mario Andrette McNeill carrying Shaniya into a hotel room, and he was arrested and charged with kidnapping Friday.

Authorities have said McNeill admitted to taking the girl, though his attorney says he will plead not guilty to the charge. They have not said if McNeill and Davis knew each other.

An official at the Cumberland County Detention Center said Davis was still being booked and it was unclear whether she had an attorney. Her first court appearance would likely be Monday.

Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, told The Associated Press he raised his daughter for several years but last month decided to let her stay with her mother. He said Davis struggled financially over the years, but she recently obtained a job and her own place, so Lockhart decided to give her a chance to raise their daughter.

"I should've never let her go over there," he said Saturday night.

Lockhart said police have not told him whether they are any closer to finding his daughter.

"I just want her to come back safe my friend," he said. "I love her very much and I hope she is OK."

He described his relationship with Davis as a "one-night stand" and said he and Davis never argued about him raising Shaniya.

"Shaniya is a precious young lady and she is special," Lockhart said.

Lockhart said he did not know McNeill.

The kind of mother that does this is the kind of mother that should be put down like an animal. After being beaten, drug through razor wire, and then dosed with alcohol....

This person isn't a mother at all. There's no way I could ever imagine doing that. Ever.

*shakes head*

Perhaps I'm jaded, but I'm hardly surprised this still happens.

McNeil didn't tell them where the girl was? This story turned my stomache.

What kind of mother does this?

Uh, a woman who should get sterilized. We just need to start sterilizing people when they harm their kids, women and men!

Forget sterilizing men.
Just cut the fucker off.

Males who harm children aren't men, they don't deserve a penis.

Men who do this to children...it's not about the penis. Cut off their penis and they'll find something else to use. It's in the brain. Just kill them and get it all over with.

Very good point.

That's just sad. So so sad. I just can't understand how anyone can put their child in harm's way...let alone harm them themselves. It's sickening.

They just found the little girl's body dumped in a wooded area. I was praying that she would come home safe, but sadly that won't be happening in this case.

I really need to stop reading these threads. I can't handle reading news like this now that I have a precious daughter of my own. :'(

Me too! :( It breaks my heart!

I agree. It gets to me so much more now that I have a daughter of my own.

Sick.... the news reported the mother offered her for money. Prostituting your own 5 year old child. Sick. I just can't believe anyone could do that... much less a mother. She's not a mother, she's a psychotic animal.