North Carolina girl Shaniya Davis dies of asphyxiation

By David Liu

The five-year old girl who went missing on Tuesday Nov 10 in the city of Fayetteville North Carolina reportedly died of asphyxiation, City Police Chief Tom Bergamine was cited as saying.

Shaniya Davis was found dead in a heavily wooded area near a North Carolina highway on Monday. The girl was also found raped before she died.

Shaniya Davis autopsy results show that the death was caused by asphyxiation or suffocation. The finding prompted authorities to file additional charges against Mario Andrette McNeill, who was charged earlier with first degree murder and first degree rape of a child and kept in jail since Friday.

The news has drawn national attention. And searches using keywords like asphyxiate, asphyxiation definition, and asphyxiated definition have been dramatically increasing in the last couple of days.