Touched by girl's death, Shaq offers to pay for funeral

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Basketball star Shaquille O'Neal offered to pay for the funeral of Shaniya Davis after seeing news of the 5-year-old's kidnapping and slaying, funeral director Corey R. Breece Sr., of Rogers and Breece Funeral Home, said.

In a statement to CNN, O'Neal said, "What happened to her was tragic. I wanted her to have a funeral that would be as beautiful as she was."

O'Neal's spokesperson told the network that he saw the story on Nancy Grace.

Breece said Thursday that the bill had not been paid, but that O'Neal's representatives had expressed interest in helping with the costs.

More than 2,000 people attended her funeral Sunday. The girl's body was found Nov. 16 beside a rural road.

Her mother, Antionette Davis, who had reported the child missing six days earlier, is charged with human trafficking and child abuse involving prostitution. Mario McNeill is charged with murder, rape and kidnapping in the case.

"I was sitting at home watching it on the news and the story brought a tear to my eye," O'Neal told The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.

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Latest Comments

I agree, new stiff laws need to be passed ASAP.

Send all these convicted sex offenders to one central prison.

Get one of the closed military bases and use one for these sex offenders who are not fit to walk the earth.

Even better, execute them if found guilty in a court of law.

james27613
November 27, 2009 7:30 p.m.

My respect for that man just went up a notch.

07GoldWinger
November 27, 2009 7:11 p.m.

Shaq is a real, genuine class act. Now HE is a professional athlete that kids should look up to!

bigredtruckman
November 27, 2009 11:21 a.m.

Hats off to Shaq. The mom should rot in jail....he helped a child and not the mother who sold her.

parker2
November 27, 2009 9:33 a.m.

"I'm curious about who actually planned the funeral. It turned into a huge media event with the big screens and all of the electronic stuff. Who was expected to pay for all of this before Shaq stepped in and who decided to do such a major production in the first place? Justabum November 26, 2009 2:54 p.m"

Manna Church is very contemporary and has thousands of members. The big screens and electronic equipment have always been there. There was a huge outpouring of concern and empathy from the whole community, I'm sure that many people wanted to make sure that little Shaniya had a beautiful service.

materialgurlnc
November 26, 2009 7:11 p.m.