By Gina Gomez
Nov.21, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Bradley Lockhart, father of Shaniya Davis [the young girl who was raped and murdered] appeared in the ‘Oprah Winfrey Show‘ on Friday. The show was watched by a large number of people as this was the first time that the father of the deceased girl was appearing on television since the news of Shaniya’s death came to light. Lockhart and his sister, Carey appeared in the interview.

The interview turned out to be an extremely emotional experience for Lockhart as well as the viewers, as the grief stricken father talked at lengths about his little daughter and the circumstances that led to her untimely death. In the interview, Lockhart revealed that preliminary investigation highlights that the young girl died of asphyxiation. At the same time, when Oprah asked that whether he wanted to talk to Shaniya’s mother, Lockhart expressed that he would surely want to understand what was going through her mind when she committed such a heinous crime.

Shaniya was staying with her mother Antoinette Davis when she went missing and later was found dead with her body dumped near a road in Sanford. Her mother has been charged with child abuse and human trafficking and is presently detained at the Cumberland County Detention Center. Mario Andrette McNeill, with whom the 5 year old child was last seen has been charged with kidnapping, murder and rape of the little girl.

Meanwhile, Friday’s show was also significant as Oprah also declared that her popular chat show is coming to an end and the show would cease from the month of September 2011.