Police on Thursday in a press conference announced the cause of death of Shaniya Davis was asphyxiation, the Examiner reported.

According to the report the 5-year-old was raped before being strangled to death.

Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, has been charged with first degree murder and first degree rape of a child.

Shaniya's mother, Antoinette Davis, is accused of selling her daughter as a sex slave and appeared in court on human trafficking and child prostitution charges.