SANFORD, N.C. — Authorities searched along a highway today for the body of a missing 5-year-old girl but said they still hoped they might find her alive.

Shaniya Davis has been missing since Tuesday. Her mother, who reported her gone, is accused of offering her for prostitution, according to court documents and police.

About 200 searchers fanned across several miles southeast of Sanford today based on "reliable information" that her body might have been dumped there, said Fayetteville Police spokeswoman Theresa Chance. Some walked along roads, ravines and fields while others drove on four-wheelers and a helicopter roamed above.

"The information we received was that her body was dumped, so at that point she would not be alive, she would be dead," Chance said.

Still, she said, investigators were not giving up on the possibility they might find Shaniya safe. They searched elsewhere and chased leads called in from as far away as Oregon.