Houston police continue their frantic search for a 4-year-old girl allegedly abducted by three Hispanic males “sometime Friday night” in Sugar Land, Texas. An Amber alert was issued for Maleah Davis on Saturday after the girl’s stepfather, Derion Vence, claimed he was carjacked by three males and dropped off along with his 1-year-old son in Sugar Land.
Police say Vence, 26, was on his way to George Bush airport to pick up Maleah’s mother when he was forced to pull over in the 16500 block of the Southwest Highway.
“He hears a popping noise like he has a flat tire,” said detective Mark Holbrook during a press conference on Sunday.
Vence stated a 2010 blue Chevrolet crew cab pickup truck pulled up behind his car. Two Hispanic males got out of the truck and approached him. The driver remained in the vehicle. “One of them makes a comment saying that Maleah looks very nice, looks very sweet,” said Holbrook.
Vence then said he was hit on the back of the head and he, Maleah and his infant son were forced into the truck and abducted by the three males.
Vence said he kept going in and out of consciousness while the suspects drove them around. He said the next time he woke up he was on the side of the Southwest Freeway and State Highway 6 in Sugar Land nearly 24 hours later on Saturday around 6 p.m. His infant son was with him, but Maleah and the three men were gone.
Vence then went to Houston Methodist Hospital in Sugar Land with his son to seek treatment for his head wound around 11 p.m. Saturday.
“He wakes up. He has his son with him. He begins walking around. He tries to summon help. Nobody’s really helping him,” said Sgt. Holbrook of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division. He said Vence and his infant son walked to the hospital, arriving about 10 or 11 p.m.
“He really doesn’t know where he is until 6 p.m. on Saturday,” said Sgt. Holbrook who urged the public to call police if they saw Vence Maleah, or the three mystery men between Friday night and Saturday at 6 p.m.
Meanwhile, police said Maleah’s mother was still waiting at the airport for Vence who failed to show late Friday. She subsequently called another family member to pick her up.
Maleah’s mother reported the family missing on Saturday morning because she was concerned after not hearing from Vence.
According to ABC13, a traffic camera captured an image of the family’s stolen silver 2011 Nissan Altima driving through an intersection in Sugar Land at 2:54 p.m. on Saturday – around the time when Vence claimed he was unconscious.
Better quality, color photo taken by traffic camera of the stolen Nissan Altima with tags 330-92G9. #hounews pic.twitter.com/UizXnhIC4h
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 5, 2019
Police say Maleah has urgent medical needs after undergoing several brain surgery procedures. Her most recent brain surgery procedure was last month. “She needs a lot of care and she was sick this week, too,” Holbrook said.
Maleah was last seen wearing a pink ribbon in her hair, a light blue zip-up jacket, blue jeans, and sneakers, police said.
Police are in contact with Maleah’s biological father and he is cooperating with the investigation.
Anyone who has seen Maleah or the missing Nissan Altima with paper license tags 330-92G9 are asked to contact HPD at 713 308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713 222-TIPS.
“We’d love the public to help us so we can fill in the blanks in this story,” said Holbrook who stopped short of saying he didn’t believe Vence’s story.
“I don’t want to speculate,” he said, explaining the purpose of Sunday’s press conference was to get the public’s help “to figure out what really happened.”
