Houston police have located the missing car linked to the disappearance of 4-year-old Maleah Davis who has been missing for six days.
Police issued an Amber Alert for Maleah on Sunday morning, after Maleah’s stepfather, Derion Vence claimed three Hispanic males abducted the child and stole his silver 2008 Nissan Altima on Friday, April 26.
The car was located in a parking lot in Missouri City, according to Texas EquuSearch, whose volunteers are assisting the Houston PD in the search for Maleah.
Vence, 26, told police the three carjackers knocked him unconscious and took Maleah late Friday. He said he woke up on the side of Highway 6 near the First Colony Mall on Saturday around 6 p.m. His 1-year-old son was with him but Maleah was gone.
He told police he walked to nearby Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital for treatment of his head wound. He arrived around 11 p.m. and told security about the alleged carjacking.
But police say Vence changed his story several times. By Wednesday afternoon he was considered a “person of interest” in Maleah’s disappearance.
“During the initial interview, the man’s story did change several times and some of what he told us just didn’t add up,” said Doug Adolph, the spokesperson for Sugar Land police.
The Houston Police Department took over the investigation since the incident occurred within Houston city limits.
A traffic camera captured an image of the Nissan driving through an intersection in Sugar Land at 2:45 p.m. on Saturday – around the time Vence claimed he was knocked out.
Vence is currently staying with relatives. He is not facing any charges.
On Tuesday, Maleah’s biological father, Craig Davis, spoke to ABC13 Eyewitness News about his missing daughter earlier this week.
“I haven’t spoken to the public because I can’t talk about my daughter,” he said. “I can’t control my emotions. I can’t predict myself. I break down and I cry.”
Davis said he wanted to speak with Vence directly to find out what happened.
“I’m not putting the blame on anybody,” Craig said. “I just need the questions that aren’t answered to be answered. There are so many unanswered questions. It’s not for the public to answer to them for me. It’s not for the police to answer them for me. It’s not for the news to answer them for me. It’s for Darion to answer for me.”
Davis described Maleah as “strong and determined,” even after she suffered head injuries that required multiple brain surgeries to relieve increased pressure inside her skull.
Even in pain, even in her injury, my daughter went through everything she went through and it did not change anything about her,” he said.
In August, Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her two brothers, ages 5 and 1, from their home while CPS investigated the cause of Maleah’s head injury.
Doctors at a children’s hospital had called the police because they didn’t believe the family’s story about how the injury occurred.
CPS ultimately determined Maleah suffered the head injury during a fall while staying in a home with her grandmother and mother, Brittany Bowens. The grandmother was at work when Maleah was injured.
The three children were returned to Bowens in February.
Bowens was waiting for Vence to pick her up from the Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday. When Vence and the children failed to show up, Bowens called a relative to pick her up.
She did not report her family missing until the next day.
NEW: Texas Equusearch tells us the car belonging to the stepdad of missing 4yo Maleah Davis was found!@abc13houston was 1st on the scene.
We can see his Nissan Altima in this shopping center off Hwy 6. https://t.co/4a8MmLh0N3 pic.twitter.com/h9djgHoPyu
— Katherine Marchand (@KatherineMABC13) May 9, 2019
