A volunteer search and rescue team suspended the search for 4-year-old Maleah Davis on Wednesday. Maleah has been missing for nearly two weeks.
Fox 26 reports a $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in Maleahs’s disappearance.
The girl’s mother, Brittany Bowens, reportedly confirmed she heard ex-fiance Derion Vence tell her mother that he knew how to make a body disappear by dumping it along his old mail route in Rosharon, TX.
Maleah Davis’ Mother Confirms Her Husband Talked About Murder And Dumping A Body https://t.co/YItJi070Id
— Daniel Mwambonu (@DMwambonu) May 16, 2019
Vence, 26, told police he was on his way to the airport to pick up Bowens on Friday, May 3, and he was carjacked by three Hispanic males when he pulled over to check his tires. He said one of the men knocked him over the head and took Maleah.
Vence said he woke up at 6 p.m. on Saturday to find his 2-year-old son was with him, but Maleah and Bowens’ silver Nissan Altima were gone. The car was later found abandoned in a shopping center parking lot in Missouri City, Texas.
Police obtained surveillance footage at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital that shows Vence was dropped off at the hospital by someone driving the same Nissan Altima at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday – hours after Vence said the car was stolen.
The public is putting pressure on the Houston PD to arrest Bowens after she admitted she was at home when Vence took her three children to daycare, but he returned to their apartment with Maleah.
She told police she didn’t know Maleah was inside the apartment because she stepped on the patio to smoke a cigarette.
“He must have snuck her in,” she allegedly told a friend via text message.
Vence was seen on the neighbor’s security camera carrying a large laundry basket containing a black trash bag out of the apartment. He was later seen carrying cleaning supplies including a bottle of bleach.
The laundry basket was recovered from the trunk of the Nissan Altima, along with a can of gasoline.
Vence was arrested and charged with tampering with a human corpse, a 2nd degree felony.
Protesters turned on Bowens when she showed up at a hearing for Vence earlier this week. He is being held on $45,000 bail. The hearing was canceled after the demonstrators disrupted the usually peaceful atmosphere of the courthouse.
The protesters chanted “justice for Maleah.” One person yelled, “murderer” and “Why isn’t she locked up?”
Hundreds attended a vigil to honor Maleah at Oyster Creek Park in Sugar Land, Texas on Wednesday night. They released pink balloons into the air and a DJ played Maleah’s favorite music, including a Beyonce song.
MALEAH DAVIS: Missing Houston girl’s case leaves community heartbroken https://t.co/yshy16tB1v pic.twitter.com/YwG5B58LCt
— David Cantu (@duckm4st3r) May 16, 2019
A growing memorial of stuffed toys, flowers and balloons blocked the door to apartment #1403 in the Kirkwood Landing apartment complex in Houston where the family lived. The apartment is empty now. Bowens moved out after a Houston PD forensics team ripped out the plumbing, bathtub and kitchen sink in search of evidence last week.
Blood and human tissue linked to Maleah were found in drain traps in the bathroom and in the garbage disposal in the kitchen sink.
The memorial is a stark reminder that an innocent child was tortured and possibly murdered there. The apartment at 9850 S. Kirkwood Road has become a morbid destination for heartbroken strangers who traveled from all over Texas to grieve for a child they’ve never met.
One woman tweeted a video of the grassy area where Maleah was last seen alive on a neighbor’s security camera. “Maleah Davis walked across this lawn,” she captioned the video.
Kirkwood Landing 9850 S Kirkwood Rd
Apt 1403 Houston, TX 77099 United States. A well organized memorial stands in place while we await answers, justice for #maleahdavis she had been missing for Two Weeks now. Please do not give up of her ? pic.twitter.com/pdigx1ad09— Sadè Williams (@sadeswilliams) May 16, 2019