A Harris County jail inmate claims he gave Houston investigators the location of Maleah Davis’ body May 26, five days before community activist Quanell X spoke with suspect Derion Vence in jail.
David Chalfant, 50, said he spoke with Vence and convinced him to reveal the location where he dumped a garbage bag containing Maleah’s remains.
The 4-year-old was reported missing on May 4, a day after Vence, who was engaged to Maleah’s mother, claimed three Hispanic males knocked him unconscious and took Maleah in northeast Houston.
Police didn’t believe Vence’s story and he was arrested and charged with tampering with a human corpse on May 11.
Vence was housed on the 6th floor of the Harris County Jail, a few doors down from Chalfant’s cell.
Chalfant told the Houston Chronicle he was among a few inmates on the 6th floor who weren’t yelling threats at Vence.
On May 22nd, Vence wandered over to Chalfant’s cell begging for extra food. Chalfant handed him crackers and soup, and the two men talked about Maleah’s final hours alive.
Chalfant said Vence told him Maleah “died in her sleep, that she had the flu.”
“He says, ‘Man, I didn’t kill her,'” said Chalfant, who was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
The older inmate said he asked Vence to write down the location where he disposed of Maleah’s remains.
“He wrote, ‘Arkansas, feeder road, black trash bag, Hope exit,'” Chalfant said.
Chalfant sat down twice with investigators on Sunday, May 26, to tell them what he knew. He said the 2nd meeting with investigators was on May 30 – the day before Quanell X interviewed Vence.
Investigators asked Chalfant to wear a wire the next time he spoke with Vence, which he agreed to do, but he said he never heard from investigators again.
The next day, on May 31, Quanell X was cleared by jailers to visit Vence. He claims Vence told him where Maleah’s remains were located, and he provided that information to police.
But Chalfant said he believes his tip preceded Quanell’s information. But police didn’t act on his tip until it was too late.
A groundskeeping crew in Hempstead County, Arkansas, detected a foul odor and spotted a black trash bag on a grassy embankment alongside Interstate 30. They ignored the bag because they believed it contained a dead animal.
The bag was hit by a commercial size lawn mower and the bag’s contents were strewn along the highway. By the time a Hempstead County deputy found the bag off Exit 18 near Fulton, Arkansas, the bones were already scattered and crucial evidence was forever lost.
Chalfant told the Houston Chronicle that he wanted no part of any reward.
“I’m a criminal and I’ve done some things, but that’s a 4-year-old baby,” Chalfant said.
A private funeral for Maleah is scheduled for June 22, according to her obituary.
The family on her biological father’s side is asking the public for donations to bury Maleah. But the city of Houston has already pledged to bury the child who has touched so many hearts.
“She touched the lives of many; our shining, beautiful little girl, the light of our lives and the star of our hearts who leaves us smiling through our tears,” the memorial read. “She was happiness personified.”
“She never missed a moment to pose in front of the camera with them in action,” it read.
Maleah’s mother, Brittany Bowens, has stayed out of the public eye since Maleah’s remains were positively identified.
A petition urging police to charge her with being an accomplice to Maleah’s murder has garnered nearly 40,000 signatures.
“From DAY ONE Brittany Bowens has been faking her emotions over this case as well as lying to police officers about details. She knew what happened to her daughter,” a petition entitled “Charge Brittany Bowens in Maleah Davis Death” read. “Brittany should be charged with the same crime as Darion [sic] for the death of 4 year old Maleah!”
Maleah is survived by her two brothers, ages 2 and 7, as well as her father Craig Davis Jr. and her mother.
