Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo wants to bring 5-year-old Maleah Davis home. Although he doesn’t think she’s still alive, he’s pleading the community to help with any known information and tips, no matter how small.
“Maleah deserves to be found, be recovered and deserves a proper burial, and we need the community’s help,” Acevedo said during a Thursday morning press conference.
Acevedo said that the 26-year-old Derion Vence, the boyfriend of Maleah’s mother, likely knows where the little girl is, but he has refused to cooperate with police after telling a “tall tale” about her disappearance.
Earlier this month, Vence claimed Maleah was abducted by three Hispanic men on May 3. Vence said he stopped to look at the tires on his car in Sugar Land, when the unknown men pulled up in a blue truck and hit him over the head. Vence claimed he was in and out of consciousness until the next day. When he woke up, Maleah was gone.
It’s all a lie, according to police.
“We strongly believe he knows where she’s at and if he wanted to tell us, he would,” Acevedo said, adding that the suspect’s lies are so big “you could drive a big rig through it.”
Acevedo said he’s hopeful that the public hasn’t forgotten or given up on the case. He said Maleah was likely murdered, and he’s willing to donate his own money to Crime Stoppers, to double the already $5,000 reward in place for information that leads to Maleah.
“We’ll add another $5,000 for information that leads to finding her.”
Chief @artacevedo updates public on Maleah Davis case #hounews https://t.co/l19XdlEDNH
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 23, 2019
Maleah Davis: Timeline and Searches
April 30
Maleah’s mother, Brittany Bowens, reportedly left Texas for Massachusetts to attend a funeral.
At around 7:45 a.m. that morning, security footage at an apartment complex off of the 9800 block of South Kirkwood Drive, captured Maleah trailing behind Bowens’ boyfriend, Derion Vence, as they walked toward their apartment.
An hour later, security footage showed Vence walking away from the apartment complex alone. Maleah was not seen again.
May 3
Vence was spotted again on the same security camera at around 1:40 p.m., leaving the apartment complex with a large black garbage bag inside a laundry basket. Authorities said that judging by his walk and the way he held the basket, whatever was in it had to have been heavy.
Security footage captured Vence leaving the apartment again at around 6:47 p.m. with his toddler son. He may have been carrying a bottle of bleach.