Little Maleah Davis was all smiles after undergoing brain surgery a in March. A fews weeks later, she vanished.
ABC 13 reports that Maleah’s mother, Brittany Bowens, shared a bittersweet video of the 4-year-old girl after she had surgery, stemming from a previous head injury. According to court documents, investigators couldn’t determine exactly how Maleah’s head became injured in the first place.
Bowens said the little girl fell from a chair and hit her head on a marble table, but physicians said the extent of damage Maleah sustained could not have happened from falling from a chair.
Meanwhile, Maleah remains missing.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, 26-year-old Derion Vence, who’s the boyfriend of Maleah’s mothers, told authorities he was driving a silver Nissan Altima along Greens Road and Highway 59 on May 3, near Humble, when he heard a “popping noise” coming from his vehicle.
Vence told police he had two children in the car, his toddler son and Maleah, and was on his way to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport to pick up the children’s mother, Brittany Bowens, who was returning to Texas from Massachusetts after reportedly attending a funeral.
Vence said he pulled over to check the tires on his vehicle and within a few minutes, three unknown Hispanic males pulled up in a blue 2010 Chevrolet crew cab pickup. Vence said two men got out of the truck, and while one made comments about Maleah, the other reportedly struck him in the head.
At around 6 p.m. the following day, Vence, in and out of consciousness, woke up to find himself and his son on Highway 6 in Sugar Land with his 1-year-old son, at least according to what he told authorities. Maleah was not with him. Vence said he walked to Methodist Hospital in Sugar Land and arrived around 11 p.m. on Saturday.
Police never bought Vence’s “tall tale” story. Houston investigators later found blood evidence inside Vence’s apartment that matched to Maleah. Cadaver dogs later picked up scents of human decomposition inside the trunk of the Nissan Altima.
Vence was subsequently arrested and charged with suspicion of tampering with evidence, a human corpse. He remains behind bars on a $45,000 bond.
Shortly after Maleah was reported missing, Crime Stoppers of Houston offered a reward of $5,000, which according to the organization, is the standard initial amount. On Thursday, Louisiana couple Ronnie and Karen Bias put in an additional $10,000, bringing the total reward for Maleah to $15,000.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact the Houston Police Department at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
[Feature Photo: Maleah Davis/Handout]
