Investigators do not think Maleah Davis is still alive. Photo / Supplied
Investigators do not think Maleah Davis is still alive. Photo / Supplied
Trained dogs detected the scent of human decomposition in the vehicle of a man arrested in connection with the disappearance of a 4-year-old Texas girl, according to a prosecutor.
Derion Vence, 26, remained jailed Sunday on a US$1 million bond after being arrested a day earlier on a charge of tampering with evidence, specifically a human corpse. His next court appearance is set for Monday.
Surveillance video from a neighbour showed Vence carrying a large, blue laundry basket with a large trash bag from his apartment on May 3. Photo / Supplied
Houston police said investigators have not found Maleah Davis and the investigation is continuing. Authorities have declined to say whether they believe Vence killed Maleah. But prosecutors said in court documents filed Saturday that Vence could face additional charges, including murder.
The investigation began after Vence told police that men in a truck on May 4 had abducted him, Maleah and his 2-year-old son a day earlier, but had freed him and the boy. Vence told investigators he was left in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land and walked to a hospital, where he reported the girl's abduction.
Sugar Land police, who initially interviewed him, said his story kept changing and didn't add up.
Vence, who had lived with Maleah and her mother, reported that his silver Nissan Altima was taken in the abduction, but surveillance video showed that vehicle was used to drop Vence off at the hospital. Police found the car on Thursday.
Dogs trained to find cadavers reacted to the trunk of the car, Pat Stayton, a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, said at Vence's probable cause court hearing Saturday night.
Surveillance video from a neighbour showed Vence carrying a large, blue laundry basket with a large trash bag from his apartment on May 3, Stayton said. Vence returned three minutes later without the basket and later he was seen leaving the apartment with cleaning supplies, including bleach.
In the silver Nissan, police found a laundry basket that looked like the one Vence took out of his apartment, Stayton said.
Darion Vence, the man who reported 4-year-old Maleah Davis had been abducted from him last weekend, was arrested on Saturday. Photo / AP
"Both of the dogs reacted to the trunk of the silver Nissan that the defendant had driven and that the blue laundry basket was recovered from, indicating that the dogs were responding to the scent of human decomposition in the vehicle," Stayton said.
2/2: Photo of assault victim, Mr. Darion Vence, who is Maleah's stepfather, stated he was unconscious for almost 24 hrs. Detectives ask anyone who saw Darion or Maleah after 9 pm Friday (May 3) to 6 pm on Sat to contact HPD Homicide 713-308-3600 or @CrimeStopHOU at 713-222-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/nuZHA1EQPY
Investigators also found blood at the apartment, both in the hallway leading to the bathroom and on surfaces inside the bathroom, Stayton said.
At Saturday night's hearing, Vence said he planned to hire a defense attorney.
Rodney Brown, an attorney appointed to represent Vence only for Saturday's hearing, had asked a magistrate judge to set bond at US$5000, saying Vence was a low flight risk and had lived in Houston most of his life.
Stayton argued that Vence was a flight risk and there was "evidence of deception on the part of the defendant with regard to information he gave to police."
Members of Texas EquuSearch conduct a search for four-year-old Maleah Davis. Photo / AP
Police have described Vence as Maleah's stepfather, but Maleah's mother, Brittany Bowens, said through a spokesman that Vence is her former fiance. Quanell X, a local civil rights activist who spoke to reporters on Bowens' behalf on Friday, also said that Vence had abused Maleah.
Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her brothers from the home Vence and Bowens shared in August after the girl suffered a head wound, but the children were returned in February, according to an agency spokeswoman.
