Maleah Davis, 4, was reported May 3 by her stepfather, Derion Vence, 26, who told authorities he was knocked unconscious in a carjacking that resulted in the toddler being abducted by 3 Hispanic men.
After missing for 3 weeks, Maleah’s remains have been identified after being found in Arkansas inside of a garbage bag dumped along a highway. A roadside work crew found them.
Vince’s story of the abduction started charging more as investigators looked deeper. Vence was taken into custody after blood was found in his apartment hallway and bathroom that he shared with Maleah’s mother. The blood matched DNA from the little girl’s toothbrush. Vence was charged with tampering with evidence, specifically a human corpse.
Investigators viewed footage captured from the porch of an apartment next to Vence’s, according to the affidavit.
The footage shows Maleah entering the apartment, but she is not on video coming back out. Instead, Vence is seen leaving the apartment on May 3 carrying a large blue laundry basket with a black trash bag inside.
Vence allegedly confessed to Quanell X, a community activist who was representing the girls mother at the time, telling him that he dumped Maleah’s body in Arkansas. The garbage bag was found near Hope, a town about 30 miles of the Texas-Arkansas border.
“One thing he wanted to make clear to me was (that) what happened to Maleah was an accident, he says it was an accident. And he confessed to me where he dumped the body,” Quanell told CNN affiliate KTRK.
