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The vehicle from which 4-year-old Maleah Davis was reportedly abducted was found Thursday morning in a Missouri City parking lot, raising more questions about the circumstances that led to the child’s disappearance last Friday.
Houston Police, towed the Nissan Altima to an HPD lot and continue to look for clues, according to Houston PD Homicide Detective Ken Fregia. HPD, which is leading the investigation, held a news briefing Thursday in a shopping center in the 5400 block of Texas 6 in Missouri City, where the vehicle was found.
Fregia said a preliminary search did not reveal anything suspicious in the vehicle
While Fergia said that HPD had asked Texas Equusearch to call off its search for the girl due to weather concerns, the organization’s website posted that the search for Maleah continues.
Volunteers had previously been searching in the 9700 block of Kirkwood Road in the Alief area, close to where her stepfather, Darion Vence, lives.
Search team founder Tim Miller spoke with law enforcement Thursday at the shopping center, where dozens of bystanders watched as police combed the area. Miller said the severe weather predicted to hit the Houston area in the coming days will be challenging for his team to work through.
“We’re all working together to get this thing narrowed down, hopefully sooner rather than later,” he told a group of reporters.
Maleah’s mother, Brittany Bowens, was also on the scene Thursday. She declined to be interviewed but broke down while looking at the Altima behind the crime scene tape.
A citizen spotted the Altima about 10 a.m. in the parking lot and called authorities, said Missouri City Police Captain Paul Poulton. The woman, who police said worked for a local taxi cab company, was aware of the case involving the missing girl and of the missing vehicle, Poulton said.
Missouri City police confirmed it was the missing vehicle then notified Houston police, Poulton said. Fregia said the license plate matched the car they’ve been searching for.
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Vence, the stepfather, told authorities that he was attacked about 9 p.m. Friday when he pulled over to check on a possible flat tire while driving to Bush Intercontinental Airport to pick up the child’s mother, according to Houston Police Department officials.
He said he was with Davis and his 1-year-old son when three men drove up behind him in a Chevrolet pickup near Interstate 69 and Greens Road. They approached him and knocked him unconscious, he said. He said he blacked out until 6 p.m. Saturday.
When he came to, he was in Sugar Land with his 1-year-old son and Maleah was gone. Four hours later, he sought medical attention and reported the girl missing. The Nissan Altima was reported stolen.
The Altima didn’t appear to have any flat tires on Thursday, but police said they didn’t know whether someone changed the tires.
TIMELINE: Everything we know about the disappearance of 4-year-old Maleah Davis
Police are still “actively searching” for Vence, Fregia said Thursday, adding that they do not know if he is missing. The detective said he believed the last time the agency spoke with the stepfather was Saturday.
Fregia said the department has “reached out” to Vence to provide information for a sketch to be drawn of the attackers. “Each time we’ve tried to talk,” Fregia said, “we’ve been unsuccessful.”
Houston police have said they do not consider Vence a suspect or person of interest in Maleah’s disappearance. Asked again if Vence was a person of interest, Fregia said, “We’re not concerned that we haven’t found him.”
It’s unclear when the car was dropped off at the shopping center.
At the location on Thursday, store employees said they didn’t see the Altima in the parking lot earlier in the week.
Avis Car Rental employee Amber Ryan said the business parks unused rental cars in the parking space where the car was found. She said the car wasn’t in that parking spot when she worked on Tuesday. She said she didn’t work on Wednesday.
“Every time a customer comes and says ‘Hey I’m picking up a car’ we always look out there,” she said.
Fefe Taylor, an employee at Riverstone Dental, also said she didn’t see any cars on that side of the parking lot when she arrived at work between 7:35 a.m. and 7:40 a.m. Thursday morning.
Maleah is in need of medical care, authorities said. She suffered a head injury that required several brain surgeries in the past two months.
The injury, initially thought to have been caused by “possible physical abuse,” was reported to Child Protective Services in August and agency caseworkers took custody of Maleah and her two siblings. The children were returned to the family in February, with the condition that caseworkers continue to monitor them.
Authorities have said that the cause of Maleah’s head injury was “not something violent.”