The Mail: Stepfather of missing four-year-old Maleah Davis is ARRESTED and charged with tampering with a corpse in connection with her disappearance

Stepfather of missing four-year-old Maleah Davis is ARRESTED and charged with tampering with a corpse in connection with her disappearance after cops found her blood in his apartment, eight days after he said she was 'abducted'

   Darion Vence, 26, was taken into custody Saturday under a charge of 'tampering with evidence, namely a corpse'
   Police have not confirmed whether the little girl has died but investigators do not think Maleah is still alive, reports say
   It's been one week since missing four-year-old Maleah was last seen when Vence claimed she was abducted by three men
   A surveillance photo shows a man identified as Vence leaving the family's apartment with a laundry basket and black garbage bag inside
   Police now say that laundry basket and a gas can were found in the trunk of a vehicle reported stolen by Vence  
   Blood evidence obtained from Vence’s apartment has been linked to Maleah
   Vence was allegedly cleaning the family's apartment with bleach the same day
   The girl's mom said Vence was angry after they got in a fight after she accused him of being gay and broke off their engagement
   She also said there was reason to believe Vence had been molesting Maleah

By Lauren Fruen and Megan Sheets For Dailymail.com

Published: 01:07 BST, 12 May 2019 | Updated: 02:43 BST, 12 May 2019

The stepfather of missing four-year-old Maleah Davis has been arrested and charged with 'tampering with a corpse' in connection with her disappearance, eight days after he told police she was 'abducted by three men'.

Darion Vence, 26, was taken into custody Saturday under a charge of 'tampering with evidence, namely a corpse'.

Police have not confirmed whether the little girl has died but investigators do not think Maleah is still alive, ABC13 reports.

She was last seen on April 30 on security footage in her family's apartment complex, where blood evidence linked to Maleah was reportedly found.

The girl's mother has also accused her ex-fiance Vence, the last person to see the girl, of being abusive and said he was suspiciously cleaning the family's apartment with bleach on the morning of her disappearance.

A surveillance photo shows a man identified as Vence leaving the family's apartment with a laundry basket and black garbage bag inside.

Police now say that laundry basket and a gas can were found in the trunk of a vehicle reported stolen by Vence.  

Community activist Quanell X made an 'urgent statement' on behalf of Maleah's mom Brittany Bowens at a press conference on Friday in Houston.

Bowens' former fiance Vence told police the youngster was abducted by three men who attacked him on the side of the highway on May 3.  

Quanell revealed that Vence and Bowens had recently gotten into a fight and broken off their engagement.  

'On the day that Brittany left to be with her sick father - her dying father - to be with family, there was a huge fight between her and him,' Quanell said, according to ABC7.

'She confronted him about being gay. He was hurt, he was angry, he was upset. She told him she was giving back his ring and that she was not going to marry him.

'I believe that caused him to snap in anger.'

Quanell added: 'There were times where (Vence) would say (Maleah) was at day care, but he would bring her back, not drop her off at day care, but bring her back home with him. There is reason to believe, based on what I know now, there's issues of him possibly molesting young Maleah.'

He said Bowens had never reported any suspicions about abuse to authorities.  

Quanell also mentioned that Vence had told Bowens he was cleaning the apartment on the morning of the alleged kidnapping.

'She didn't understand why he would be cleaning up the apartment,' Quanell said. 'But he went and bought an extra bottle of Clorox and came back.'

Both Bowens and Vence were banned from having contact with their children under a court order issued Thursday, just as the car used in the alleged abduction was recovered from a shopping center in Missouri City.  

Vence claimed that the car was stolen by Maleah's 'kidnappers' Friday night as they were on their way to pick up the four-year-old's mother.

He allegedly told investigators that he pulled over to check if the car had a flat tire when three men in a pickup truck pulled up, knocked him out and took the girl.

Authorities said Vence reported the abduction at a hospital on Saturday night and explained that he had been in and out of consciousness over the previous 24 hours.

The car he reported stolen during the alleged attack on May 3 was seen in that same hospital parking lot on May 5, police say.

Investigators said a woman then spotted the gray Nissan Altima in the parking lot of a a shopping center and reported it to police, Houston police Detective Kenneth Fregia said during a news conference.

He said the car was found unlocked and didn't appear to be damaged, and that detectives would go over it 'with a fine-toothed comb'.

Bowens was at the scene as police conducted an initial search of the car.

She was seen crying and hitting her hands against the ground.

Surveillance video showed Vence arriving at Sugar Land Methodist Hospital with his son in his arms.

Doug Adolph, a spokesman for the Sugar Land Police Department, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday: 'During our initial interview that he provided, his story changed several times, some of what he described didn't add up.'  

He had visible injuries and officers say 'something clearly happened to him'.  

Last year, Maleah was removed from her family home along with her two brothers over allegations that she had been abused, according to CNN.

Maleah had suffered a head injury and was sent to live with a relative for six months but in February this year, was allowed to return home to her mother but she was back in the hospital for brain surgery in March.

Police say it was to treat a healing injury and that they cannot share more information.

Child services were meant to check up on the family once a month afterwards. It is unclear if that was done.

Bowens, insisted on Monday that she hurt her head by falling.

She says she had been on a trip to Massachusetts when her child disappeared, though it remains unclear what the journey was for.

Maleah's biological father also demanded answers about his daughter's disappearance this week.

Craig Davis, Maleah's father, said Tuesday that he's 'not putting the blame on anybody'.

'I just need the questions that aren't answered to be answered. There are so many unanswered questions.  

'It's not for the police to answer them for me. It's not for the news to answer them for me. It's for Darion to answer for me,' Davis told ABC 13.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7019265/Stepfather-missing-Maleah-Davis-ARRESTED-charged-tampering-corpse.html