(CNN) — Derion Vence, the stepfather who was watching 4-year-old Maleah Davis when she went missing, has been booked into the Harris County jail on suspicion of tampering with evidence, a human corpse, according to the jail website.
Police in Houston have not said whether a body has been found.
Investigators found blood evidence linked to Maleah in his apartment, police said in a news release.
Vence, 26, was arrested Saturday, according to the jail website. A court appearance is scheduled for Monday. Police previously had spelled his first name as “Darion.”
Stepfather Darion Vence says he was hit on the head and blacked out.
Source: Houston Police Dept (via CNN). 5-4-19
Vence has told police that last Saturday he was on the way to the airport to pick up Maleah’s mother and had Maleah and his 1-year-old son in his car. On the way, he heard a “popping noise,” stopped his vehicle because he thought he had a flat tire and was knocked unconscious by three strangers who pulled up in a blue pickup truck, he told police.
When he woke up a day later, Maleah was gone, he told police.
CNN has reached out to Vence several times this week, but didn’t receive a reply. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer.
Tampering with a human corpse is a second-degree felony in Texas, which if the defendant is convicted, is punishable by between two and 20 years in prison.
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