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Search For Missing 4-Year-Old Maleah Davis Continues Near Haunted House
“We are looking for clothing, shoes, whatever. Just something that doesn’t fit in," one searcher said of the latest efforts to find the missing 4-year-old Houston girl.
The search for missing Houston 4-year-old Maleah Davis has moved to the Creepy Hollow Haunted House in Rosharon, an area the man arrested in connection to the case may be familiar with because of his time working as a mail carrier.
The search effort is being led by Texas Equusearch, which received a tip about the area from police, according to Houston station KRIV.
“All we look for is something that doesn’t fit in,” Jack Boggess with Texas Equusearch said. “We are looking for clothing, shoes, whatever. Just something that doesn’t fit in, and that’s what we key on.”
Derion Vence, the former fiancé of Davis’ mother, worked at the United States Postal Service in the town of Rosharon from June 2017 to August 2018, the station reports, and may be familiar with the terrain in the area.
Vence, 26, has been arrested and charged with tampering with evidence—a human corpse—in the case after investigators discovered the young girl’s blood in his home and reviewed surveillance footage that shows Vence walking out of the apartment carrying a heavy laundry basket.
The search began near the haunted house Tuesday and continued Wednesday, KHOU reports.
Boggess told KBRC-TV that the team had been told to search the area and that the search was not specifically related to the haunted house itself.
It’s been nearly two weeks since Vence reported Davis missing after claiming she was abducted by three Hispanic men. Vence told authorities he had been driving to the airport to pick up Davis’ mother, Brittany Bowens, when he stopped the car to check to see if he had a flat tire. He claimed the three men pulled up behind him, attacked him and took off with the girl.
Investigators, however, said Vence changed his story several times in the days after the disappearance. Last week, the silver Altima Vence claimed had been stolen that night was discovered unlocked in a parking lot.
Authorities discovered the laundry basket seen in the surveillance footage and a can of gasoline in the car’s trunk. Specially trained dogs also detected the smell of human decomposition in the vehicle’s trunk.
Investigators have said they don't believe Davis is still alive.
