Maleah Davis, 5, has been missing since last Friday, when her stepfather claimed she was taken by three men who carjacked him in Texas.
The mother and stepfather of 4-year-old Maleah Davis have been banned from seeing Maleah’s other siblings, as the missing Texas girl’s dad has spoken out in hopes of getting answers about the day she disappeared.
A court order issued during an emergency hearing Wednesday saw Maleah’s younger half-brother be sent to his paternal grandmother, while her older brother was put into the custody of his paternal aunt, according to KHOU-TV.
The order also prevents Brittany Bowens and Darion Vence, Maleah’s mom and stepdad, from having contact with any of their children and was the result of separate motions by Bowens’ own mother, Brenda Bowens, and the Department of Family and Protective Services, the television station reported.
While the court did not place the children with Bowens’ mother, she is allowed to attend sibling visits.
The edict comes as police say Vence’s account of what happened the day Maleah vanished has changed.
Police said Vence initially told them he was on his way to pick up his wife at George Bush Intercontinental Airport when he pulled over at the side of the road to investigate a popping noise he thought was coming from his tire about 9 p.m. last Friday.
Vence said while he was investigating the noise a blue, crew cab Chevy truck pulled up behind Vence and three men got out and attacked him after one remarked “Maleah looks very nice, looks very sweet,” according to police.
Vence said he spent almost the next 24 hours in and out of consciousness until about 6 p.m. Saturday, when the men left him and his son near Highway 6 in Sugar Land and took off with Maleah, cops said.
But his story changed multiple times during his interview with Sugar Land Police, one of the agencies investigating Maleah’s disappearance, officials said.
"His story did not add up," Sugar Land Police spokesman Doug Adolph told CNN. He did not elaborate on why Vence’s account didn’t make sense or how it had changed.
“The substantive details of what he described to us changed,” Adolph said. "I can say that fundamental parts of his story changed throughout the course of our initial interview.”
The car Vence claimed was stolen by the alleged kidnappers was found Thursday in a Missouri City parking lot off Highway 6 and investigators were unable to find any evidence inside, police said.
No arrests or charges have been made in Maleah’s disappearance.
Maleah last year was taken into custody by Child Protective Services after she was rushed to the hospital suffering a seizure and a head injury, KHOU-TV reported.
The little girl was only taken to the hospital after her grandmother, Brenda Bowens, arrived home from work and urged she be seen by a doctor, the report said. At the time, Maleah was living with Brenda Bowens as well as her mother and Vence.
Doctors said Maleah’s mother and Vence claimed she fell off a chair, but the injury did not align with that explanation, according to KHOU-TV.
She was taken into temporary custody by CPS, but a judge returned her to her mother and Vence several months later.
By the time she was four, Maleah had undergone three head surgeries, according to her father, Craig Davis.
"Even in pain, even in her injury, my daughter went through everything she went through and it did not change anything about her," he told KTRK-TV.
As unsure of what occurred the day his daughter went missing as everyone else, Davis spoke directly to Vence in the hopes the two men could talk.
“I'm not putting the blame on anybody," Davis said. "I just need the questions that aren't answered to be answered. There are so many unanswered questions. It's not for the public to answer to them for me. 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."
Anyone with information regarding Maleah’s disappearance is asked to contact Houston Police at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers Houston at 713-222-TIPS.
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