Investigators said Derion Vence told them three men took his stepdaughter after attacking him and leaving him and his toddler son on the side of the road.
The search is on for a little girl in Texas whose stepfather said was taken by three carjackers who assaulted him in an attack that left him unconscious for nearly 24 hours, police said.
Investigators said Derion Vence 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. Friday, Houston Police Sgt. Mark Holbrook said.
It was while he was investigating the noise that a blue crew cab Chevy truck pulled up behind Vence, he said.
Three men got out of the truck and approached Vence, whose young son and 4-year-old stepdaughter, Maleah Davis, were still in the car.
“One of them makes a comment saying, ‘Maleah looks very nice, looks very sweet,’” Holbrook said Vence told police. “The other male hits Derion in the head.”
Cops said Vence told them he was knocked unconscious. He said he briefly woke at one point and realized he was in the back of the truck with the three men and the children before passing out again, Holbrook said.
Vence was otherwise unable to recall where he was and what happened 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, police said.
Vence said he wandered along the highway with his son for four hours looking for help, but no one stopped for him, and he ultimately walked to Houston Methodist Hospital between 10 and 11 p.m., authorities said.
There, he reported Maleah missing.
Vence’s toddler son was in good health Saturday and is now staying with relatives, officials said.
A photo taken of Vence at the hospital showed him with cuts and bruises to his forehead. Police said they do not consider him a suspect or a person of interest in Maleah’s disappearance.
“I realize there’s a lot of blanks in that story, but we’re hoping that the public fills in the blanks,” Holbrook said.
Police released the photo of Vence as well as pictures of his car, which has been reported stolen, as well as a likeness of what Vence said the suspects’ blue truck looked like.
Vence’s vehicle, which had a temporary paper tag 330-92G9, was last seen about 3 p.m. Saturday on traffic cameras in Sugar Land.
When Vence failed to show up at the airport to collect his wife and Maleah’s mother, she called her own mother to pick her up, according to KCCI-TV. It was not immediately clear why Maleah’s mother did not contact authorities after returning to Houston.
Maleah has black hair, brown eyes, is 3 feet tall, and weighs between 30 and 40 pounds. She was last seen wearing a light blue Under Armour jacket, blue jeans and gray Under Armour tennis shoes with pink and white details. She has undergone multiple brain surgeries, including one in late March, and is in need of medical care, police said.
Anyone who may have seen Vence or Maleah after 9 p.m. Friday is asked to contact Houston Police at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers Houston at 713-222-TIPS.
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