Maleah Davis: Mother’s boyfriend jailed for 40 years for ‘tampering with a corpse’ in four-year-old’s death

Man pleads guilty to tampering with corpse and injury to child after girl was found in garbage bag next to road

Derion Vance, the man charged in connection with the death of four-year-old Maleah Davis, has pleaded guilty to tampering with a corpse and injury to a child and has been sentenced to 40 years in prison, officials say.

The office Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg in Houston, Texas said in a news release that the 28-year-old Vance dated Maleah’s mother.

On the morning of 4 May 2019, Vence, Maleah, and her little brother were all reported missing. Vence and the little brother showed up at a hospital that night, without Maleah. A month after her disappearance, Maleah’s remains were found in a garbage bag by the side of a road in Arkansas, KHOU reported.

Vence was watching Maleah while her mother was on a trip out of state. Vence told police he had been attacked by unknown men when he was on his way to pick up the mother from the airport along with Maleah and his son. Vence added to law enforcement that Maleah was missing when he woke up after the supposed attack.

But officials have said that his story doesn’t match with a surveillance video showing Vence leaving his apartment with his son only.

The office of DA Ogg noted that video footage also showed Vence leaving his apartment with a full garbage bag in a laundry basket.

Intentional injury to a child causing serious injury by act or omission is a first degree felony. Vence was sentenced to 40 years for intentional injury to a child and to 20 years for tampering with a corpse, Click2Houston reported. The sentences will be served concurrently.

“Children are the most vulnerable members of our community and young Maleah’s death is tragic,” DA Ogg said in a press release. “We may never have all the answers in this case and our thoughts are with her family.”