The ex-fiance of Maleah Davis' mom told police she was kidnapped by three men. As volunteers passed out missing person fliers and helped Texas police search for her 4-year-old daughter, Brittany Bowens broke down in tears Monday as she expressed her darkest fears for the little girl who recently underwent brain surgery. "I'm terrified for Maleah," Bowens said of her daughter, in an interview with ABC station KTRK-TV in Houston. The search for Maleah Davis intensified on Monday as volunteers passed out fliers in Houston and searched a field near where Derion Vence, 26, the former fiance of Maleah's mother, told police three men accosted him when he had car trouble on Friday evening and took him, the girl and his 1-year-old son hostage before dumping him and the toddler on the side of a road and fleeing with the little girl. Vence told police that he and the children were headed to pick up Bowens at George Bush Intercontinental Airport when they were encountered by the men who took Maleah. "My spirit is broken. I feel so lost," Bowens told KTRK. "I can't concentrate. I can't focus. It's just ... it's so overwhelming for me. It doesn't seem real." Volunteers from a group called Texas EquuSearch set out on foot and by ATV in a field in northeast Houston, where Vence told police he was assaulted by Maleah's kidnappers after he noticed something wrong with the Bowens' silver 2011 Nissan Altima that he was driving and pulled over. "According to Derion, what happens next is a blue pickup truck pulls up behind him, two Hispanic males get out. One of them makes a comment, saying that Maleah looks very nice, looks very sweet. The other male hits Derion in the head. Derion loses consciousness," Sgt. Mark Holbrook of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division said during a news conference on Sunday. Vence told police that he kept going in and out of consciousness, but at one point he was in the back of the suspects' truck with his son and Maleah and that there were now three suspects in the vehicle driving them around, Holbrook said. He said the next time Vence woke up, about 6 p.m. on Saturday, he was on the side of the Southwest Freeway with his toddler son in Sugar Land, some 22 miles southwest of Houston. He told police he tried to flag down a passersby, but when no one stopped he walked to Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, arriving about 10 or 11 p.m. He was treated for a head injury and police were called. Holbrook said Bowens' Nissan Altima was spotted by a traffic camera at an intersection in Sugar Land at 2:54 p.m. on Saturday, but police have been unable to locate the vehicle. He added that Vence described the suspects' pickup truck as a 2010 Chevrolet crew cab. Holbrook said investigators have not found any evidence, including security video or independent witnesses, to corroborate Vence's story. He said there is about a 21-hour gap between the alleged assault and when Vence woke up on the side of the road that Vence doesn't remember. Holbrook said investigators have also interviewed Maleah's biological father, who is cooperating with the investigation. An Amber Alert issued on Sunday for the girl -- who was last seen wearing a pink bow in her hair, a light blue zip-up jacket, blue jeans and sneakers -- remained in effect on Monday. Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch said his group is praying that Maleah is found alive. "We want to start checking every single dumpster just in case," Miller told KTRK. "We believe in miracles. Let's hope we get one." "I'm choked up right now thinking about her," Miller added. "I've been on these cases before. If it doesn't touch your heart, and you don't get emotional, you're just not human." Maleah has had several brain surgeries, Holbrook told reporters at Sunday's news conference; including one that was performed last month. "She needs a lot of care and she was sick this week, too," Holbrook said. Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect changes in the spelling of Derion Vence's name and his relationship to Meleah Davis' mother, which were initially based on information provided by the Houston Police Department.<doc-sep>An intensive search was underway Monday in Texas for a missing 4-year-old child who her stepfather says was kidnapped in a bizarre confrontation on a Houston highway. Maleah Davis has had multiple brain surgeries, including one less than two months ago, and "needs a lot of care," Houston police Sgt. Mark Holbrook said. A search party organized by family and friends was handing out missing person fliers Monday in nearby Sugar Land. Family friend Maenesha Gatewood told click2houston.com she could empathize with Maleah's family – her son briefly went missing several years ago. “The minutes are not like minutes,” Gatewood said. “It’s hard and it’s stressful and it’s crying and it’s frustration." Derion Vence, Maleah's stepfather, told police he was driving to Bush Intercontinental Airport with Maleah and his son on Friday night to pick up Maleah's mother when he thought he had a flat tire, pulled over and got out. He said a truck pulled up behind him and men got out, Holbrook said Sunday. "One makes a comment saying your daughter looks very nice, looks very sweet," Holbrook said. Vence told authorities another man hit him in the head. Vence told police he was in and out of consciousness for almost 24 hours while being driven around in the truck with the children. He woke up with his son on the side of a road in Sugar Land on Saturday around 6 p.m. and ultimately walked to a hospital, he said. Police were called around midnight Saturday and the manhunt began. Holbrook said Vence is not a suspect in Maleah's disappearance. The family's car, a silver Nissan Altima, was last seen driving through an intersection in Sugar Land at 2:54 p.m. Saturday, Holbrook said. Authorities don't know who was driving, and the car has not been found. "There are a lot of blanks in the story, but we are hoping the public can fill them in," Holbrook said. Brenda Bowens told the Houston Chronicle she picked up her stranded daughter at the airport when Vence failed to show up. "I can't even imagine anybody going through what my family is going through," Bowens said. "It's unbelievable."<doc-sep>Police in Texas say they have located the car used by the former fiance of missing 4-year-old Maleah Davis' mother on the day he claims the little girl was kidnapped by three men who assaulted him and knocked him unconscious. The car, a silver 2011 Nissan Altima, was located Thursday morning in Missouri City, Texas, close to where Derion Vence, 26, said he regained consciousness and discovered the girl had vanished. He told police he regained consciousness on the side of a road, more than 21 hours after he said the perpetrators took Maleah and the car, according to the Houston Police Department. Vence told police his 2-year-old son, who had also been in the car, was sitting next to him and was unharmed. The Nissan was spotted Thursday morning parked in the middle of a shopping mall parking lot in Missouri City, according to police. A taxi driver noticed the car from news reports and called the police, said Det. Ken Fregia, of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division. Fregia said the car was unlocked and that a child's car seat was inside, but investigators found no evidence of foul play in the vehicle or in its trunk. "The car looks fine. Everything looks normal on the car," Fregia told reporters at the scene. Officers are conducting a search of the vehicle and planned to tow the car to a facility where they can do a more detailed search, Fregia said. He said investigators also plan to comb through surveillance camera footage from the mall to see if there is a video of whoever left the car in the parking lot. Maleah's mother, Brittany Bowens, who has been part of a group of volunteers passing out fliers and searching for the missing girl, broke down in tears and collapsed after going to the mall and seeing investigators searching the car, which is registered to her. "Where is Maleah? Where is my baby?" Bowens tearfully yelled before falling to the ground on her knees, ABC station KTRK-TV in Houston reported. Maleah has been missing since Friday night and police have not identified any suspects in her disappearance. A court order issued this week showed that Vence and Bowens has have been banned from having any contact with the toddler they have together and Maleah, according to ABC affiliate station KVUE-TV in Austin. State Child Protective Service opened an investigation of the couple last August after Maleah hurt her head and had to undergo brain surgery, officials said. The children were temporarily placed in the custody of relatives but were returned to Bowens and Vence in February, according to CPS records obtained by KVUE. Vence told police he was driving with the children to pick up Bowens about 9 p.m. Friday at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where Bowens was returning from a trip to Massachusetts when he noticed something wrong with their car and pulled over in north Houston, police said. "He hears a popping noise like he has a flat tire, pulls over to check on it," Sgt. Mark Holbrook of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division said at a news conference on Sunday. Vence told police that when he got out to check the car, a blue pickup truck pulled up behind him and two men approached him. One of the men, according to what Vence told police, made a comment that "Maleah looks very nice, looks very sweet," according to Holbrook. The other male hit Vence in the head, knocking him out, Holbrook said. Vence told police that he kept going in and out of consciousness, but at one point he was in the back of the suspects' truck with his son and Maleah and that there were now three suspects in the vehicle driving them around, Holbrook said. He said the next time Vence woke up, about 6 p.m. on Saturday, he was on the side of the Southwest Freeway near State Highway 6 in Sugar Land, some 22 miles southwest of Houston. "He wakes up. He has his son ... with him. He begins walking around. He tries to summon help. Nobody's really helping him," Holbrook said, recounting Vence's account. He said Vence told police that he walked with his son to Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, arriving about 10 or 11 p.m. He was treated for a head injury and police were called. Frejia said police have been unable to locate Vence in the past few days but would like to interview him again. He said there appeared to be nothing wrong with the Nissan's tires when police inspected the car Thursday morning. Prior to Thursday, the Nissan was last spotted by a traffic camera at an intersection in Sugar Land at 2:54 p.m. on Saturday, police said. Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect changes in the spelling of Derion Vence's name and his relationship to Meleah Davis' mother, which were initially based on information provided by the Houston Police Department.<doc-sep>
Maleah Davis, 4, was last seen by her family Saturday night, police said. A frantic search was underway in Texas Sunday for a 4-year-old girl whose whose mother's ex-fiance told police she was kidnapped by three men, including one who knocked him out during a carjacking, authorities said. An Amber Alert was issued on Sunday morning for Maleah Davis, a Houston girl who underwent brain surgery last month. She was last seen wearing a pink bow in her hair, a light blue zip-up jacket, blue jeans, and sneakers, police said. Police are asking the public for help in finding the girl, who was last seen on Friday night when, according to what her her mother's former fiance, Derion Vence, 26, told police, three mystery men beat him up and briefly held him and her 1-year-old brother hostage. He later told police that they dumped him and the toddler on the side of the road and absconded with Maleah. Sgt. Mark Holbrook of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division said Vence said that he went in and out of consciousness during the ordeal and, at one point, woke up to find the suspects driving him and the two children around in what he described as a blue pickup truck. Vence told police that he eventually regained full consciousness around 6 p.m. on Saturday, waking up on the side of a road in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land with his toddler unharmed near his side. But Maleah was nowhere to be found, Vence told police. Holbrook said there is about a 21-hour gap between the alleged assault and when he woke up on the side of the road that Vence doesn't remember. "We'd love the public to help us so we can fill in the blanks in this story. I realize there are a lot of blanks in that story, but we're hoping the public can fill in the blanks," Holbrook said during a news conference Sunday afternoon. Holbrook declined to say if police are suspicious of Vence's story. But he noted that investigators have not found any evidence, including security video or independent witnesses, to corroborate the Vence's story. "I don't want to speculate," he said, explaining the purpose of Sunday's news conference is to get the public to help "to figure out what really happened." Vence told police he was driving with the children to pick up their mother Friday night at George Bush Intercontinental Airport when he noticed something wrong with their car, a 2011 silver Nissan Altima, and pulled over in north Houston, Holbrook said. "He hears a popping noise like he has a flat tire, pulls over to check on it," Holbrook said. "According to Derion, what happens next is a blue pickup truck pulls up behind him, two Hispanic males get out. One of them makes a comment, saying that Maleah looks very nice, looks very sweet. The other male hits Derion in the head. Derion loses consciousness." Vence told police that he kept going in and out of consciousness, but at one point he was in the back of the suspects' truck with his son and Maleah and that there were now three suspects in the vehicle driving them around, Holbrook said. He said the next time Vence woke up, about 6 p.m. on Saturday, he was on the side of the Southwest Freeway near State Highway 6 in Sugar Land, some 22 miles southwest of Houston. "He wakes up. He has his son ... with him. He begins walking around. He tries to summon help. Nobody's really helping him," Holbrook said, recounting Vence's account. He said Vence told police that he walked with his son to Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, arriving about 10 or 11 p.m. He was treated for a head injury and police were called. He said police have also put out an all-points bulletin for the family's silver Nissan, which is registered to Maleah's mother and has a paper dealer's plate number 330-92G9. Holbrook said the Nissan was spotted by a traffic camera at an intersection in Sugar Land at 2:54 p.m. on Saturday. He added that Vence described the suspects' pickup truck as a 2010 Chevrolet crew cab. Maleah's mother, meanwhile, arrived at the airport from a trip to Massachusetts and didn't find Vence there to pick her up, Holbrook said. That's when she called a relative to come and get her, but never reported Vence or her children missing, Holbrook added.