HOUSTON (AP) — In a story May 9 about a missing Houston girl, The Associated Press, relying on information provided by the police, misspelled the name of the man who told investigators that the girl had been abducted. His name is Derion Vence, not Darion Vence. The AP also reported that police referred to Vence as the girl's stepfather. A spokesman for the girl's mother says she and Vence lived together and were engaged, but that she recently broke off the engagement. A corrected version of the story is below: Car reported stolen in case of missing Texas girl found Police have found a car that was reportedly stolen when a 4-year-old Texas girl disappeared late last week HOUSTON (AP) — A car that was reportedly stolen when a 4-year-old Texas girl disappeared late last week was found Thursday in a suburban Houston parking lot, authorities said. A woman spotted the gray Nissan Altima in a Missouri City parking lot and reported it to police, Houston police Detective Kenneth Fregia said during a news conference. He said the car was found unlocked and didn't appear to be damaged, and that detectives would go over it "with a fine-toothed comb." Brittany Bowens, the mother of missing Maleah Davis, was at the scene as police conducted an initial search of the car. She could be seen crying and hitting her hands against the ground. Police say Derion Vence, who at one time was engaged to Bowens, told investigators that he was driving the car to the airport to pick up Bowens Friday night when he pulled over to check if it had a flat tire. Vence said men in a pickup truck pulled up, knocked him out and abducted him, Maleah and his 2-year-old son before eventually allowing him and the boy to go free, according to Houston police. Fregia said the car's tires appeared to be fine and that investigators were searching for security footage that might show when and how it arrived in the lot. Vence initially reported Maleah missing after he showed up Saturday at a hospital in Sugar Land, which is next to Missouri City. He told police he had been in and out of consciousness over the previous 24 hours and had walked there after coming to a highway that runs through the region. However, a Sugar Land police spokesman said Vence's "story changed several times." Story continues Fregia said Vence hasn't spoken with investigators since Saturday and that he'd "like to talk" with Vence again but isn't concerned about his whereabouts. Child Protective Services has been monitoring the home where Maleah lived with Vence, her mother and her siblings for months, according to spokeswoman Tiffani Butler. In August, the girl and her 5- and 1-year-old brothers were removed from the home and placed in the care of relatives after Maleah suffered a head injury that eventually led to her having multiple brain surgeries, Butler said. They were returned in February but officially remained in state custody and were checked on by a caseworker each month, she said. ___ An earlier version of this story was corrected to reflect that the car was found Thursday, not Tuesday.<doc-sep>(CNN) — A little more than a week ago, the man who was watching 4-year-old Maleah Davis told police he, the young girl and her brother were abducted by three Hispanic men who knocked him unconscious. When he awoke on the side of a road after nearly 24 hours, he said the young girl wasn’t there. But court documents detailing evidence collected by investigators tell a different story from the one Derion Vence told Houston police. There’s footage of him being dropped off at the hospital he said he walked to. Blood from his car matches DNA from Davis’ toothbrush. He was seen walking out of his apartment with a big plastic bag – and Maleah was never seen leaving the home since. A week since his initial account, there is a “substantial likelihood” Vence will be charged with murder, court documents state. Vence, 26, was arrested Saturday and booked into the Harris County jail on suspicion of tampering with evidence – a human corpse, according to police, who have not yet said whether or not Maleah is believed to be alive. Tampering with a human corpse is a second-degree felony in Texas. If convicted, he faces between two to 20 years in prison. In court documents dated Saturday, a Harris County assistant district attorney argued for Vence to be held on a bond of $1 million because “there is a substantial likelihood that additional charges may be forthcoming, including but not limited to the first-degree felony offense of murder.” Vence’s bond was set at $999,999, then lowered to $45,000, according to jail records. He was scheduled to appear in court Monday but the hearing was moved to July 10, online records say. His attorney, Thomas H. Burton III, told CNN that he has not seen the evidence in the case against Vence, so would not comment on the case. CNN reached out to Vence several times last week but did not hear back. Police refer to Vence as Maleah’s stepfather. A spokesman for the mother’s family told CNN the two were engaged but that has ended. Police previously had spelled his first name as “Darion.” What he says happened Vence told investigators last week he had Maleah and his toddler son in the car as he was driving to the airport to pick up Maleah’s mother on May 4. At some point, he told police, he heard a popping noise and went to check on it. When he stopped, Vence said a blue pickup truck pulled up behind him and two Hispanic men got out. One hit him and knocked him out for nearly 24 hours. He told investigators when he woke up a day later, his son was there but Maleah was gone. He said he walked to a nearby hospital where he received medical attention for injuries he said he sustained in the alleged abduction, and reported Maleah missing, police said. Dogs pick up ‘scent of decomposition’ Vence said the car he was driving, a silver Nissan Altima, was stolen when he was abducted, but surveillance footage viewed by authorities shows Vence being dropped off at the hospital on May 5 in the same vehicle. The Altima was recovered Thursday in a shopping mall’s parking lot in Missouri City, Texas – about 5 miles from where Vence said he woke up. 00:59 - Source: HLN Mother of missing girl: I'm terrified for Maleah When authorities inspected the vehicle, they discovered a blue laundry basket along with a gas can, according to probable cause documents in Vence’s arrest. According to those documents, police also had two separate dogs trained to pick up the smell of cadavers walk around the Altima and other vehicles in the parking lot. Both dogs barked at the trunk of the Altima, the documents state, indicating the “scent of decomposition in the vehicle.” Blood found in apartment linked to Maleah Blood evidence obtained from the apartment Vence shares with Maleah’s mother is “consistent” with DNA taken from Maleah’s toothbrush, court documents state. Houston detectives found drops of blood in the hallway that led to the bathroom and on surfaces in the bathroom. Investigators discovered evidence of more blood by using a “chemical reagent” that reacts to the presence of blood that may not be visible to the eye, such as when a person has attempted to clean it up, the documents state. Vence allegedly told investigators “that there should be no blood in the home and that no one was recently bleeding.” Testing subsequently linked the blood sample to Maleah. Footage shows Maleah never left the apartment Investigators also saw surveillance footage captured from the porch of an apartment next door to Vence’s, the affidavit said. In the footage, Vence is seen on May 3 leaving the apartment with a large blue laundry basket with a black trash bag inside. Vence returned a few minutes later, the documents say. He then walks back out of the apartment carrying cleaning supplies, including bleach. According to the affidavit, the camera never again captured Maleah leaving the apartment. CNN’s Christina Maxouris and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
Trained dogs detected the scent of human decomposition in the car of a man arrested in connection with the puzzling disappearance of Maleah Davis, 4, outside Houston, a prosecutor said. Derion Vence was in jail Sunday on a $1 million bond after he was arrested Saturday and charged with tampering with evidence – a human corpse. Vence is set to appear in court Monday. Vence, 26, lived with Maleah’s mother, Brittany Bowens, and is believed to be the last person to see the girl before her disappearance more than a week ago. Houston police said Maleah has not been found. Authorities have declined to say whether they believe Vence killed the girl, but prosecutors said in court documents filed Saturday that Vence could face additional charges, including murder. Police have said blood found in Vence’s apartment was linked to Maleah. More:Intensive search underway for girl, 4, whose stepfather says she was abducted on a Texas highway Vence initially told police he was assaulted by three men in a truck after stopping for a flat tire on the way to pick up Bowens at the airport on the night of May 4. Vence said Maleah and his 2-year-old son were with him and they were all abducted by the three men, who knocked him unconscious. When he came to the next day in Sugar Land, about 20 miles southwest of Houston, the girl was missing, Vence told police. He also said the Nissan Altima he was driving was stolen. Police said surveillance video showed Vence getting dropped off at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital in the silver Altima last Sunday. Police found the car in a parking lot Thursday. At Vence’s probable cause court hearing Saturday night, Harris County prosecutor Pat Stayton said two dogs trained to find cadavers reacted to the trunk of the car. “The dogs were responding to the scent of human decomposition in the vehicle,” Stayton said. Surveillance video from a neighbor had shown Vence carrying a large, blue laundry basket with a large trash bag from his apartment on May 3, Stayton said. Vence returned three minutes later without the basket and later he was seen leaving the apartment with cleaning supplies, including bleach. In the car, police found a laundry basket that looked like the one Vence took out of his apartment, Stayton said. More:'Where is my baby? ': Car found, but 4-year-old Maleah Davis still missing, police say Police have described Vence as Maleah’s stepfather, but Bowens said through a spokesman that Vence is her former fiancé. Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her brothers from the home Vence and Bowens shared in August after the girl sustained a head wound, but the children were returned in February, according to an agency spokeswoman. The Houston Chronicle reported that Maleah’s grandmother, Brenda Bowens, had tried to get the kids placed at her home instead of in foster care when Child Protective Services conducted an investigation starting in August. Contributing: The Associated Press