Davis’ stepfather, Derion Vence, told authorities his silver car had been stolen by three men who kidnapped the 4-year-old, however police have been unable to find any clues in the newly located vehicle. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more! The mother of missing 4-year-old Maleah Davis broke down in tears Thursday, shouting “Where is by baby?” after investigators found a silver car potentially connected to the case, but no trace of the Houston girl. Derion Vence, Davis’ stepfather, claimed he had been driving to the airport to pick up the young girl’s mother, Brittany Bowens, last Friday when he stopped the car, a silver Nissan Altima, to check whether he had a flat tire. He said several Hispanic men pulled up behind the car in a blue pickup truck, knocked him out and stole the car. Vence said he lost consciousness in the attack and vaguely recalled being in the back seat of the truck with Maleah and his 2-year-old son at some point. When he came to nearly 24 hours later, he'd been dropped off at the side of the rode with just his son, he claims. Maleah was gone. However, investigators have said Vence has changed his version of events several times in the days since the young girl’s disappearance and is now no longer responding to calls from police. “Each time we have tried to talk to him or have him come in, we have been unsuccessful,” Houston Police Department Homicide Detective Kenneth Fregia told local station KHOU. Police said they are now “actively searching” for Vence and don’t know whether he’s missing, according to The Houston Chronicle. Investigators discovered the car Vence claimed had been stolen Thursday—but said the car seemed “normal” and showed no obvious signs of any criminal activity. “The car looks fine. Everything looks normal on the car. The tires look OK," Fregia said. "It doesn’t mean they weren’t changed at some point, I don’t know.” The car was discovered—abandoned and unlocked—in a shopping center parking lot in Missouri City, Texas by a woman who had seen the vehicle on an earlier news report. The woman’s coworker told KTRK that she was devastated by the discovery. “She is broken, she can’t even hold herself. She is crying, very frantic. Everyone is shaking, because this is like the movies, it doesn’t look real,” Emmanuel Joseph told the station. The vehicle’s discovery also triggered an emotional response in the young missing girl’s mother, who collapsed at the scene in tears after spotting the car. “Where is Maleah? Where is my baby?” she yelled. Employees who work at the shopping center said they believe the car had been dropped off there recently. Amber Ryan, who works at Avis Rental Car, told The Chronicle she doesn’t think the car was there on Tuesday when she worked and was off on Wednesday, so she wasn’t sure when the vehicle appeared. Fefe Taylor, who works at Riverstone Dental, also told the paper she didn’t remember seeing the car early Thursday morning when she arrived for her shift at work. Investigators are continuing to search for Davis, who was removed from her home temporarily last year after concerns of possible abuse at the home. Davis had suffered a head injury, which required several brain surgeries. However, Davis and her two brothers were returned to the home in February and a judge instructed child services workers to monitor the home. Texas EquuSearch is also assisting in the search but may be hampered as bad weather and heavy rains are expected in the area over the next few days.<doc-sep>A mural of George Floyd is shown in the intersection of 38th St & Chicago Ave on March 31, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community members continue preparations during the third day in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with multiple counts of murder in the death of George Floyd. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 01: President Donald Trump's lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to journalists outside the White House West Wing July 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Giuliani did an on-camera interview with One America News Network's Chanel Rion before talking to other journalists about Vice President Joe Biden and the news that Russian intelligence may have paid Taliban operatives to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Vigils & tributes to George Floyd one year since his murder ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 28: Former President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Begun in 1974, CPAC brings together conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders to discuss issues important to them. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Here's what reported grand jury in Trump case may look like NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 09: People walk past the Trump Tower as the impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins in Washington on February 09, 2021 in New York City. After listening to nearly four hours of legal arguments, the Senate has voted on Tuesday to move ahead with the impeachment trial of former President Trump. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the conflict in the Middle East from Cross- Hall of the White House on May 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Israel and Hamas announced that they would agree to a cease-fire, which will take into effect on Friday, following days of fighting that claimed more than 200 lives. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA - MAY 26: A view of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light-rail yard where a mass shooting occurred on May 26, 2021 in San Jose, California. A VTA employee opened fire at the yard, with preliminary reports indicating nine people dead including the gunman. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images) A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Ontario on December 14, 2020. - Ontario, Canada's most populous province and one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, had 1,940 new cases and 23 deaths on Monday. The province is expected to give its next doses to nursing home workers as a priority, according to media reports. (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) 'Never seen levels like this': Union president on airline passenger misconduct Memorial Day weekend will bring rain and cool air for much of the East (CNN) — A mother is missing her little girl and the girl’s stepfather has told a story of abduction and a 24-hour blackout. That story, authorities say, has changed several times. The mother – who “did not want to believe, by any stretch of the imagination” that the girl’s stepfather might have been involved in the child’s disappearance – now tells CNN she believes he bears some responsibility. Maleah Davis It has been one week since anyone saw Maleah Davis. Here’s what we know about the case: Stepfather says he was attacked and abducted Darion Vence, the stepfather, told police he, Maleah and Maleah’s 1-year-old brother were driving to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in north Houston to pick up Maleah’s mother, Brittany Bowens, who had been in Massachusetts. Vence said he heard a “popping noise.” Thinking it was a tire, he stopped to check. A blue pickup truck then pulled up behind his car and two Hispanic men got out. One of the men said, “Maleah looks very nice, looks very sweet,” Vence told police. That’s when the other man hit Vence in the head, and Vence blacked out. Vence said that at some point, he was going in and out of consciousness but he was aware of being in the back of a pickup with both children and three Hispanic men. When Vence came to, he said, Maleah was gone. Vence said he didn’t fully regain consciousness until the next day. At about 6 p.m. Saturday, he awoke to find himself and the boy on Highway 6 in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston. Maleah was gone. Vence then walked to a nearby hospital and was treated. An off-duty police officer noticed that Vence had fresh wounds, CNN affiliate KTRK reported. Houston Police Dept Stepfather Darion Vence says he was hit on the head and blacked out. Police issued an Amber Alert for Maleah on Sunday. “I realize there’s a lot of blanks in the story,” Sgt. Mark Holbrook of the Houston Police Department’s Homicide Division told reporters. Police hoped the public could help them “fill in the blanks” in the narrative provided to them by Vence. Anyone with information on Maleah's whereabouts is urged to contact HPD Homicide at 713-308-3600 or @CrimeStopHOU at 713-222-TIPS. Media partners: all updates on this case will be disseminated here. #hounews pic.twitter.com/8F0PRPRgFN — Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 5, 2019 CNN has reached out to Vence several times, including Friday, but hasn’t been able to talk to him. Maleah’s mother pleads for her return In the meantime, Bowens had gotten a ride home from the airport from another relative after Vence didn’t show up. KTRK Brittany Bowens, Maleah's mother Bowens told CNN’s Nick Valencia on Friday she doesn’t believe Vence and that he bears some responsibility for the girl’s disappearance. At a news conference later, community activist Quanell X said, “The mother did not want to believe, by any stretch of the imagination, that this man is capable of what is obvious that has taken place here.” Bowens did not speak during the news conference.<doc-sep>A car reported stolen during the abduction of a 4-year-old Houston girl has been found, police said Thursday — as the toddler’s mother collapsed outside the cops’ press conference and screamed for her daughter’s return. “Where’s Maleah?” mom Brittany Bowens wailed, according to KHOU. “Where is my baby?” During the presser, police said that an employee for a cab company in Missouri City, Texas, spotted the gray Nissan Altima and notified local police, who then contacted Houston investigators. The car was unlocked and didn’t show any “obvious signs” of anything unusual, Houston homicide Det. Kenneth Fregia told reporters, just feet away from the vehicle. “The car was unlocked when we got here,” Fregia said. “The car looks normal. There’s no obvious signs of anything [that] happened in the car.” The vehicle will be processed for evidence, Fregia said. KHOU also reported Thursday that Bowens and her daughter’s stepfather, Derion Vence, were barred from any contact with their son or Bowens’ other children. In an emergency hearing held Wednesday, a local court ruled that Maleah’s younger half-brother will stay with his paternal grandmother, while Maleah’s older brother is now in the custody of his paternal aunt. That woman would also be granted custody of Maleah if the girl is found, the station reported. Fregia said investigators want to talk to Vence, whom they’ve not been able to contact for several days. Vence had claimed that he, Maleah and his 1-year-old son were abducted by three Hispanic men during a carjacking in Houston on Friday. Vence told police he and his son were later dropped off on the side of a freeway in southwest Houston, near Sugar Land. Maleah was last seen wearing a light-blue jacket, blue jeans and pink and white sneakers, according to an Amber Alert that was issued Sunday and remains active. Fregia stopped short of naming Vence as a person of interest in the girl’s disappearance, but said police would like him to contact investigators so he can possibly produce a sketch of the suspects he described to police. “But we have not been able to coordinate that with him yet and he has not come in,” Fregia told reporters. Detectives are working to obtain surveillance video from businesses near where the Altima was found. Fregia said nothing remarkable was spotted at first glance inside the vehicle, which contained clothing, papers and a child seat. “It may not take us anywhere, it may take us right where we need to go,” Fregia said of scouring the vehicle for clues. Fregia had no update on the condition of Maleah’s 1-year-old brother. A report Tuesday indicated that the girl had been recently returned to her home after being removed in August by child welfare workers in Houston. The agency was probing allegations of physical abuse related to a brain injury that required surgery in April 2019.<doc-sep>A 4-year-old Houston girl is still missing, but the car that her stepfather says she was abducted from last week has turned up in a suburban parking lot near Houston. Maleah Davis has been missing since last Friday when her stepfather says men in a pickup truck knocked him out. They abducted him, Maleah and his young son, but ultimately let him and the boy go while keeping the young girl, he told police. The family's gray Nissan Altima was found Thursday in a Missouri City, Texas, parking lot outside Houston, police say. A woman spotted the vehicle and called police. The car was unlocked and appeared undamaged, but investigators would go over it "with a fine-toothed comb," said Houston police Detective Kenneth Fregia. Maleah's mother, Brittany Bowens, was at the parking lot Thursday as authorities conducted a search. "Where is Maleah? Where is my baby?" she yelled out, according to Houston's KTRK-TV. More:Intensive search underway for girl, 4, whose stepfather says she was abducted on a Texas highway Darion 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, Houston police Sgt. Mark 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. The next 24 hours were hazy for Vence, he told investigators, as he was in and out of consciousness. On Saturday evening, he and his son woke up on the side of the road and then walked to the hospital, he told police. However, Fregia said Thursday the car's tires appeared to be fine and that they were searching for security footage to determine how the car arrived in the lot. The car had been last seen driving through an intersection in Sugar Land Saturday afternoon, Holbrook said. Holbrook said originally Vence is not a suspect in Maleah's disappearance. On Wednesday, Sugar Land police said Vence's story "did change several times and some of what he told us just didn't add up." Fregia said police haven't spoken with him since Saturday and would like to again, but they aren't concerned about his whereabouts. Child Protective Services said it had been in contact with the family for months. In August, Maleah and her brothers were removed from the home after Maleah suffered a head injury. The girl needed multiple brain surgeries, Child Protective Services spokesperson Tiffani Butler said. In February, the children returned to the home but were officially still in state custody and had monthly check-ins from a caseworker, Butler added. Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY; The Associated Press. Follow USA TODAY's Ryan Miller on Twitter @RyanW_Miller.<doc-sep>
A mural of George Floyd is shown in the intersection of 38th St & Chicago Ave on March 31, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community members continue preparations during the third day in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with multiple counts of murder in the death of George Floyd. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 01: President Donald Trump's lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to journalists outside the White House West Wing July 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Giuliani did an on-camera interview with One America News Network's Chanel Rion before talking to other journalists about Vice President Joe Biden and the news that Russian intelligence may have paid Taliban operatives to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 28: Former President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Begun in 1974, CPAC brings together conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders to discuss issues important to them. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Here's what reported grand jury in Trump case may look like NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 09: People walk past the Trump Tower as the impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins in Washington on February 09, 2021 in New York City. After listening to nearly four hours of legal arguments, the Senate has voted on Tuesday to move ahead with the impeachment trial of former President Trump. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the conflict in the Middle East from Cross- Hall of the White House on May 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Israel and Hamas announced that they would agree to a cease-fire, which will take into effect on Friday, following days of fighting that claimed more than 200 lives. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA - MAY 26: A view of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light-rail yard where a mass shooting occurred on May 26, 2021 in San Jose, California. A VTA employee opened fire at the yard, with preliminary reports indicating nine people dead including the gunman. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images) A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Ontario on December 14, 2020. - Ontario, Canada's most populous province and one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, had 1,940 new cases and 23 deaths on Monday. The province is expected to give its next doses to nursing home workers as a priority, according to media reports. (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) 'Never seen levels like this': Union president on airline passenger misconduct Memorial Day weekend will bring rain and cool air for much of the East (CNN) — The car that 4-year-old Maleah Davis’ stepfather was driving the night she went missing has been found, police said. The vehicle, a silver Nissan Altima, was found Thursday morning in the parking of a shopping mall in Missouri City, Texas, just outside of Sugar Land. Maleah was not in the car, said Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, a search and rescue organization. An employee of a taxi cab company spotted the car in the parking lot and called police. Ken Fregia, a homicide detective with the Houston Police Department, said the car’s condition appears normal, there’s no visible blood or obvious signs that something may have happened inside. The vehicle will be taken to the Houston Police Department for further forensic tests while detectives look for surveillance video from the shopping mall and nearby Walmart store. Maleah’s stepfather, Darion Vence, reported on Saturday that he was on the way to the airport with Maleah and his 1-year-old son to pick up Maleah’s mother from the airport. On the way, he pulled over to investigate a “popping noise,” he told police, and was knocked unconscious by three strangers who pulled up in a blue pickup truck. When he woke up a day later, Maleah was gone. The location the car was found is about 4-5 miles away from where Vence said he woke up.