The stepfather of missing four-year-old Maleah Davis has been arrested and charged with ‘tampering with a corpse’ in connection with her disappearance, eight days after he told police she was ‘abducted by three men’.
Darion Vence, 26, was taken into custody Saturday under a charge of ‘tampering with evidence, namely a corpse’,Dailymail.com reports.
Police have not confirmed whether the little girl has died but investigators do not think Maleah is still alive, ABC13 reports.
She was last seen on April 30 on security footage in her family’s apartment complex, where blood evidence linked to Maleah was reportedly found.
The girl’s mother has also accused her ex-fiance Vence, the last person to see the girl, of being abusive and said he was suspiciously cleaning the family’s apartment with bleach on the morning of her disappearance.
A surveillance photo shows a man identified as Vence leaving the family’s apartment with a laundry basket and black garbage bag inside.
Bowens’ former fiance Vence told police the youngster was abducted by three men who attacked him on the side of the highway on May 3.
Quanell revealed that Vence and Bowens had recently gotten into a fight and broken off their engagement.
‘On the day that Brittany left to be with her sick father – her dying father – to be with family, there was a huge fight between her and him,’ Quanell said, according to ABC7.
‘She confronted him about being gay. He was hurt, he was angry, he was upset. She told him she was giving back his ring and that she was not going to marry him.
‘I believe that caused him to snap in anger.’
Quanell added: ‘There were times where (Vence) would say (Maleah) was at day care, but he would bring her back, not drop her off at day care, but bring her back home with him. There is reason to believe, based on what I know now, there’s issues of him possibly molesting young Maleah.’
He said Bowens had never reported any suspicions about abuse to authorities.
Both Bowens and Vence were banned from having contact with their children under a court order issued Thursday, just as the car used in the alleged abduction was recovered from a shopping center in Missouri City.
Vence claimed that the car was stolen by Maleah’s ‘kidnappers’ Friday night as they were on their way to pick up the four-year-old’s mother.
He allegedly told investigators that he pulled over to check if the car had a flat tire when three men in a pickup truck pulled up, knocked him out and took the girl.
Surveillance video showed Vence arriving at Sugar Land Methodist Hospital with his son in his arms. 
Doug Adolph, a spokesman for the Sugar Land Police Department, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday: ‘During our initial interview that he provided, his story changed several times, some of what he described didn’t add up.’ 
He had visible injuries and officers say ‘something clearly happened to him’.
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
