Maleah Davis, who is on the mend from recent brain surgery, disappeared after her stepdad says he was carjacked and knocked unconscious

4-Year-Old Texas Girl Is Missing — and Stepdad Says She Was Abducted by 3 Men

A 4-year-old Texas girl on the mend from recent brain surgery is missing after her stepfather says he was carjacked Friday night while driving with the girl and then knocked unconscious for about 24 hours.

Police, who have issued an Amber Alert for Maleah Davis, concede “there’s a lot of blanks in the story,” Sgt. Mark Holbrook of the Houston Police said at a news conference on Sunday.

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The man, Derion Vence, told police he was driving to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport around 6 p.m. on Friday. With him in the silver Nissan Altima were Maleah and Vence’s 2-year-old son.

The trio were on their way to pick up Maleah’s mom, who was returning to Texas from Massachusetts.

While traveling on the Southeast Freeway, Vence “hears a popping noise, like he has a flat tire,” Holbrook told reporters.

When he pulled over to the side of the road to check, Vence told police a blue pickup pulled off behind him and two Hispanic men got out.

As they approached, “one of them makes a comment saying that Maleah looks very nice, looks very sweet,” Holbrook said, quoting Vence’s report to police.

That’s when Vence told police he was hit on the head and lost consciousness.

Image zoom Darion Vence Houston Police Department

When Vence initially woke up, he says that he and the two children were in the back of the pickup, which now carried three Hispanic men.

After slipping in and out of consciousness for a while, Vence told police he regained full awareness around 6 p.m on Saturday, when he and the 2-year-old boy had been dropped off on the Highway 6 roadside in the Sugar Land area — with Maleah gone. His car was allegedly stolen as well.

He says he walked with the boy to a nearby hospital for help around 11 p.m., where he reported Maleah missing.

Holbrook appealed in his news conference to the public for any sightings or other information to help them “fill in the blanks” in Vence’s account.

“We’re hoping the public can give us any information about anybody who has seen Darion during that period of time because he doesn’t really know where he was or what’s going on there,” Holbrook said.

Maleah is recovering from multiple surgeries to her brain, most recently in late March or early April, and “has needed a lot of care,” Holbook said. “This week she was sick, too.”

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The girl’s mother called another family member to meet her at the airport when Vence failed to show up, and then alerted police Saturday morning after not hearing from him, reports Houston TV station KTRK.

Maleah, who stands 3 feet tall and weighs 30 to 40 pounds with brown eyes, was last seen wearing a pink bow in her black hair, a light blue zip-up jacket, blue jeans and gray, white and pink sneakers, say police.

Authorities are searching for the pickup truck Vence described, which they identified as a “blue, crew-cab, Chevy pickup truck, possibly a 2010 year model,” along with the stolen silver 2011 Nissan Altima with tags 330-92G9 that Vence was driving, which is registered to Maleah’s mom.

An image of the Altima passing through a Sugar Land intersection was captured on a traffic surveillance camera just before 3 p.m. Saturday, police said.