The month-long search for Maleah Davis is reportedly over after investigators found a child’s body scattered along a highway in Arkansas, where her mother’s ex-boyfriend confessed he dumped her.

Houston police said they believe they found the missing girl, but could not immediately confirm that the remains were Maleah until an autopsy is complete.

A work crew mowing Interstate 30 near Fulton — about 330 miles from Houston — discovered a bloodied black garbage bag earlier this week, but left it there, thinking its foul odor was from a discarded animal, the Houston Chronicle reported. Early Friday, a mower struck the bag, tearing it open and scattering its contents, Hempstead County Sheriff James Singleton.

Community leader Quenell X told authorities early Friday he had visited Maleah’s stepfather, 27-year-old Derion Vence, at the Harris County Jail and the man confessed to killing the little girl. The information he shared was enough to send the investigators to Hempstead County, Arkansas.

Vence, 27, had claimed he, Maleah and his 2-year-old son were abducted on May 4 by a group of men in a truck. He said the kidnappers released him and his son, but kept the girl and stole his Nissan Altima. The car was found a few days later with no signs of the incident he described.

Video of Maleah entering Vence’s apartment published by the Daily Mail on April 30 appear to be the last known images of her still alive. Three days later, the surveillance cameras captured him carrying a black trash bag out of the building.