HOUSTON – The latest update was released on the series of events that occurred the day 2-year-old Maliyah Bass went missing from the Sunset Crossing apartment complex earlier this year.
Initial claims from her mother Sahara Ervin, 20, were that she left Bass alone for a few minutes in the Sunset Crossing apartment’s playground but then she disappeared.
A day later a jogger discovered her lifeless body in Brays Bayou.
Since then, Ervin and her boyfriend, 21-year-old Travion Thompson, have been charged in connection with Maliyah’s death.
According to the warrant, on the day Ervin called 911 (Aug. 22, 2020) from her neighbor’s phone to report Maliyah missing, neither she nor Thompson were actively “engaged in searching for” Maliyah.
The warrant also revealed that the child had not been actually on the playground that morning and Ervin and Thompson were not seen searching for the child.
When a trained tracking dog showed up to search for the child, the couple both were opposed to use of it, the warrant says.
The dog tracked toward Wilcrest during this time, and Ervin and Thompson followed. Body-cam video showed the couple requesting the dogs to be taken back towards the apartment.
During interviews, investigators noticed several inconsistencies in the couples statements about what they were individually doing at the time of his disappearance. According to Thompson, he was playing video games and sweeping while Ervin said she was alone with Thompson and he was sleeping, the warrant says.
Footage showed Ervin and Thompson constantly in and out of the apartment complex but Maliyah was last seen alive about 57 hours before she was finally reported missing.
The warrant revealed Thompson was carrying a trash can near a dumpster and storm drain on Aug. 21. He ultimately confessed that the child’s body was inside the trash can.
Thompson revealed he and Ervin took the girls body to another storm drain and dumped her there around 11 p.m.
A jogger discovered her on Aug. 23 nearly 25 hours after she was reported missing.
Authorities suspect she was beaten to death.