Mom, boyfriend charged in child’s death
The mother of 2-year- oldMaliyah Bass and her boyfriend were charged Tuesday in the toddler’s killing in August, when authorities discovered the girl’s body in Brays Bayou, Houston police announced.
The mother, Sahara Ervin, 20, and her boyfriend, Travion Thompson, 21, face charges of injury to a child and tampering with evidence for their role in the slaying, police said. Court records were not yet available in the case by Tuesday evening, and police did not elaborate on the extent of the couple’s involvement.
“Our community and all who loved Maliyah Bass can ( breathe) a sigh of relief today knowing that thanks to the dedication of (Houston police) Homicide detectives, we are on our way to getting justice for Maliyah,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted. “May she rest in peace.”
Maliyah vanished the morning of Aug. 22 fromher family’s Alief-area apartment complex at 10600 Beechnut Street, where she was last seen carrying a pillow case with toy letter blocks at the complex’s playground. A search of the surrounding area
ended the following morning when a jogger came upon the child’s body in Brays Bayou, about 15 miles downstream from the complex.
At the time of the discovery, the child’s family members and Thompson showed up at the scene. Thompson was in tears and distraught during an interview with reporters.
“Shewas smart. Shewas growing up to be something,” Thompson said. “The last time I saw her … she came and gave me a hug and told me she loved me. This is her routine every day.”
Thompson, who at the time had been dating Maliyah’s mother for the previous four months, said he felt like a father to Maliyah. He said he last saw the child before she went to the playground the day before. The child, he said, had been upset because he had broken her toy box. He gave her the pillow case to
carry her toys instead, he said.
Thompson contended that Houston police did not do enough to find the child in the hours after Maliyah went missing. The child’s disappearance prompted an Amber Alert, and a search of the area involved Texas EquuSearch volunteers and a Houston police helicopter.
Ervin comforted Thompson
on the scene, according to earlier reports. The mother previously told police that she lost the child at the playground after briefly going inside her apartment.
During an August news conference, Acevedo said investigators had suspected foul play in the child’s death but declined to elaborate on the condition of the
body.
Maliyah was buried last month in Dallas. Thompson and Ervin were scheduled to appear late Thursday for a probable cause hearing.