The man jailed in connection to the death of 4-year-old Maleah Davis is protesting his innocence from the confines of his Texas jail cell.
“I ain’t no killer, bro,” Derion Vence told KTRK ABC 13. “[...] I loved Maleah so much. I did for her more than her own parents. ... I would never do anything to hurt her. That’s not me.”
Maleah went missing in early May as Vence was caring for her along with his own 1-year-old son while Maleah’s mom, Vence’s now-former-fiancee Brittany Bowens, was away.
Vence initially told police that he had been attacked by three men who had abducted him and the children before finally taking off with just Maleah. But about a week later, on May 11, police arrested Vence and jailed him on a charge of tampering with evidence, namely a corpse.
Maleah’s remains were found in a bag along the side of a road in Arkansas Friday, not far from the Texas border. The medical examiner identified the remains as belonging to the child, but still is determining a cause of death.
Prior to the discovery, Houston community activist Quanell X told authorities that Vence had confessed to him that he had killed the girl “by accident.”
But in the interview with KTRK, Vence, who recently celebrated his 27th birthday, said he wasn’t “that type of dude.”
“I should be home with my family. With Maleah, the kids and Brittany, cooking dinner and watching Netflix,” Vence said.
However, interestingly enough, when asked by the reporter about Maleah’s death, Vence said:
“Nothing bad happened to Maleah,” Vence said.
In fact, something very bad happened to Maleah.