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Justice for Maleah! 4-Year-Old Still Missing

NNPA NEWSWIRE — There have been prayer vigils, balloon releases, news conferences, community-wide searches in the area where she was staying, but there has still been no sign of missing 4-year-old Maleah Davis. The disappearance of little Maleah has members of the Greater Houston community outraged, as well as fervently searching for answers as to what actually happened to her.

Published

7 years ago

May 20, 2019

Oakland Post

By Jeffrey L. Boney, NNPA Newswire Contributor

The case involving little Maleah Davis has caused a major stir across the Greater Houston area, as the details surrounding the case have gone from disturbing to downright heart wrenching.

Brittany Bowens, mother of missing 4-year-old Maleah Davis speaks (Photo: ABC News / go.com)

There have been prayer vigils, balloon releases, news conferences, community-wide searches in the area where she was staying, but there has still been no sign of missing 4-year-old Maleah Davis. The disappearance of little Maleah has members of the Greater Houston community outraged, as well as fervently searching for answers as to what actually happened to her.

It all began on Friday night, May 3rd, when 26-year-old Derion Vence, told police he was on his way to George Bush Intercontinental Airport to pick up Maleah’s mother, Brittany Bowens, who was on her way home on a return flight from a funeral in Massachusetts. Vence was driving in the vehicle with little Maleah and his 1-year-old son. Vence was Bowens’ fiancé.

According to police, Vence told them he heard a popping noise, as if from a flat tire, and decided to pull over on the side of the road to check out the status of the vehicle. It was at that time that Vence told police that a strange blue Chevrolet crew cab pickup truck pulled up behind them and two Hispanic gentlemen immediately hopped out, allegedly making a reference about the way little Maleah’s physical appearance caught their attention.

Vence told police that one of the men hit him on the head, causing him to lose temporary consciousness. After regaining consciousness, Vence then told police that he and the children had been abducted and found themselves riding in the back of the truck, where the two Hispanic men who confronted Vence and another Hispanic suspect, were inside the truck as well.

This is where the details of what happened to little Maleah get really murky and confusing.

Vence states that he had been going in and out of consciousness for hours, until around 6 p.m. on the following day – Saturday, May 4, and he then told police that the suspects randomly released him and his son in Sugar Land, Texas, which is located over 40 miles away in southwest Houston, but kept little Maleah. It was upon gaining consciousness that Vence told police that he mustered up enough strength to walk with his unharmed 1-year-old son to Methodist Sugar Land Hospital nearby, where he was treated for minor injuries.

It was also at the hospital that Vence reported Maleah missing and the drama really began.

More and more, Vence’s story began to change and unravel, making him a prime suspect in the eyes of law enforcement officials, relative to the abduction of little Maleah.

After having the silver Nissan Altima with Texas paper tags that was owned by Bowens reported stolen, surveillance video later showed the same vehicle Vence had reported stolen being used to drop him off at the same hospital Vence and his son allegedly walked to.

On Thursday, May 9th, the missing silver Nissan Maxima was found by police in a parking lot in Missouri City, Texas, and what police found in the trunk increased suspicions about Vence and began to shed light on what could have possibly happened to little Maleah.

In the truck of the car, police found a laundry basket and a gas can. What makes these items that were found so significant, is the surveillance video footage that came from a neighbor’s house that appears to paint a troubling picture about Vence and the major role he may have played in little Maleah’s overall disappearance.

Disturbing images from the surveillance video footage show the last seen or known images of little Maleah from Tuesday, April 30th, where she is seen wearing a bright pink tutu and trailing behind Vence as he is headed back into their apartment.

This happened to be the same day Bowens left to go out of town for her father’s funeral.

After several days pass, little Maleah is never seen again on any of the surveillance footage.

Vence and his young son, however, can be seen coming out of the apartment on the day that the alleged abduction took place, which raises serious questions about what happened to little Maleah and why she was never seen on surveillance video again.

In one of the clips from May 3rd, Vence is seen carrying a laundry basket with a black trash bag in it, away from the apartment where the family lived. Then in another clip, Vence is seen carrying a bottle of bleach with his son following him out of the apartment, moments before they head out to allegedly go pick Bowens up from the airport.

These findings caused police to investigate Vence further, particularly look for clues inside the apartment and the vehicle that was allegedly stolen. Police used canine officers who are trained to identify the scent of a body and as a result, the canine officers sensed human decomposition in the trunk of the vehicle. At the apartment, police used a chemical agent that can discover blood that cannot be viewed by the human eye, and found blood in the hallway leading to bathroom and on various surfaces in the bathroom.

As a result of their findings, police arrested Vence on Saturday, May 11th, in connection with little Maleah’s disappearance and according to court documents, he has been charged with tampering with evidence, namely a human corpse, after the smell of decomposing human remains was detected in the trunk of a car he had driven.

After holding press conferences and interviews pleading for little Maleah’s safe return, Bowens finally broke down and told investigators that Vence had been abusing little Maleah and recently said through her spokesman, civil rights activist Quanell X, that she believes Vence harmed the girl and is not fully certain that she may still be alive.

According to CPS officials, little Maleah had been removed from the home, along with her brothers, for investigated allegations of physical abuse, this past August. Little Maleah had suffered a significant head injury, but a judge ruled that the children should be returned home under the care of Bowens and Vence in February. Bowens states that the children were returned because it had been determined that little Maleah suffered the head injury as a result of a fall, not because of any physical abuse that had taken place.

Cases like this tend to get reported quite often, and unfortunately, it takes the entire community to help identify and recognize the signs of abuse, so as to protect these vulnerable children like little Maleah and countless others. According to the World Health Organization, child maltreatment is defined as the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. Every year, there are an estimated 41,000 homicide deaths in children under 15 years of age. It is important to emphasize that children are the victims and are never to blame for maltreatment.

One of the major characteristics of that increases the likelihood of a child being maltreated is the fact that they either under four years old or an adolescent.

There are three different types of people who carry out abductions – a family member, an acquaintance or a stranger.

According to statistics from the Children’s Assessment Center, 95 percent of victims of child abuse and who become unfortunate homicide victims, know their abuser.

According to statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Department of Justice, here in the U.S., a child is abducted or turns up missing every 40 seconds, and only one out of every 10,000 missing children reported to the local police is not found alive. Going further, about 20 percent of children who are reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as having been abducted by someone outside of their family are not found alive.

It is important and time-sensitive that abducted children are found immediately, because Department of Justice statistics also show that 74 percent of children who are killed, become murder victims within three hours of being abducted, and roughly 89 percent of those children are murdered 24 hours after being abducted. As it relates to little Maleah, we are well past the three hour timeframe and everyone is seeking answers and closure.

Vence was initially given a bail amount of $999,999, but this past Monday, May 13th, a judge reduced his bail to $45,000, according to Harris County Jail records.

Many members of the community are not only coming for Vence and demanding answers, many are also blaming Bowens for being complicit in the alleged abuse and the current disappearance of her daughter, with one person calling her a “murderer” as she got on the elevator and exited the courthouse on Monday.

In the meantime, the search continues for little Maleah. She is described as being 3 feet tall and weighing 30 to 40 pounds. She was last seen having a pink bow in her hair and wearing a light blue Under Armour zip-up jacket, blue jeans and some gray, pink and white Under Armour tennis shoes. Any information about her whereabouts at this point will bring healing to a community that is in desperate need of answers and who have embraced this little 4-year-old girl.

Crime Stoppers has currently offered a $5,000 reward for anyone with information regarding little Maleah’s disappearance. Although many tips and leads have come in, nothing has panned out and led to little Maleah’s whereabouts. Anyone that has information about the overall case and little Maleah’s whereabouts are being asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.

Jeffrey Boney is a political analyst for the NNPA Newswire and BlackPressUSA.com and the associate editor for the Houston Forward Times newspaper. Jeffrey is an award-winning journalist, dynamic, international speaker, experienced entrepreneur, business development strategist and founder and CEO of the Texas Business Alliance Follow Jeffrey on Twitter @realtalkjunkies.

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COMMENTARY: Jim Crow 2.0 at the Pentagon

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 3, 2026

bpusa-syndication

Pete Hegseth insists that he is restoring “merit” to the United States military. But after months of dismissals, blocked promotions, and ideological purges, the evidence tells a different story. His campaign against so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” has become something far more dangerous: an assault on equal opportunity that falls with particular force on African Americans, while also targeting women, Latinos, gay Americans, and transgender service members.

The latest example is both troubling and infuriating.

Once again, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly blocked the promotion of an exceptionally qualified woman—Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt. Bauernschmidt is no ordinary officer. She became the Navy’s first woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, one of the most demanding leadership assignments in the world. Her career reflects decades of exemplary performance, operational excellence, and leadership under extraordinary pressure.

Yet once again, a distinguished military career appears to have been subordinated to an ideological agenda masquerading as “merit.”

I call BS!

The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

The pattern has become impossible to ignore.

General Charles Q. Brown Jr., only the second African American to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was dismissed despite a career that placed him among the most accomplished military leaders of his generation.

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman ever to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, was removed despite decades of distinguished command experience.

Reports have documented interventions that blocked or delayed the promotions of Black officers and women selected through the military’s rigorous promotion system.

Now Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt joins the growing list of highly accomplished officers whose careers have been derailed for reasons that have never been persuasively explained.

Where is Congress?

Its silence has become deafening.

Congress has an independent constitutional responsibility to oversee the armed forces. Instead, too many lawmakers have watched silently while one of the nation’s most respected institutions is subjected to ideological litmus tests and political interference.

This is not military reform. It is testosterone-fueled performative masculinity disguised as a philosophy of military excellence.

The irony is impossible to miss. Hegseth repeatedly invokes “merit,” yet his rhetoric begins with the assumption that Black officers, women, and other historically excluded Americans must somehow justify their achievements in ways that white male officers are rarely required to do.

That is not meritocracy. It is prejudice wrapped in patriotic language.

No one is asking that anyone be promoted because of race or gender. Americans simply expect that promotions be based on demonstrated competence, leadership, integrity, and service. The officers being targeted have already proven themselves repeatedly under one of the world’s most demanding evaluation systems.

Their records speak for themselves.

The attack on African American military leadership has been especially pernicious.

For generations, Black Americans fought in segregated units, earned decorations while denied equal treatment, and repeatedly demonstrated loyalty to a nation that often failed to extend them full citizenship. They broke barriers not because standards were lowered but because excellence finally overcame institutional discrimination.

Today’s campaign against “diversity” threatens to revive old assumptions under new slogans.

The implication that Black generals and admirals somehow owe their success to affirmative action rather than extraordinary performance echoes some of the ugliest stereotypes of the Jim Crow era. Yesterday’s segregationists claimed Black Americans were inherently less qualified. Today’s culture warriors simply employ more politically acceptable language while inviting the same suspicion about Black achievement.

That is why Hegseth’s campaign increasingly resembles Jim Crow 2.0.

The targets may now wear stars on their shoulders instead of military patches on segregated uniforms, but the underlying message is hauntingly familiar: Black excellence is presumed suspect, while white excellence is presumed earned.

America’s military became the finest fighting force in history because it opened its doors to talent wherever it could be found. It grew stronger after President Truman desegregated the armed forces. It became stronger when women assumed greater command responsibilities. It became stronger when every qualified American was given the opportunity to serve to the fullest extent of their abilities.

Diversity is not a concession. It is a strategic advantage.

The nation’s adversaries do not fear an American military because it is racially homogeneous. They fear it because it draws upon the talents of more than 340 million Americans whose diverse experiences, perspectives, and abilities make our armed forces unmatched anywhere in the world.

Every politically motivated dismissal of a distinguished officer sends a chilling message throughout the ranks: excellence alone may no longer be enough if you belong to the wrong demographic group.

That weakens morale. It weakens recruitment. It weakens retention.

And ultimately, it weakens national security.

Pete Hegseth has every right to pursue military readiness. He has no right to redefine merit in ways that repeatedly cast suspicion upon the accomplishments of Black officers, women, and others who have devoted their lives to defending this nation.

America deserves better. The men and women who wear the uniform deserve better. The Constitution deserves better.

And unless Congress finds the courage to exercise meaningful oversight, history may well remember this period not as a restoration of military excellence, but as the moment political ideology attempted to resurrect, in modern form, the old poison of exclusion.

Jim Crow did not strengthen America. Jim Crow 2.0 will not strengthen America’s military. It will only diminish it

Wade Henderson
Strategic Advisor
Civil and Human Rights
wade@wadejhenderson.com

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New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial

By Emilie St. John (Contributor) Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction. Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District […]
The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

3 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

By Emilie St. John
(Contributor)

Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction.

Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District Judge John Roach Jr. from overseeing the appeals process.

Two hearings have been scheduled on the motion for Aug. 9 and 10 in the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas, according to Fox4 News.

On July 14, Senior Judge Sid L. Harle of the 226th District Court was assigned to preside over the defense’s motion to recuse Collin County Judge John Roach. The assignment took effect immediately and authorized Harle to handle all matters related to the recusal request, the filing read.

The Collin County District Attorney’s Office continues to defend its handling of the case by issuing a statement to NBC 5 DFW.

“The defendant’s new lawyers have filed a motion containing several inaccurate characterizations of the trial proceedings. The entire prosecution team and I conducted this trial ethically and in full compliance with the Court’s rulings and any agreements with defense counsel. We look forward to addressing these claims thoroughly in a Court of law in the coming weeks. The jury heard extensive evidence over the course of the trial and returned a unanimous verdict. We remain confident in that verdict and the fairness of the proceedings.”

Anthony’s new legal team, made up of appellate, civil rights, and criminal defense attorneys, was retained following Anthony’s conviction.

“Our responsibility is to determine whether a legal error occurred and to ensure that every issue supported by the record is fully and vigorously presented on appeal,” the team said in a statement.

“We recognize the profound loss suffered by one young man’s family and the uncertainty facing another, and we extend our respect to everyone whose lives have been forever changed by these events,” the release reads.

Anthony was charged with the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf during a track meet in Frisco, Texas, April 2, 2025. Anthony has long maintained it was an act of self-defense.

The attorneys are representing Anthony pro bono. The nearly 200-page notice of appeal seeks a new trial because his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated.

“The cumulative and practical effect of these provisions was to exclude members of the public from proceedings at every stage,” the filing reads.

The filing also focused on an alleged “handshake deal” that kept Anthony from taking the stand in his defense.

The defense filing said the agreement was that the jury would not hear that Metcalf and his twin brother had been accused of racism and bullying in the past. In exchange, they also would not see Anthony’s cellphone records or his school disciplinary record, according to court documents reported by the Dallas Morning News.

Anthony’s former defense attorney, Mike Howard, said the defense relied heavily on that deal. The team chose not to ask certain questions of witnesses or call on a separate expert witness based on that agreement. It also abandoned plans to introduce testimony and evidence about the allegations against Metcalf and his brother.

Appellate attorney Russell Wilson is now handling post-trial proceedings and Anthony’s appeal. He recently sat down for an interview, stating, “The court committed multiple errors during the June murder trial, preventing him from receiving a fair trial.”

“You know, we file motions that we expect to prevail on, but we understand that there’s two sides to every story. And at the end of the day, it’ll be a judge that has to make these decisions, but we feel confident in the positions that we’re taking,” Wilson said during an interview with WFAA. “There were substantial issues that we thought a reviewing court needed to look at. We thought these were constitutional irregularities, and we could have them addressed now. And so, we put them into a motion for a new trial.”

Bree West, a former Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, found it startling that so little time was given to Anthony’s team for such a serious “life or death” situation.

“I do think that it’s really challenging that potentially a court decided that you have 10 minutes to make that level of decision when it has the potential of being life-altering,” said West during an interview with Fox 4 News.

Judge Harle is no stranger to high-profile cases, having presided over the prosecution of a police officer charged in connection with the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Anthony was convicted on June 9 of the murder of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

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COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump!

WESTSIDE GAZETTE — The author criticizes Donald Trump’s rhetoric, noting his use of terms like “Dumbocrats” and “Communist” to describe Democrats and democracy. The column asserts that Trump’s current strategy involves creating doubt about midterm elections due to a lack of Republican agenda.
The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

3 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

Frankly Speaking

Wow! Wow! Wow! The swamp drainers have truly stepped down to new levels of stupidity. You remember Weapons of Mass Destruction? We now have Weapons of Mass Distraction. Trump has introduced Dumbocrats and Communists into the conversation about Democrats and Democracy.

Trump lies so much, and his current strategy is to set up doubt about midterm elections because he and Republicans have no agenda!

He has no “Trump “ card, but Iran has a strait! He called it a skirmish; it’s now a War. He said five days; now it’s five months. He said few casualties; now it’s 18 deaths. He knew nothing about Project 2025 but hired its architects! Trump lies about the lies and often forgets these little inventions called cameras and phones

We see and hear and then see and hear the inconsistencies.

I didn’t like 45 and dislike 47 even more!

The post LSMFT! Lord Save Me From Trump! appeared first on The Westside Gazette.

Based on reporting by Westside Gazette.

The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.