Maliyah ‘Tootie’ Bass found dead: Body of missing Houston two year old toddler girl found at Bray’s Bayou as foul play is now suspected.
A body found in the bayou of a young toddler girl, Sunday morning — is believed to be that of missing two-year-old Maliyah ‘Tootie’ Bass who vanished from a park in Houston, Saturday afternoon.
The body of an African American girl was found floating in the bayou by a passing jogger Sunday morning, officials say, just one day after Maliyah went missing according to family members.
Tim Miller with Texas Equusearch told ABC13 that the body is believed to be Maliyah Bass, but formal identification is pending.
‘We believe that although we can’t confirm it’s her, we believe there’s a high probability of it being her,’ Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told during a Sunday press conference. ‘We don’t want to give people false hope. We want to hold on to a little hope, but we want to prepare for the worse.’
Maliyah was last seen playing in the playground of the Sunset Crossing apartments in southwest Houston. The body was found in Bray’s Bayou, about a mile from the apartments. An Amber Alert was issued on Sunday.
HPD Chief @artacevedo briefs media on scene of child found deceased in southeast Houston bayou #hounews https://t.co/3VgihCzt7U
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) August 23, 2020
‘We really believe this is foul play,’
Acevedo said his department is conducting a murder investigation, and says foul play is suspected.
‘We really believe this is foul play,’ the chief said, asking that anyone in the area with a security camera to check their footage for suspicious activity.
The toddler’s family arrived at the scene on Sunday afternoon, with Maliyah’s mom’s boyfriend describing the situation to KHOU in which he accused police of not doing a good job in locating the missing girl.
He said: ‘There was nobody looking, the community did it better – better than what the police did.
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‘My baby could’ve been anywhere at any time.’
‘That’s my baby, she knows her abc’s she knows her 123’s she knew her colors she knew how to talk,’ the distraught man continued. ‘She was smart she was growing up to be something.’
The boyfriend insisted that he and the child’s mother were innocent, while commentators on social media wondered why the mother purportedly left the child alone in the park as the boyfriend said she went back in the house to prepare food.
Bass was previously described as about 3 feet tall, weighing approximately 38-40 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. She was last seen wearing a multi-colored tank top with multi-colored shorts, and may have been carrying a white and pink pillowcase with letter blocks inside.
The manner & cause of the girl’s death is now pending an autopsy. A motive for the suspected killing remains unknown- no arrests have been made.
