HOUSTON — The mother of a 2-year-old girl found dead in Brays Bayou in 2020 has pleaded guilty in connection with her death.
Maliyah Bass was reported missing by her mother, 21-year-old Sahara Ervin, on August 22, 2020. A jogger found the toddler's body in the bayou the following day. Evidence showed she'd been beaten to death with a blunt object a couple of days before her body was found.
Editor's note: The video above originally aired on October 7, 2020.
Ervin faces a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty to two charges -- injury to a child and tampering with a corpse, according to court documents. As part of a plea deal, Ervin agreed to testify against boyfriend Travion Thompson who is also charged with Maliyah's death.
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“Right now, I just want to bust out crying but I’m trying not to," said Octavious Bass, Maliyah's dad. "Just thinking about it makes me sad."
He doesn't think Ervin's sentence is harsh enough.
“I really don’t like that she’s getting 20. But I don’t have no choice but to be ok with it because they’re saying that’s the maximum she can get because she testified against him," Bass said. “It’s either you did it or he did it or both of y’all did it. So you might as well tell the truth.
Investigators were suspicious of the couple from the beginning, according to a search warrant obtained by KHOU 11 News. Police said their stories were inconsistent, they never searched for Maliyah and they were upset when a trained tracking dog was brought in to help.
Maliyah was last seen alive on video about 57 hours before she was reported missing, according to the warrant.
According to the warrant, Thompson was seen with a trash can standing near a dumpster and a storm drain on Aug. 21.
He later told investigators the child's body was in the trash can and he couldn't bring himself to dispose of the body, the document revealed. Thompson said he and Ervin took the girl's body to another storm drain and dumped her at about 11 p.m. that night.
After they reported her missing, the couple appeared to be inconsolable and emotional about Maliyah's disappearance in media interviews. But police say it was all just an act. After her arrest, Ervin smiled broadly in her mug shot.
The emotion from the little girl's father is still raw.
“Because all I want to know is the truth about what happened to my daughter. That’s all I want to know. If I can find out the truth I will leave everything alone," Bass said. “It makes me feel alone that she’s not here.”