HOUSTON – UPDATE: On Saturday, The Texas Center for the Missing has canceled its Houston Regional Amber Alert issued for 2-year-old, Maliyah Bass.
Remains located in Brays Bayou have been positively identified as Bass, the agency reported.
ORIGINAL: The Texas Center for the Missing has issued a Houston Regional Amber Alert for a two-year-old girl reported missing out of southwest Houston since Saturday morning.
Authorities are asking for the public’s help locating Maliyah Bass, who was last seen around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday in the 10600 block of Beechnut Street, according to the Houston Police Department. She was last seen at her family’s apartment complex playground, according to the alert.
Bass is described as a Black female weighing 38 to 40 pounds and standing 3′ tall with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black onesie, black shorts with multi-colored polka dots and blue shoes and carrying a pink and white pillowcase with a letter block inside, according to the alert.
The child’s mother said she went inside an apartment for a few minutes while the child was playing outside. When the mother returned, the child was missing.
“She’s just mentally not functioning right now,” family friend Jasmine Freeman said of the child’s mother. “She said everything happened within a blink of an eye. She was right here at the park and then she was gone.”
Investigators conducted an extensive search for the two-year-old in and around the apartment complex.
Texas Equusearch also joined in on the search efforts.
“We’ve had foot searchers on the ground. We’ve had ATVs searching, as well, and we’ve cleared a lot of areas. We haven’t found anything just yet,” said search coordinator Coy Murphy.
The Houston Police department has not ruled foul play out. They interviewed both the child’s parents.
There are no suspects at this time, according to HPD.
Anyone with information on Maliyah’s whereabouts is asked to call the Houston Police Department at (713) 308-3600.