Mom’s Oscar Winning Performance After Fatally Beating Daughter

On the morning of August 22nd, 2020, a 911 call came in from 10630 Beechnut Street in Houston, Texas. It was a parent’s worst nightmare: a mother called to report that her 2-year-old daughter had been abducted. Maliyah Bass lived in the Sunset Crossing apartment complex, which had a courtyard with a fenced-in pool and a separate playground.

Maliyah had been playing in the playground that morning when her mother, 20-year-old Sahara Ervin, stepped away for just a few minutes to cook their breakfast around 9:30. Her mother’s boyfriend, Travion Thompson, was also home but was sleeping at the time. When Sahara returned to check on Maliyah just 5 minutes later, she was gone.

It seemed that there were two possibilities: Maliyah either had wandered off, or she had been abducted. Police responded to the scene and began searching. The search was thorough, with people on foot as well as ATVs combing the surrounding areas. The pool in the complex was even drained to be sure that Maliyah hadn’t fallen in. Police interviewed as many people as they could in the complex, but they did not turn up any clues about who took Maliyah.

Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit organization that has assisted in thousands of cases to help families and law enforcement locate missing persons, also lent a hand. However, despite all of the people helping in the search, there was no sign of Maliyah.

When Maliyah hadn’t been found in the immediate area, an Amber Alert was issued late that night. Maliyah was described as a black female weighing 38 to 40 pounds and standing 3 feet tall, with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black onesie, black shorts with multicolored polka dots, and blue shoes, and carrying a pink and white pillowcase with a letter block inside.

The next day, on Sunday, August 23rd, a jogger spotted something floating in Brays Bayou. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that it was the body of a small child. The jogger called 911, and the police immediately came to investigate. The location where the body was found was about 18 miles from Maliyah’s home. It wasn’t long before members of Maliyah’s family showed up as well.

Sahara collapsed to the ground and was comforted by a stranger. Her boyfriend, Travion, was distraught in front of the cameras.

“That’s my baby. That’s literally my best friend.”

Mom had to be held tightly. Sahara Ervin, inconsolable at the thought that her baby girl may have been found dead in Brays Bayou. Ervin sharing the last few words between her and little Maliyah: “Mama, I love you. That’s what I was going to be right…”

Ervin’s boyfriend, Travion Thompson, was crying as he described the little girl he says became his daughter.

“She was smart. She was growing up to be something. We called and they found the baby. Oh, good.”

Houston Police Department and Texas EquuSearch were both on scene. Police Chief Art Acevedo doing his best to assure loved ones justice would be served.

“The ask is, is this her? And you know, based on what we know, based on reported missing children in this city, we believe that although we can’t confirm it’s her, there’s a high probability it will be her. And 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 worst.”

These heartfelt pleas for their baby girl broke the hearts of everyone in the Houston community. Sahara even issued a warning for other parents.

“Do not leave your kid unattended, no matter how long you think or if she’s going to be okay. Don’t do it.”

As the community waited for confirmation that the body belonged to Maliyah, Sahara, Travion, and Maliyah’s biological father, Octavius, and Maliyah’s grandparents mourned for her. The families in the neighborhood were also devastated. However, some people felt that Sahara held the responsibility for her child’s disappearance. This included New Black Panther leader Quanell X. On August 24th, this video aired.

“So when I went over there, and I saw the apartment, talked with neighbors, learned a few things. Also learned that on the day that the baby came up missing, that they were here at the store after late, late in the night, and that the baby was at home by itself. That’s a serious issue, that the baby was not here with them late that night before they made the 911 call about the baby being abducted. More responsible parenting could have easily prevented this.”

It wasn’t long before the police announced that it was Maliyah. However, an autopsy needed to be performed to determine the cause of death. For a whole month, the family and community waited for answers.

We want to take a moment to remember who Maliyah was. Maliyah Rosalie Bass was born on January 26, 2018, to parents Sahara Ervin and Octavius Bass. Her middle name, Rosalie, was given in honor of her maternal grandmother, Rosalie Jimerson. It’s unclear what caused Maliyah’s parents to split or how soon after her birth, but ultimately Sahara ended up living in Houston and Octavius was in Dallas.

Sahara’s mother was heavily involved in the little girl’s life. In fact, Maliyah even lived there on several occasions. At times she was in her grandmother’s care for several months. Maliyah was a happy, loving child with the most adorable plump cheeks and an infectious smile. She loved Baby Shark, Minnie Mouse, and the color pink. She could count and sing the ABCs and seemed to be a vibrant toddler.

Octavius had come out to speak on several occasions after Maliyah’s disappearance. He said that he had barely been given a chance to be Maliyah’s father. He claimed that he really only met her once due to the distance. He also said that Sahara had not been cooperative in allowing him visitation, especially after starting a new relationship.

At some point, Sahara had begun dating 21-year-old Travion Thompson. Travion had quite a criminal history for someone who had only been an adult for 3 years. Between 2017 and 2020, he had five convictions. We were unable to find what each charge was for, but what we do know is that he was convicted for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. He was also convicted of assault while on probation; however, his probation was not revoked. We also know that in his youth, Travion spent some time in group homes when his parents weren’t able to care for him.

As for Sahara, it appeared that she had at least two brothers who we think were older than her. She had many nieces and nephews. Sahara’s mother, Rosalie Jimerson, seemed to be a very active grandmother and she posts about her grandchildren frequently. Sahara appeared to have no criminal history, nor were there any CPS reports or other reports of abuse. Sahara had been working at a hotel before the pandemic started.

At the time of our story, both Sahara and Travion were unemployed, as were many people during this point of the pandemic in 2020. At that time, their only income seemed to be from unemployment, which is how they were paying for their apartment.

On September 4th, Maliyah’s body was released for her funeral. Her father, Octavius, had her buried in Dallas to be closer to him. Friends and family gathered at the Sandra Clark Funeral Home around noon. Rosalie Jimerson remembered her granddaughter fondly. She described her love for Minnie Mouse and reiterated that the family was still seeking justice for Maliyah. The toddler was buried at the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery on September 26th at 1:00 p.m.

Sahara’s mother held a Justice Walk for Maliyah. Family and community members marched in honor of Maliyah and all other people and families waiting for answers and justice. The walk ended at the place where Maliyah’s body had been found. They placed a cross at this location. This is a reminder of a little girl who was dearly loved, a little girl who was taken from this world too soon.

A little over a month after Maliyah’s body was found, the medical examiner finally released the cause of death. It was clear that Maliyah had not accidentally wandered away and drowned. The medical examiner determined that Maliyah’s cause of death was homicide. Her body was found with a broken arm and superficial blunt force trauma from head to toe. The toddler was covered in loop-shaped bruises consistent with someone who’d been beaten with a coat hanger or an extension cord.

After these findings, the police had to bring the distraught parents in for questioning once again. At this point, the police started to point out some minor inconsistencies in their stories. During Sahara’s original 911 call, she had said Travion was sleeping. Later she said he was playing video games, and at another point that he was sweeping the apartment. In addition, Sahara had initially said that she was making breakfast, but she then changed the story to say she’d been making noodles when no food was found in the apartment, so that Travion actually called her inside to tell her something.

Suddenly, Travion changed his story altogether. Travion said that Sahara had been frustrated on August 20th when Maliyah would not go to sleep. She was crying for hours when Sahara finally lost her temper, beating her repeatedly with a hairbrush. Sahara then locked her toddler in a closet for the night. When they opened the closet door on the morning of August 21st, Maliyah was dead.

What? Wait. You’re telling me that these parents who put on the most dramatic performance for the media actually knew the whole time that they had killed Maliyah and there was no abduction?

“I’m drained. I’ve been looking for her for 24 hours. They should have took me. They should have took me. It should have took me. And they have the nerve to get on Facebook and bash me and my girlfriend like we did something. And that’s my baby. She know her ABCs, she know her one two threes, she know her colors. She only two. She know how to talk very well because of us, me and my girl. She was smart. She was growing up to be something.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Yesterday. The last time I saw her is with my girl, before my girl put her in the park. She came and gave me a hug and told me she loved me. This is her routine every day. My mama could tell you this. She loves me. This is her routine: to tell me she love me, hug me, and I sit here and play the game, she come come for me. You know, we eat and everything. That’s the only reason why my girl came in the house, is to fix her something to eat because we haven’t ate. So I called her and told her in 5 minutes, it was only 5. So she was gone. It’s the cruel people out here in this world. It’s some horrible people, horrible, don’t care about nobody but they self. Watch y’all kids, lock y’all doors.”

It appears Sahara was right. There are some cruel people out there who don’t care about anyone but themselves, and she is one of them. It quickly became clear that all of these performances were orchestrated. What kind of sick and twisted people are these monsters? Not only did they beat a 2-year-old into submission for crying, but then they locked her naked in a closet all night. Was her arm broken during the beating, or was it broken earlier and that’s why she was crying inconsolably? And then on top of that, when they found her dead in the morning, they didn’t even call for help.

In fact, if Travion’s timeline is correct, they sat in their apartment with her dead body for a full 24 hours. Instead of Travion standing up for his baby, as he called her, he helped cover up the murder. Police found a surveillance camera that showed Travion leaving his apartment on August 22nd with a trash can. He walked down the road and appeared to dump the contents of the trash can into a storm drain. The footage is slightly obstructed by a tree, so Maliyah’s body was not actually seen in that video. During this time, footage shows Sahara waiting at the door for him to return.

It turns out that neighbors and police had not only been critical of the irresponsible parenting of Sahara and Travion, but many people had been suspicious of the couple right from the start. This video was taken the day after Maliyah’s body was found. On their front doorstep, neighbors are already piling up soft toys and balloons to shower the 2-year-old with the attention and love they say she always deserved.

“She a sweet little girl. Like, she uses big words. She beautiful, she a happy baby. These people… if they didn’t wanted that baby, call the daddy in Dallas. Come get your child, take it to the fire station. Because they keep switching stories. Come correct, tell us what y’all did to this little girl.”

In fact, there was video footage taken inside the apartment shortly after Maliyah’s disappearance. It is unclear if this was taken by a neighbor or a friend, or exactly how many days after her disappearance it occurred. But what we do know is that the footage was shocking.

“Cuz y’all know I… it’s stinking here. I don’t look like she was cooking to me. Tell something she cooking that [ __ ] wasn’t cooking. She wasn’t cooking. Ain’t no pot, a pot on the floor. Like what you cooking? Oh, that’s what they was doing. Oh know, I heard he… she be he was beating her. I feel like that, I feel like the boy did something to her and she cover them. These the blue shoes they said that she had on when she went missing. Them in in the house, in the drawer. And tell me that ain’t enough evidence right there. These [ __ ] lying. They killed that little girl. No food, no food. Look, she got a can… look at what the bro. No food, bro.”

Their apartment was completely devoid of food. This shows that the story of leaving Maliyah outside to cook food is very unlikely. The apartment was also full of damaged walls and doors and almost no furniture except for one bed for the adults. There was a bed for Maliyah, but it had no bedding on it. The apartment was filthy and empty. There were no toys for Maliyah, no rocking chair to soothe the baby in. Did the involved grandmothers really not know that the house was completely absent of anything that would make the apartment a home? This left us wondering why there hadn’t been any previous reports of child neglect.

In addition, when police interviewed the neighbors in the complex, none of them had seen Maliyah on the playground that morning. This is particularly strange because many neighbors had been out on their courtyard-facing balconies that morning, as they were every morning. In addition, none of the surveillance footage of the courtyard showed Maliyah outside that day.

Police also reported that on the morning of her supposed disappearance, Travion and Sahara were not acting like parents who thought their child had wandered off or had been abducted. Sahara and Travion did not appear to be searching for her. In fact, when the police arrived with search dogs, Travion tried to intervene and point them away from the direction where the scent was leading them. He then claimed later the police never came with search and rescue dogs. The more times we watch the footage of Travion, the more disgusted we get.

“My baby didn’t do nothing wrong. I moved away from the violence to get her in a better place. That’s not even my baby, but I took the responsibility, then he took it from me. And they took you from me. Took… how the [ __ ] she get all the way up here? We don’t even live over here.”

The audacity of this person to claim that he had sacrificed to move away from the violence and then yell and rage that they should have just taken him is outrageous. The whole time he knew exactly what happened to that baby. He was the one who dumped her tiny broken body into that storm drain. He didn’t even have the nerve to call the proper authorities. He would rather just lie to his whole community than risk being in trouble.

Travion was then questioned further about that night. When asked why he didn’t intervene when Maliyah was being beaten, his excuse was that he had been playing video games. When asked about his behavior on camera for the media, he claimed that he acted that way out of fear. Even Travion’s mother was fed up with his lies and behavior.

After Maliyah’s disappearance, Sahara and Travion moved in with his mother, Angel Harris. Angel said they lived with her for a while, but she ultimately kicked them out because they were constantly fighting and screaming.

“I’m mad cuz I I want to hurt both of them. I just wish that I could have seen something. Maybe I could have intervened, maybe I could have said, you know, let her stay here with me for a little bit, you know, until y’all figure things out. And all this time, it was just a bunch of lies.”

Now, after Angel kicked the couple out, Sahara checked herself into rehab. However, there is no record of her using any substances other than pot, and it’s suspected that she did this to prevent herself from becoming homeless. Sahara didn’t even attend her daughter’s funeral.

“Don’t matter if you was on drugs. It don’t matter if you was on booze. If you was going through something, that doesn’t give you a right to take your anger or anything out on a child. So you deserve to rot in jail. You don’t deserve to get out. You deserve life for killing that baby. You and that man, she just Xed me out of the picture after she got the D. They never showed up at her funeral and I invited them… wanted me, and she couldn’t get me. You never know what what was going through the baby head, and you just start beating on her.”

On October 6th, Travion and Sahara were arrested and charged with Maliyah’s death. Their charges were injury to a child with serious bodily harm and tampering with evidence. In their probable cause hearing, only Travion was present. Sahara’s bail was set at $175,000 and Travion’s was set at $150,000. If Sahara was able to post bail, she would have had to wear a GPS monitor and follow a curfew from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. We’d also like to point out that this photo of Sahara is her mug shot. Look at the grin on her face as she’s being arrested for murdering her child. It’s absolutely disgusting.

In the face of a possible life sentence for murdering her daughter, Sahara took a plea deal. Over a year later, on January 6, 2022, Sahara pled guilty to both charges in exchange for a maximum sentence of 20 years. Part of the plea deal is that she must testify against Travion. If she does not follow through with this deal, the life sentence will be back on the table. Sahara was supposed to be sentenced on June 1st, 2023, but the hearing was postponed. As far as we can tell, that sentencing hearing still hasn’t happened.

Travion’s trial also hasn’t started yet. After being arrested for Maliyah’s death, Travion continued his typical pattern. He now has an additional charge for assaulting a prison guard. In another strange turn of events, he submitted a handwritten request for hybrid representation in his trial. This means he wants to represent himself alongside his public defender. He says that he has been making lists of questions for witnesses and claims to have evidence to prove he did not kill Maliyah. As this case progresses, we will keep you updated on any changes.

After Maliyah’s death, her grandmother Rosalie moved to Dallas to be closer to her grave. A year after her death, Rosalie said that she visited Maliyah’s grave often to talk to her. On a rainy afternoon in Dallas, Rosalie Jimerson stands next to her granddaughter’s grave.

“I miss her. A year’s gone by, but the tragedy’s still so fresh. Yeah, but see, we we don’t have one like that…”

A headstone doesn’t yet mark where 2-year-old Maliyah Bass rests, just a flag handwritten by the woman she called Nana.

“It’s her name and I wrote on there ‘I love you.’ The first thing to say when someone asks you that is ‘I’m doing okay.’ But it’s times I really do want to scream and shout and uh go against God and things like that. I’m you know, I’m angry, I’m hurting. But I don’t even know how it happened. Um, but I know that she was in the care of two people that were supposed to had her best interest at heart, and they didn’t.”

From what we can tell, Rosalie is now living back in Arkansas, where she is very close to her other grandchildren. She still posts frequently on Facebook about missing Maliyah. She started a foundation in Maliyah’s honor. This foundation provides food and other supplies to families in need. Rosalie also makes custom cups and t-shirts, many of them with Maliyah’s face on them.

We cover so many cases where it seems the biggest threat to children are their own parents. Unfortunately, despite how this story began, this was no different. In this case, there wasn’t a long, documented history of abuse as we often see. It really makes us wonder how Travion and Sahara managed to fly under the radar for so long. If Maliyah’s grandmothers were as involved as they claimed to be, they had to have noticed the deplorable conditions she was being kept in.

This is why every episode we ask you to please say something if you see a child being mistreated. Whether you are a friend, a family member, a neighbor, or even a bystander. Had someone stood up for Maliyah, she might have stood a chance.