The Misery Machine - The Case of Maliyah Bass

Episode Date: December 18, 2023

This week, Drewby and Yergy head down to the Lone Star State to discuss the ongoing case of Maliyah Bass, a beautiful 2-year-old little girl living with her mother, Sahara Irvin, and her live in boyfriend, Travion Thompson, in Houston. On the morning of August 22nd, 2020 a 911 call came in from the couple's apartment. Maliyah was missing after Sahara left her unattended outside in the complex's playground. But after days of new interviews where Sahara and Travion put on dramatic, tear-filled performances, the truth finally came out.  Support Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Join Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlhT2V7muEk&t=319s  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oyQ0Wi5reo  https://abc13.com/maliyah-bass-houston-toddler-killed-brays-bayou-travion-thompson/10969508/  https://www.fox26houston.com/news/maliyah-bass-biological-father-reacts-to-mothers-arrest  https://www.facebook.com/rosalie.jimerson.7/videos/691506519558278  https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2020/08/23/2-year-old-child-missing-in-southwest-houston-hpd-says/   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM8nII0XF8o  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUZvGF3PRtE  https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/maliyah-bass-father-interview/285-b4519357-3019-4d13-b344-b97713920769 https://abc13.com/maliyah-bass-body-found-foul-play-suspected-missing-houston-toddler-girl/6409051/ https://www.sandraclarkfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Maliyah-Bass/#!/TributeWall https://khou.com/article/news/crime/maliyah-bass-cause-death-homicide-medical-examiner/285-fb4d920d-70d7-4ea1-89ed-755d50436d3e https://abc13.com/maliyah-bass-houston-toddler-killed-brays-bayou-travion-thompson/10969508/ https://abc13.com/maliyah-bass-toddler-found-dead-in-brays-bayou-missing-houston-girls-body/6822674/ https://www.lmtonline.com/news/houston-texas/article/Mother-pleads-guilty-Houston-Maliyah-Bass-16757592.php https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlhT2V7muEk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmZzxapheew https://www.facebook.com/sahara.ervin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96cKgWxrZVY https://www.fox26houston.com/video/858158 https://www.facebook.com/octavious.bass.1 https://www.fox26houston.com/news/mother-of-missing-2-year-old-fearing-the-worst-as-a-child-was-found-floating-in-brays-bayou https://www.fox26houston.com/video/854662 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDzITsOLRvQ&ab_channel=KPRC2Click2Houston https://www.fox26houston.com/video/843828 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64go-yx2Byc https://www.fox26houston.com/video/1302412

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 two-year-old daughter had been abducted. Malia Bass lived in the Sunset Crossing apartment complex, which had a courtyard with a fenced-in pool in a separate playground. Malia had been playing in the playground that morning when her mother, 20-year-old Sahara Irvin, stepped away for just a a few minutes to cook their breakfast around 9.30. Her mother's boyfriend, Trayvion Thompson, was also home, but was sleeping at the time. When Sahara returned to check on Malia just five minutes later, she was gone. It seemed that there were two possibilities. Malia 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 and the complex was even drained to be sure that Malia 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 Malia. Texas Equusarch, a non-profit organization that has assisted in thousands of cases to help families and law enforcement locate missing persons also lend a hand. However, despite all of the people helping the search, there was no sign of Malia. When Malia hadn't been found in the immediate area, an Amber alert was issued late that night.

Malia was described as a black female weighing 38 to 40 pounds and standing three 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 Bray's 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 Malia's home. It wasn't long before members of Malia's family showed up as well. Sahara collapsed to the ground and was comforted by a stranger. Her boyfriend Trayvion was distraught in front of the cameras. There's my duty here.

Mom had to be held tightly. Sahara Irving, inconsolable to thought that her baby girl may have been found dead and brazed by you. Irving sharing the last few words between her and little Malia. Mama, I love you. That's what I was going to be right, man. Irving's boyfriend, Trayvion 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 it. Houston Police Department and Texas Equal Search were both on scene. Police Chief Art Acevedo doing his best to assure loved ones, justice would be served.

The vast is this, 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 or 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 Malia, Sahara, Travion, and Malia's biological father Octavius, and Malia'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, Quanael X. On August 24th, this video aired. So when I went over there and I saw the apartment talk with neighbors, learned a few things. I also learned that on the day that the baby came up missing,

that they were here at this 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 Malia. 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 Malia was. Malia Rosalie Bass was born on January 26, 2018, to parent Sahara Irvin and Octavius Bass. Her middle name Rosalie was given in honor of her maternal grandmother, Rosalie Jimerson. It's unclear what caused Malia'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, Malia even lived there on several occasions. At time, she was in her grandmother's care for several months. Malia was a happy-loving child with most adorable plump cheeks and an infectious smile. She loved baby shark, mini-mouse, and the color pink. She could count and sing the ABCs and seem to be a vibrant toddler. Octavius had come out to speak on several occasions after Malia's disappearance. He said that he had barely been given a chance to be Malia'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 three 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's also convicted of assault while on probation, however, his probation was not

revoked. He also know that in his youth, Travion spent some time in group homes when his parents were unable 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 posted 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. 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, Malia's body was released for her funeral. Her father, Octavius, had her buried in Dallas to be closer to him. Friends and family gather at the Sandra Clark funeral home around noon. Rosalie Jimerson remembered her grand. granddaughter fondly. She described her love for Minnie Mouse and reiterated that the family was still seeking justice for Malia. The toddler was buried at the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery.

On September 26 at 1 p.m., Sahara's mother held a justice walk from Malia. Family and community members marched in honor of Malia and all other people and families waiting for answers and justice. The walk ended at the place where Malia's body had been found. They placed across 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 Malia's body was found, the medical examiner finally released the cause of death. It was clear that Malia had not accidentally wandered away and drowned. Medical examiner determined that Malia's cause of death was homicide. Her body was found with a broken arm and superficial blunt force trauma from head to toe.

Toddler was covered in loop-shaped bruises consistent with someone who had 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 Malia 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. They opened the closet door on the morning of August 21st. Malia 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 Malia and there was no abduction?

I'm drained. I've been looking for her for 24 hours. He should have took me. They should have took me. And they have the nerve to get on Facebook and bash me and bash me and my girlfriend like we did something. And that's my baby. She know her ABC, she know her one, two, three.

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 enough to be something. be something. When was the last time you saw her yesterday?

Well, last time I saw this with my gal before me. My gal put her in a part. She came and gave me a hug and told me she loved me. This is her routine every day. My mama could tell you that she loves me. This is her routine to tell me she loved me hug me. And I sit here and play the game. She come, come from me, you know, we eat and everything. That's the only reason why my gal came in the house is to fix us something to eat because we haven't ate so i called her and told her at five minutes it was only five minutes she happened so bad she was dumb it's so cool people out here in this world it's some horrible people horrible about nobody but they sell 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 two-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 Malia'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 Malia's body was found.

On their front doorstep, neighbors are already piling up soft toys and balloons to shower the two-year-old with the attention and love, they say, she always deserved. She is sweet little girl. Like, she, her smile is big. She's beautiful. She's a happy baby. These people, if they didn't want 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 you're there to this little girl. In fact, there was video footage taken inside the apartment shortly after Malia's disappearance. It is unclear if this was taken by a neighbor or a friend or exactly how many days after her disappearance had occurred.

But what we do know is that the footage was shocking. Because y'all know, it's stinking here. I don't look like she was cooking to me. Talking to something, she's cooking. That bitch you want cooking. She won't cooking shit. There ain't no pot. He's a pot on the flow.

Like, what you're cooking? Oh, that's what they was doing. Oh, no, I heard he was beat 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. The house in the drawer. And tell me, that ain't enough evidence right in there. These motherfuck line, they killed that little girl. No food. No fool. Look, she got a can of a old. So look at that guy. That's got mold on it. What the fuck, bro. No food, bro.

Their apartment was completely devoid of food. This shows that the story of leaving Malia 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 adult. There was a bed for Malia, but it had no betting on it. The apartment was filthy and empty. There were no toys for Malia, no rocking chair to sue the baby in. Did the involve grandmothers really not know that the house was, 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 Malia on the playground that morning. This is particularly strange because many neighbors had been out of their courtyard facing balconies that morning as they were every morning. In addition, none of the surveillance footage of the courtyard showed Malia 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 watched 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. They ain't took it from me.

And they took it from me. They believed me. The audacity of this person to claim that he had sacrificed to move away from the violence and then yell enraged that they should have just taken him as 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 Malia 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 Malia'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 because 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 us 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. It 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 the child. So you deserve a rotten jail. You don't deserve to get out. You deserve life for killing that baby.

You and that man. She just ex me out of the picture after she got to do it. They never showed up at her funeral, and I invited. She couldn't get me. You never know what was going through the baby head. We just start beating on it. On October 6th, Travion and Sahara were arrested in charge in Malia's death. Their charges were injury to a child with serious bodily harm and tampering with evidence.

And their probable cause hearing only Travion was present. Sahara's bail was set at $175,000, and Trayvions 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. But I'd also like to point out that this photo of Sahara is her mugshot. 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 Malia'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 Malia. As this case progresses, we will keep you updated on any changes. After Malie's death, her grandmother Rosalie moved to Dallas to be closer to her grave. A year after her death, Rosalie said that she visited Malia's grave often to talk to her. On a rainy afternoon in Dallas, Rosalie Jimerson stands next to her granddaughter's grave. I'm missing.

A year's gone by, but the tragedy is still so fresh. Yeah, but see, we don't have one like that. That a headstone doesn't yet mark where two-year-old Malia 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 go against the God and things like that. I'm, you know, I'm angry.

I'm hurting, but I don't even know how it happened. But I know that she was in the care of two people that was 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 Malia. She started a foundation of Malia'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 Malia's face on them. We cover so many cases where it seems that 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 Malia'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 were a friend, a family member, a neighbor, or even a bystander, Had someone stood up for Malia, she might have stood a chance.