SAHARA ERVIN

Sahara Ervin, 22, has pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence as part of a plea...

The mother of a 2-year-old girl whose body was found in a Houston bayou in 2020 has pleaded guilty for her role in the child's death, according to court records. Sahara Ervin, 22, pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, a human corpse, during a court hearing Wednesday as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. According to her family, Maliyah Bass had been playing in the playground of her apartment complex Aug. 22, 2020, when she went missing.

Here are things to know for Friday, Jan. 7:

The mother of Maliyah Bass, the 2-year-old whose body was found floating in Brays Bayou, has been sentenced to serve 20 years in prison for her involvement in her daughter's death.

HOUSTON – Surveillance video showed a man charged in connection with the death of Maliyah Bass dumping a trash bag into a storm drain upstream from where the 2-year-old girl’s body was found in a bayou, prosecutors said in court Thursday. Sahara Ervin, Maliyah’s mother, and Travion Thompson, Ervin’s boyfriend, have each been charged with evidence tampering and injury to a child in connection with Maliyah’s death. The judge denied bond for Thompson after prosecutors said surveillance video showed him taking a trash bag out to a bin near a storm drain that leads to a bayou. Prosecutors said Thompson can later be seen tipping the bin into the storm drain. On Aug. 22, Thompson and Ervin told reporters that Ervin left Maliyah alone for 5 minutes at a neighborhood playground while she was cooking.

HOUSTON – The mother of Travion Thompson, the man charged in connection of 2-year-old Maliyah Bass’ death, said both her son and his girlfriend, Sahara Ervin, belong behind bars for their involvement. The couple is accused of killing and then dumping the child’s body in a storm drain in Houston. “I’m mad because I want to hurt both of them because I feel violated,” said Thompson’s mother Angel Harris. I feel betrayed.”While Harris is the not biologically related to Maliyah she said she loved the little girl as though she was her granddaughter. “A part of me wanted to believe that somebody had took my baby off that playground,” Harris said.

HOUSTON – The mother of Maliyah Bass and her boyfriend are in custody and charged in connection with the death of the 2-year-old, Houston police said Tuesday. Court documents said the couple killed Maliyah and put her body in a storm drain, which was later recovered from Brays Bayou. On Aug. 22, Thompson and Ervin told reporters that Ervin left Maliyah alone for 5 minutes at a neighborhood playground while she was cooking. “The defendant and her boyfriend ... injured and killed the two-year-old complainant," said a court worker during Thompson’s probable cause court hearing. In 2019, Quanell X helped to bring 4-year-old Maleah Davis' body from Arkansas back to Houston.