Police: 16-year-old girl in DHS custody found dead in Baltimore hotel; No foul play suspected
By Jake Shindel, Blair Young, David Collins
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — A 16-year-old girl who was in the custody of the Maryland Department of Human Services was found dead in a Baltimore hotel Monday.
According to police, the girl was found at the Residence Inn by Marriott in the 800 block of North Wolfe Street, and there were no signs of foul play or trauma on the girl’s body.
Her remains were taken to the medical examiner’s office to determine a cause of death, but results, including toxicology, might not be available for months.
On Thursday, police identified the 16-year-old girl as Kanaiyah Ward and are listing her death as questionable.
Maryland’s DHS confirmed the girl was in its custody and is investigating this incident. Lilly Price, a spokesperson for the department, released the following statement:
“The Maryland Department of Human Services (DHS) joins the community in grieving this heartbreaking tragedy. The well-being of Maryland’s children is our top priority, and we will not rest until every child in our state is safe, thriving in a permanent home, and surrounded by loving family.
“The Department is investigating this incident. If we find that our standards for care were not met, we will hold our contractors accountable. We are committed to transparency and being as open as possible while maintaining the confidentiality of children and their families, as protected by law.” Ward’s death comes after a scathing legislative audit that revealed the state may have allowed guardianship and foster homes where sex offenders lived.
The audit also found there were no procedures in place to ensure criminal background checks were done on vendors providing one-on-one services to foster care children in hotels.
“We will be having hearings about these issues in order to really uncover exactly what happened, and to fix it — not just to throw blame, not to point fingers as to something being wrong, but to fix it,” said Maryland Sen. President Bill Ferguson, D-District 46.
A DHS official told 11 News the state facilitated her living at the hotel.
“My God, we failed,” said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel, R-District 1B. “We failed that young girl killed in a hotel room in Baltimore City. We are not providing appropriate supervision. We are not providing appropriate care.”
Police said Ward had at least one family member who has been notified of her death.
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