Case dismissed against great-aunt who hid missing Baltimore child Tristan King

Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates last week directed his office to dismiss the lone criminal charge remaining against Denise Day, the woman who hid 9-year-old Tristan King from authorities for nearly six months while he was considered missing.

Day was arrested in March on a felony abduction charge and a misdemeanor charge. In April, after Day had spent 30 days in jail, Bates’ office dismissed the felony charge and a judge ordered her released from custody. Last week, Bates directed his staff to dismiss the misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 days.

The case involving Tristan and Day, documented extensively by The Banner, illustrates the shortcomings of Maryland’s child welfare system and the difficulties city police had in finding a child who, by many accounts, was missing in plain sight.

Gov. Wes Moore said in March that every system that had touched Tristan’s life had failed him. He and Mayor Brandon Scott pledged to review their own agencies and fix what went wrong, though it’s unclear what progress, if any, has been made.

Day had been the only person facing accountability for Tristan’s case.

In an interview with The Banner on June 5, Bates said convicting Day of the misdemeanor would have been difficult, considering the emotional bond she had with Tristan.

“What justice is served by giving her a conviction?” Bates asked.

Day is Tristan’s great-aunt and was with him when police found him in mid-March at a home in the Curtis Bay neighborhood. Tristan had been missing since Sept. 24, when he ran from a Maryland Department of Human Services caseworker who was driving him to an office. Until he was found, Tristan had been missing longer than any child his age in the state.

For much of the time he’d been missing, Day had been with him, according to interviews. When told Monday that her case had been dismissed, Day expressed a mix of relief and indignation that she’d been arrested in the first place.

“So what happens now? Just get on with your life?” said Day, who is homeless. She added, “I can’t believe this.”

Bates said he decided to drop the charge in part because Day was not legally responsible for Tristan while he was missing. Tristan’s grandmother, who lives in a nursing home and is disabled by a stroke, was his legal guardian. When Tristan ran away from the Human Services caseworker in September, the state was in the process of placing him in foster care, where he is now.

Because Maryland policy prioritizes keeping families together rather than automatically placing children in foster care, Bates said his decision was also motivated by the possibility that Day and Tristan could reunite in the future. A conviction would jeopardize that prospect.

As the father of a 9-year-old daughter, Bates said he could not imagine having his family split.

“That boy loved her,” Bates said. “He trusted her.”