Baltimore’s long-running search for 9-year-old Tristan King has taken a sharply criminal turn. Police last night arrested his great aunt, Denise Day, in the city’s Brooklyn neighborhood on charges tied to the boy’s disappearance. Investigators say Day, 60, admitted that she hid Tristan and helped him avoid detectives after he ran from a caseworker. Tristan, who vanished on Sept. 24, 2025, was found earlier this month and is now in a treatment foster home. The arrest is the first public criminal move in a case that has gripped the city and put local child-welfare systems under a microscope.
Police spokesman Lindsey Eldridge said Day has been charged with abduction of a child under 16 by a relative and harboring a child, according to The Baltimore Banner. Missing-person detectives told reporters that during interviews, Day “confessed to harboring her 9-year-old nephew and assisting him in eluding officials for more than five months.” Officers tracked her down in Brooklyn after running down tips and leads in the still-active investigation.
How Tristan Was Found
On March 13, the Baltimore Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit got a tip that led them to a residence in Curtis Bay, where they found Tristan. As Baltimore Fishbowl reported, he was taken to a hospital for evaluation, then placed in a treatment foster home.
Systemic Failures And Family Strain
The story behind Tristan’s disappearance is tangled in a rough year of family crisis and agency missteps. His grandmother, who was his legal guardian, suffered a stroke in May. The family then lost its home in a July fire and experienced homelessness, while relatives say Day was struggling with fentanyl use. According to The Baltimore Banner’s reporting, the Maryland Department of Human Services received multiple concerns about Tristan’s welfare, some of which went unanswered. When the agency briefly took physical custody of him, he ran from a caseworker and slipped away from a staff vehicle.
Police say the investigation is very much ongoing, and they have warned that anyone who helped hide Tristan or obstructed detectives could face charges of their own. After the boy was found, leaders across Maryland publicly expressed relief and promised accountability measures, as reported by AOL. Prosecutors are now reviewing the police file to determine what formal charges to bring, and investigators are still interviewing relatives and others who might have had contact with Tristan while he was missing…