‘They killed my child’: Mother files lawsuit after daughter died under state care

A Maryland mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Marriott International over the death of her daughter last year. 

Kanaiyah Ward was found dead of an overdose inside a Baltimore hotel where she was living in state care and under the supervision of a state contractor. 

The lawsuit, which names Gov. Moore in his individual capacity, claims gross negligence on the part of the state and others. 

Kanaiyah’s mom, Brooke Ward, is still seeking answers as to why her child died on Sept. 22 of 2025, when a caretaker, employed by the state, was supposed to check on her hour by hour. 

“They killed my child,” Ward said. “Kanaiyah was my only child, and I couldn’t take care of her as a parent and with her condition, so I gave her to the state and they killed her.” 

“We know from her own admission and from the police report that she did not check on her again until after ten o’clock, more than five hours, when she was supposed to be watching her every hour,” Demaurice Smith, who is related to Ward and is filing the lawsuit with a team of lawyers, said. 

The lawsuit claims the state violated a 1988 decree that prohibited officials from housing children in hotels, and that is why Marriott International is also being sued. 

 “We want to ask Marriott ‘what did you expect was going to happen when you knew that vulnerable underage juveniles were staying at your hotel where there was also medication being stored?’” Smith said. 

In April, Gov. Moore signed Kaniayah’s Law to establish a state foster youth ombudsman and other protections for foster youth.

“We are never doing enough, particularly to protect those who find themselves in really difficult and vulnerable situations,” Gov. Moore told News4’s Tracee Wilkins before the lawsuit was filed. “There is a whole lot that the state has done that we’re very proud of and encouraged by, but I want to be very clear, until everyone can feel safe and get their God-honored destiny, there is still more that the state needs to be doing.” 

There may have been criminality in the circumstances surrounding Kanaiyah’s death, according to Smith. His team is continuing to investigate. 

The State’s Attorney declined to file charges. 

News4 reached out to Marriott International for comment but has not heard back.